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Fitch, Harding run well at Optimist Meet
Richardson wins
long jump, helps
Raiders take relay
at Optimist Meet
By Brandon Judeh
Austintown
Warren G. Harding has quietly turned into a track and field powerhouse in the Mahoning Valley.
But by looking at the athletes you would never know it, as a humble demeanor helps them fly under the radar at most meets, including the 34th annual Optimist Meet on Saturday at Fitch Falcon Stadium.
“There’s no doubt that people see Harding as a football school first, when I took over the job here I knew that was the case and I accept that,” said Raiders head coach Charles Penny.
“But all of our track kids have kind of taken a silent acceptance of this because they are very proud of what they are doing out there, which is year in and year out they are competing for state titles. That is something the other programs aren’t doing.”
Sophomore Justice Richardson cleaned up during a windy Saturday afternoon as she won the long jump and 4x100 relay.
Richardson also finished second in the 200.
“It feels great,” Richardson said. “Our team really came together for the 4x100 race and did a good job running a 48.51. We have been training very hard and working at getting better, so it feels good to come out and win this race.”
Aisha Jackson, Chyna Stroud and Gariana Bercheni joined Richardson in the 4x100.
Richardson also added that the support of the Warren community has really helped in their success.
“It’s great knowing that the community is behind both the boys and girls track teams,” she said. “They realize that both teams have a great shot at winning a state championship.”
Jackson took home the girls 100 hurdles title with a time of 15.13 and joined Stroud, Bercheni and Nautica Hill by winning the 4x400 relay.
Host Austintown Fitch also had a strong effort.
The Falcons’ boys 4x400 relay team — Gary Gibson, Darrin Hall, Nathan Bowlen and Joe Harrington — grabbed first place.
“This was a big win and will really help us going forward,” Bowlen said. “We are really looking forward to the next three weeks worth of races and the good weather that should go along with it.”
The foursome also took home first place in the 4x100 relay.
“Coming into today one of our goals was to put our kids in a situation against some great competition to see where they are at this point of the season,” Fitch head coach T.J. Koniowsky said.
“We didn’t really have any team goals today. We just wanted to put our kids in certain situations against the best of the best to get a better idea of where our team is at.”
The Fitch boys placed highest out of the local schools, finishing in third place with 46 points.
The Fitch girls girls performed well. Carissa Jenkins finished second in the girls 1600 and teamed with Makaila Barbel, Brittany Floyd and Jayme Ritchie to place second in the 4x400 relay.
The Falcon finished in fourth place with 48 points, while the Raider girls finished in second place behind Solon, with 62 team points.
McDonald’s Jail’Lyn Mosley won the girls discus with a throw of 157-05 and the Blue Devils’ Christian Smith finished second in the boys discus with a throw of 180-07.
McDonald’s Bobby Johnson finished second in the boy 3,200.
Warren JFK’s Carl Zallow finished second in the 100 with a time of 10.55, narrowly losing out to SVSM’s Parris Campbell by .08 seconds.
United’s Allison Parks dominated the girls 800 with a time of 2.21.14
Results from the 34th annual Optimist Meet can be found on Page B2.