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Records shattered as S. Range, United lead ITCL
NEW WATERFORD
It’s not necessarily the best idea to pull an all-nighter right before a conference track meet. Several Inter-Tri Country League Division I competitors certainly weren’t up until all hours of Wednesday night, but they definitely got their studying in.
“Oh yeah, last night I looked up the meet records,” Springfield thrower Stephen Lyons said.
“I’ve definitely taken a lot from meets like the Optimist and Poland Invitational,” South Range’s Brynn Lay said. “Learning more about what I can do as a hurdler and sprinter from the athletes at a Division I school help so much going into this meet.”
It paid off for them both.
Lyons shattered the shot put and discus records, while Lay earned first place in the 100 and 300 hurdles with a second-place finish in the 100-meter dash and third in the 200 to receive the meet MVP award. Mineral Ridge’s Casey Porter garnered MVP honors on the boy’s side with first-place finishes in the 110 and 300 hurdles and a second in the long jump. The United girls team won the overall title with 137 points, while South Range scored 118 points to lead the boys.
“I was going in and out of the hurdles nicely and getting my knees up helped out so much when I was going into a sprint,” Lay said.
Lyons, an Eastern Michigan recruit, started out the day with 165- feet, 4-inch discus throw — a meet record by 14 feet.
“After that throw I was really feeling it,” he said.
It led to a 63-10 throw in the shot put that went beyond the border of the gravel pit. It too was a meet record, by 11 feet, as well as a new Springfield record.
In clinching their back-to back ITCL crowns, the Raider boys also landed in the record books. Andrew O’Leary’s 50.29-seconds in the 400 broke a four-year mark set by United’s Zane Smith, and he anchored the 4x400 relay that secured South Range’s victory over Crestview and Mineral Ridge, who tied for second place.
“Coming down the homestretch against the head wind is never easy, but I was just focusing on the finish and securing the win,” O’Leary said. “I needed to bring it home because a team victory is more special than an individual record.”
Ryan Roush broke his own record in the 3200, running 9:56.26.
Ruth Prosko, Maggie Briceland, Natalie Gamble and Emily Guaponne started off United’s day with a first place finish in the 4x800. Guaponne then swept the 1600 and 3200, while Allison Parks won the 800.
“We’re a strong team now,” Guaponne said. “We know before-hand what we need to get and where we need to finish to ultimately win a meet like this. At the end of the day, we need to always feel like we did our best.”