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Fitch boys ride relays to D-I district track title
AUSTINTOWN
Austintown Fitch sprinter Gary Gibson knew what type of competition his Falcons were up against in Friday’s Division I district track meet at Fitch Falcon Stadium.
More specifically, the team from Solon High.
“They always produce pretty good sprinters, and being a sprinter, they’re my best competition,” Gibson said.
Although the senior was edged out by Solon’s Brandon Bolden in the 100-meter dash, Gibson and the Falcons got redemption in the relays.
The Fitch boys swept the relay competitions to secure a district title by 3.5 points over Solon. Although not every member of the Falcons team was expecting a district crown.
“We came into this meet preparing to actually lose,” senior hurdler and jumper Sam Ortz said. “We were looking at points where we were down and where we need to step up.
“So we’re pretty happy right now.”
Ortz won 110 hurdles and the high jump, placed second in 300 hurdles, and third in the long jump.
Joe Harrington won the 200 dash and Dylan Latone won the pole vault with a record jump of 15 feet.
The Falcons’ relay team of Gibson, Nathan Bowlen, Darrin Hall and Harrington won the 4x100, 4x200 and the final 4x400 event to clinch the district.
“If everyone just does their best on their individual leg, then we’ll just come together as a team,” Gibson said before the final event, with his Falcons clinging to a narrow team lead.
They did just that and out-ran Solon by more than four seconds to win the 4x440m relay. A little friendly competition for motivation never hurts, either.
“Everyone’s really close and that definitely helps the competition,” Gibson said. “When you know somebody it makes you try that much harder to beat them the next time.”
In other boys events, Boardman’s Mark Hadley ran away with the 3200, finishing in 9:18.32. Howland’s Ryan Sullivan in 9:26.85, while Hadley’s teammate Alan Burns came in third.
After the meet, Burns exited the locker room holding up a pair of running shoes.
“Are these Mark’s?” he asked aloud. “He might want to hold onto them since they work pretty well.”
Someone from the crowd joked, “Nah, he’s retiring them.”
East’s Terell McClain won the long jump in record-setting fashion. The senior set the district mark with a jump of 23 feet, 1 1/2 inches.
The Warren Harding girls track team came into the meet hoping to overcome defending state champion Solon.
The Raiders had to settle for second, although they set a district record in the 4x200 meter relay.
Aisha Jackson led off the meet with a win in the 100 hurdles and followed it up with a first-place finish in the 300 hurdles.
“I felt comfortable when I went over the first hurdle,” Jackson said after her first event. “When I go over that third hurdle, that’s when I know I’m ahead.”
Nautica Hill ran a sub-one minute 400 to earn a third first-place finish for the Raiders.
Justice Richardson was ousted by three-tenths of a second in the 100 by Solon’s Jelvon Butler.