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Once again, McDonald runners race to top of the district meet
By Steve wilaj
NEW MIDDLETOWN
Something familiar happened at Wednesday’s Division III track and field district tournament at Springfield High.
The McDonald High boys track team was again victorious.
Although the evening consisted of mostly semifinals events, the Blue Devils — winners of six straight district titles — took first place in the lone finals running event.
The combination of Kyle Joynes, Patrick Kunkel, Bobby Johnson and Allan Coviello finished with a time of 8:13 in the boys 4X800-meter relay.
“It’s a pretty good feeling,” Kunkel said. “We popped off a pretty good time. I think it’s our second fastest time of the year.”
McDonald coach Louis Domitrovich said, “I’m happy with today, but we still have a lot left in the tank and a lot left to prove,”
Senior leader Joynes was especially satisfied with the performance, considering his belief that the team could have ran better.
“I know some of the guys on our team didn’t run as well as we thought they could have,” Joynes said. “But the time we got was still really, really good.”
Domitrovich said Joynes’ leadership is key in helping the team succeed.
“We feed off of Kyle quite a bit,” Domitrovich said. “When it comes to middle-distance and distance runners around the state, [Joynes and Kunkel] are certainly always talked about.”
Finishing second in the 4X800 was South Range, with a time of 8:17. Domitrovich expects tough competition from the Raiders — as well as Warren John F. Kennedy — in the rest of the finals events.
“JFK is a very good team and South Range is a pretty balanced team overall, so it will be interesting to see how things play out,” Domitrovich said.
On the girls side, United finished in 9:53 in the 4X800, good enough for first place. The McDonald girls took second place, with a time of 9:55.
An impressive showing in a field event, Lowellville High’s Kelly Hynes was the winner of the girls high jump, leaping a mark of 5-feet-2-inches.
There were also many notables in the semifinals events.
Campbell Memorial’s Gabriel Smith had a first place time of 15.44 seconds in the boys 110-meter hurdles.
Shartece Taylor of Wellsville High ran the girls 100-meter dash in 12.94 seconds.
Tim Nichols finished the boys 1600-meter run in 4:38 for South Range.
And the 4X100-meter girls team of Springfield High finished in 51.86, just shy of the record time, 50.64.
The final events, which will take place Friday at 4 p.m., will consist of the top eight qualifiers of the semifinals events.
As for what to expect in the finals, Kunkel may have summed it up best.
“You never know what could happen in the Friday races,” he said. “We’ll see what happens, I guess.”