Saturday, May 26, 2012
Fitch’s Price wins; Howland’s squad edged
By Brandon Judeh
austintown
The Division I track and field regional finals at Fitch high school featured its fair share of joy, triumph and defeat as competitors vied for a trip to state.
The host team started things off on the right foot when the Falcons girls 4x100 meter relay team punched their ticket to state.
“All we wanted was to finish in the top four so we could make it to state,” Fitch senior Jenna Yacovone said. “It feels even more awesome because last year we were so close, but didn’t make it and now we are on our way to state, I cried I was so happy.”
Another Fitch standout Billy Price also isheaded to state after winning the shot put with a throw of 58 feet 1.25 inches.
His trainer, T.J. Koniowsky, says that despite the win, things weren’t looking good for Price earlier in the week.
“On Thursday, Coach [Richard] Warner from Ohio State showed up at practice and he started trying too hard, but he refocused and things turned out well,” Koniowsky said.
Things, however didn’t fare as well for Howland in the boys 4x100 meter relay. It was neck and neck between the Tigers and Warren G. Harding for the final spot for state.
After a photo finish, Howland’s Jason Daniels, Matt Hayes, Brendan Cope and Willie Summerlin waited for what seemed like an eternity for the final result.
Moments later, the foursome fell to the ground in agony as Harding edged them by 0.04 seconds.
“It was the first time Harding beat us all year, its tough,” Cope said.
Daniels said, “It stinks to get fifth, we worked so hard, but fell short, but the top four teams did a great job, congratulations to them.”
The four runners decided earlier in the season to “unite as one” and get Mohawks. Daniels said that once he started sporting his new hair, he shaved half a second off of his time. That is when his teammates decided to “lose the hair, lose the time.”
Cope said, “We lost by less than one tenth of a second, we should have [gone] bald,” Cope said.
Solon ran away with the overall title, scoring 60 total points. Harding finished in fourth place with 20.50 points while Fitch finished in a five-way tie for seventh.
Other notable athletes making the trip to state will be: Alexandra Allen from Harding (100-meter hurdles), Austintown’s Carissa Jenkins (1600-meter), the Harding girls 4x100 meter relay team, East’s Deshawn Burley and Andrew Hamilton from Howland (300-meter hurdles).
Canfield senior Conner Hoelzel threw a personal best 53-11.50 on his way to qualifying for state.
His coach, Nick Wagner, says that Hoelzel has improved his throwing by nearly 25 feet since his freshman year while learning how to put a full spin on the shot put.