Friday, May 18, 2012
Gallery
Images by Nick Mays from the Division 2 Track Meet at Reilly Stadium, Salem.
SALEM
The Salem track and field teams wear shirts that say “#JustThatFast.” Taking the hashtag sensation from twitter and putting it on a shirt was the idea of new coach Matt Moffett.
The Quakers have really embraced it.
“It’s great,” sprinter Marcus Crittendon said. “It’s like our motto. We talk about the wins and races and celebrate with the hashtag on there.”
Type in #JustThatFast on twitter and several results from Salem runners come up, including Crittendon’s page — #JustThatFast is in his biography.
The Quaker boys are in second place with 25 points, trailing Akron Manchester by 4.5, after the preliminary round of the Division II meet at Reilly Stadium.
Crittendon believes they’ve lived up to their trending moniker, but Thursday didn’t start out that favorable. Leading after two handoffs in the 4x200, his handoff with Zack Penick failed and the Quakers were disqualified.
“I kind of double-clutched it,” Crittendon said. “I was trying to give it to Zack, but we weren’t in tune for the handoff.
“I was really frustrated. It took a while stepping off the track to accept that we messed up, but we still had to look forward to the next event.”
That was the 4x100. They won their heat, but took second place behind Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary’s record time of 42.31.
Caleb Quinn and Scott Lodge, also of Salem, won the 110 and 300 hurdles, respectively. Another Quaker, Anthony Shivers, won the discus throw and advanced to the regional for the third straight year. He shattered the district meet record in the process.
“I was actually really nervous coming in,” Shivers admitted.
A preliminary throw of 185 was 5 feet longer than his personal best and 21 feet greater than the previous meet record set in 1997. He’d top it, though, with a 188 in his next attempt.
“When I’m thinking too much or just warming up too fast, I start to lose focus,” he said. “So I was happy to get locked in early. I got them to go down the left sector and I know once it starts sailing that way — it’s a good throw.”
Shivers wear a #JustThatFast shirt, too.
“We were going to change it to “just that far” for me,” he said. “Haven’t got around to that yet.”
“He definitely has lived up to that expectation and he deserves it,” Crittendon said laughing.
Poland’s Chris Anderson and Patrick Hiznay finished first and second in the 400 and followed it up with a thrilling performance in the 4x400.
In the second leg, Conner McFadden caught up with a SVSM runner before handing the baton off to Hiznay who extended the lead. In the last leg, Anderson felt Patrick O’Brien of the Fighting Irish creeping up. He was eventually passed in the final 200, but only for a step.
“I knew he was going to kick,” Anderson said. “I just didn’t know when. I saved up some of my pace On that last 200, he may have had a foot on me so I just went had it — I had to do it.”
Anderson exploded around the final bend and won with a time of 3:27.92.
“All three guys ahead of me just set me up well to finish,” he added.
Struthers’ Catlyn Walker won the 1600 prelims in 5:32.21. Poland’s Michelle Klim was second with a time of 5:38.9. Nadiya Morgan, also of Struthers, was second in the 400 at 58.97. The Wildcats 4x400 team of Iesha Walker, Layla Harrison, Morgan and Walker was second behind SVSM in 4:12.20.
The West Branch boys and girls both qualified for the regional in the 4x800 as both St. Vincent-St. Mary’s teams set records in the event.