McDonald’s Smith leads Valley sweep in D3 discus

Staff report

NAVARRE

McDonald junior Christian Smith won the discus with a throw of 178 feet, 9 inches to lead a Mahoning Valley sweep in the event at Wednesday’s Division III regional track and field meet at Fairless High School.

Ursuline sophomore Jonathan Neeley (164-5) was second, followed by Newton Falls junior Bucyrus Palo (163-8) and Maplewood senior Stephen Pop (159-5). The top four in each event advance to next week’s state meet.

Maplewood’s 4x800-meter relay team of senior Solomon Yoder, senior Scott Rupe, freshman Jake Hall and junior Derek Morrison placed second with a time of 8:07.38. The Rockets will be joined in Columbus by McDonald’s relay team of senior Allan Coviello, junior David Natoli, sophomore Marco Mediati and senior Bobby Johnson, which placed fourth in 8:15.01.

Mathews senior Wyatt Ford placed fourth in the long jump at 20-1 1/2.

On the girls side, McDonald senior Jai’Lyn Mosley won the discus with a throw of 40-7 1/2 and classmate Tory Ross was third in 39-6 3/4. No area athletes qualified in the high jump or the 4x800 relay.

The event continues on Friday, with field events at 5 p.m. and running finals at 6.