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Chaney's Last Run
The Vindicator
Photo
Senior Shatasia Walker of Chaney High School competes in the girls long jump Friday during the second day of competition at the Division I district track meet at Austintown Fitch High School. Walker qualified for regional competition in two events — the 100-and 300-meter hurdles — and could be the last athlete to compete for Chaney. The school will drop athletics after this season.
With the school dropping athletics following the spring sports season, Chaney’s sprinters will be the last to compete for the vaunted program.
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
Feeling sick and weary following the 300-meter hurdles at Friday’s Division I district track meet, Chaney senior Shatasia Walker walked over to a bench just inside the Fitch High stadium fence, laid down and closed her eyes.
Her coach, Chris Patrone, walked over and made sure she was OK, then reminded her that while she hadn’t defended her title in the event, she’d done enough to qualify for the regional meet.
“The important thing is you’ve got another day to run,” he said.
At Chaney, those days are almost over.
In late March, the school announced it would drop sports after the 2011 spring season. The school will become a science, technology, engineering and math school, as well as a visual and performing arts school.
It won’t be a sports school, ending one of the most tradition-laden programs in the Mahoning Valley.
“They know that,” Patrone said, softly. “But we don’t put any pressure on them. There’s no Knute Rockne speech about being the last team from Chaney.
“We just let them run. Track’s got to be fun.”
Chaney’s baseball team — one of the area’s best just a decade ago — lost its final tournament game 23-0 to Fitch on May 10. The school didn’t field a softball or tennis team. Track is all that’s left.
Five boys and two girls qualified for this week’s regional tournament, which begins Wednesday and Friday. Walker (100 and 300 hurdles) and junior De’Qualla Marlowe (400) are the lone girl qualifiers, while junior Valentino Sewell (110 and 300 hurdles) was the lone boys qualifier and will be joined by the 4x100 relay of seniors Dom Thomas and Devon Damous, junior Stephen Shackleford and sophomore DeAndre Johnson.
They are the final competitors for a school that produced the area’s lone Heisman Trophy winner (Frank Sinkwich), 14 NFL players (including current New York Jet Brad Smith) and more City Series football championships than any school. And while the school is best known for football, it has a strong track tradition, too.
Melanie Sklepko (100 hurdles, 1992) and Marco Morgan (300 hurdles, 1990) still hold Division I district records and Latalia Jones (100 and 200 in 2005) still holds Division II district records. Long jumper Cameron Widget won the school’s last state title, in 2003, and while it’s unlikely any current Cowboy will match that feat, Walker and Sewell have the best chance of advancing to state competition following this week’s regional meet.
“They may be the last athletes to ever compete for the school,” Patrone said.
This has been a challenging spring for Chaney. Because the school’s all-weather track is being repaired, the team often had to practice on asphalt. Twice the usual number of athletes went out for track at the beginning of the season, Patrone said, but the numbers dwindled as bad weather forced the team to cancel all but seven meets. Four of those were invitationals, meaning only the top two athletes in each event could compete.
One of those was on the same day as Chaney’s prom, another on an ACT testing day.
“I never even practiced the 300 hurdles or the long jump,” said a frustrated Walker, who had to find her own ride to the state meet last year. “I’d work out at YSU [which also lost its track due to the WATTS construction] but I was only able to go over two hurdles at a time.”
For all of Walker’s track success, she knows she’s only hinted at her potential.
“I can’t wait to get out of here because I know I can do way better than this,” said Walker, who plans to run at either YSU, Kent State or Central State in Cincinnati. “I know I’ll do great in college with the training they have there.
“But I love my team. It is sad that it’s ending. It’s disappointing because nobody wants to run or play football at East. East is cool, but that was our rival school, you know what I mean?”
Walker qualified for the state in the 100 hurdles each of the last two years and would like to add the 300 hurdles this year. Sewell, meanwhile, is just hoping to advance to the regional finals (i.e. the top eight out of the initial 16) in the hurdles and see what happens.
“I really want to go to state; the point is to go all the way,” he said. “But it’s hard [to excel] when you don’t have a track and you’re practicing on concrete. We didn’t even have a set hurdle coach. I had to practice on my own.”
Sewell said he’s aware of the significance of this week — “It just motivates me to go harder so I can have memories from Chaney,” he said — but he said he can’t rely on the school’s history to help him succeed.
Once the race starts, he has to do it on his own.
“I just think about me going where I’ve got to go,” he said. “It’s great to have [talented] people coming from Chaney but it doesn’t mean anything if you’re not going to make it.”