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Fitch strong on first day of district
By Joe Scalzo
AUSTINTOWN
A few feet outside the discus ring, Fitch High throwing coach T.J. Koniowsky watched Billy Price spin and deliver his final throw of Wednesday’s Division I district meet.
It was far from a perfect throw — the discus never really flattened out — which is important to remember when you consider it landed 176 feet away — just three feet off the school record at a school with some pretty impressive school records.
It gave Price a personal best and a district title. And he’s just a sophomore.
“There’s so much still in the gas tank,” said Koniowsky, who believes the throw would have gone 185 feet if had straightened out. “You can see on his face — the lightbulb is going on.”
Price, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 265, started throwing just over a year ago after Koniowsky took one look at the giant freshman during football season and said, “You need to come out for track.”
“He said it would help me with my footwork and using my hip and different body positions,” said Price, who added with no pun intended: “I gave it a shot.”
Initially a better shot putter than discus thrower — he finished 10th in the shot at last year’s district meet and didn’t even compete in the discus — Price blossomed this spring, although not before a rough start. He threw just 102 feet in the season-opening meet — “He was the sixth-best guy on our team that day,” Koniowsky said, smirking — but is now a near-lock to qualify for Columbus in two weeks.
“That’s definitely my goal,” Price said. “I just need to repeat what I did today.”
Koniowsky’s other prize pupil, senior Ali Tolich, successfully defended her district title in the shot put with a throw of 42-6 1/4, which is only about a foot off her state-winning throw last year. Tolich topped 44 feet to win last week’s Federal League meet and feels she’s starting to round into form.
“I’m getting better,” said Tolich, an Ashland recruit. “This was about the team today and I did my part.”
The Falcons are expected to battle Warren Harding for the girls team title and needed every point they could grab entering Friday’s final day. That’s what made Fitch’s victory in the girls 4x800 relay so important. In addition to setting a season-best with a time of 9:45.51, the Falcons earned 10 precious points and finished the day with 27 — 15 more than the sprint-laden Raiders.
When asked what she was thinking during her anchor lap, sophomore Amanda Choma said, “Don’t get caught.”
Choma was joined by three freshmen — Liz Mosier, Mikah Vaughn and Carissa Jenkins — and the four have run together since the winter, where they finished second-to-last at indoor state meet, with a time of 10:12.9.
They’ve only gotten better since. Although they likely won’t make it to Columbus — they’d have to drop about 20 seconds to survive next week’s regional — they know the future is bright.
“I figured with three freshman, we would be good next year but not this year,” said Choma. “We’ve just gotten better and that will continue to happen, I hope.”