McDonald boys, United girls win DIII

May 21, 2011 at 12:06a.m.

New Middletown

Megan Gunther had mixed emotions as she walked off the track at Springfield High.

The LaBrae High sophomore had just won the 100-meter high hurdles, so part of her was ecstatic. But she was also sympathetic to fellow hurdler Brynn Lay of South Range, who tripped on a hurdle and finished the race in eighth place. And Gunther knows a little something about how that can feel.

“A couple of meets ago I actually tripped over a hurdle, so the last meet that I had, I was really excited and helped me feel more confident this time,” Gunther said. “I’m just really proud of [Lay] for finishing the race. My heart goes out to her, because I know how that feels.”

Gunther also knows how it feels to win. She’ll be making her second trip to the regional meet. And earning an individual title at the Division III district track meet helped ease a little of the pain associated with the event.

While Gunther earned the first individual award of the day, it was the McDonald boys team and United girls team that walked away with the team hardware. McDonald ran away with the meet with 135 points. The runners-up, South Range, had 80.

The United girls were paced a little bit more. Their 105 points bested the girls of McDonald, who finished in second with 94.

Senior Miles Dunlap was the unofficial MVP of the meet, earning 30 points in three individual races, and bringing in eight more as part of the second-place 4x100 relay.

Dunlap won both the 110- and 300-meter hurdles, as well as the 200-meter dash. Afterward, Dunlap said it’s his mental approach to his events that puts him in position to succeed.

“It’s relax, focus and form. You can’t be too jumpy, you just have to be patient in your blocks,” he said. “But not too impatient to where it slows you down. And then just rely on your form through the hurdles.”

Dunlap added that half of track is mental. He said many runners have already lost races before they start just because they’re too tense and forget what got them there in the first place.

“Half of the battle is just relaxing and telling yourself you can do it,” he said. “And once you tell yourself you can do it, well, that’s half the battle.”

Dunlap obviously nailed the form part of his routine. And you want relaxed? Look no further than Mineral Ridge jumper Dan Skiba.

The senior won the high jump. It is his first year trying the event.

“My coach thought I was pretty good at jumping, so they kind of just threw me in here. I really don’t have any form,” he said. “I mean, I don’t think I would be disappointed if I didn’t make it to state for the high jump, because just getting this far is a big surprise for me.”

So Skiba has relaxation down. So what about focus? That nod goes to McDonald miler Sarah Jones, who won and hardly broke a sweat.

“I looked up at the clock, and I saw something that made me happy,” she said. “My goal was to break 5:30 because I haven’t been around that time since last year, and now I feel like I’m back in my groove.”

Jones ran a 5:28.14, and will also be heading to the regional meet for the second time in as many years. She finished in fifth place — one spot out of qualifying for the state meet. She said the experience of being there and doing that will help.

“I think it gave me a good idea of what I need to focus on and what to think about before the race and during the race,” she said. “And hopefully that will all lead to me thinking good thing after the race. But I’m pretty excited to be going back there.”

If Dunlap was the unofficial boys MVP, United High’s Emily Bokanovich was the girls the no-brainer pick for the girls.

Bokanovich claimed four titles at the meet. She won the 400- and 200-meter dashes and was on the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams. She finished with 40 points.