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Mooney’s Penza wins district long jump title
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Cardinal Mooney’s Marcus Penza jumped a season-best 20 feet, 6 inches to edge out top-seeded Alex Radwanski of Garrettsville Garfield to win the long jump by a half-inch at the Division II district track meet Thursday at Lakeview High School.
Penza, lakeview relaY WIN D-II DISTRICT TITLES
By Joe scalo
CORTLAND
The first time Marcus Penza tried the long jump was as a middle schooler at Jackson-Milton.
It didn’t go great.
“I jumped once and my coach was like, ‘All right, you’re retired from this,’” Penza said.
When asked how long he jumped, Penza shook his head and said, “I don’t know. It wasn’t too good, I’ll tell you that.”
Penza transferred to Cardinal Mooney as a freshman, gave it another shot and showed some promise.
“From there, it took off,” he said.
At Thursday’s Division II district meet, Penza weathered a cloud-sneezing, temperature-plummeting, profanity-inducing afternoon to leap a season-best 20 feet, 6 inches, edging top-seeded Alex Radwanski of Garrettsville Garfield by a half-inch.
“It feels good,” said Penza, who fled to the team bus during one rain delay and wore a clear plastic poncho in between jumps. “Mooney basketball won districts and our baseball team just won districts, so to bring home another district title feels good.”
Lakeview’s 4x800-meter relay felt the same way as the Bulldogs captured their second district title in the event in the past three years.
“I won it my sophomore year anchoring,” said senior Eric Harris, “so it feels good to do it again.”
Bulldog junior Christopher Edie, who runs the second leg, wasn’t feeling quite as good afterward. After giving Lakeview the lead with a strong second lap, Edie (to borrow a Seinfeld term) “refunded” his lunch. He clutched a cup of water throughout his interview, where he admitted he keeps a toothbrush in his bookbag for these kinds of emergencies.
“It doesn’t happen very often,” he said, “but I do have one on me.”
Junior Luke Brantingham kept the lead during the third leg and Harris held off a strong surge from CVCA anchor Ryan Adams.
“He’s a fantastic 800 runner,” Harris said of Adams. “I tried to go and hoped I could hold him off. I got the job done, so it’s a good day.”
Lakeview junior Jordan Lowther earned his first regional berth, placing second in the discus after finishing eighth in the event last year. He struggled a little bit with his footing in the finals on the wet circle — “It felt better during my first flight when there wasn’t as much rain” — but was satisfied with advancing to regionals.
“That’s pretty much what I wanted,” said Lowther, who believes he’ll need a career-best throw next week to move on to the state meet. “I’m hoping to make top four again [next week]. I think I can do it.”
Girard high jumpers Brandi Shonce (a sophomore) and Savannah Teter (a freshman) finished 2-3 in the event, earning regional trips. Shonce fouled all three of her attempts at 5 feet — “I kind of psyched myself out at the end” — but after placing fifth at last year’s district meet, she was happy to move on.
“It’s kind of an honor to make it this year and especially to go with somebody as good as Savannah,” Shonce said. “It’s always better to have your teammates out there so you’re not alone.”
Lakeview’s boys (21 points) and Girard’s girls (20 points) led in the team standings after three events.
The meet continues at 10 a.m. Saturday at Lakeview High School.