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Harding girls, Fitch boys second in D-I regional
By Steve WILAJ
austintown
You don’t always see David Baugh, as he’s usually packed in the middle of the crowd wearing a black t-shirt. But you certainly always hear him.
The Warren Harding High track and field team calls him “Worm.” He’s a passionate Harding fan who yells the athletes’ names — as loud as he can — prior to each event, always followed by a long and exaggerated ‘Let’s go!’
“He is the heart to this team that gets everybody pumped to run even if we don’t even want to,” Raiders sophomore runner Aisha Jackson said. “We love him that he’s always here screaming all of our names to make sure everybody knows who we are.”
Worm will have a lot to scream about next weekend. And Columbus will surely know of the Harding girls track team.
Three Raider relay teams qualified for state while Jackson and fellow sophomore Justice Richardson also won individual events Friday at the Division I regional track meet at Fitch Falcon Stadium. Overall, Harding (60.5 points) finished second to Solon (81).
“We definitely pulled it together for this meet,” Richardson said. “And we definitely deserve all the accolades from all the hard work we put in.”
Richardson placed first in the 100 with a time of 12.28 seconds and also was a part of Harding’s winning 4x100 and 4x200 Harding relay teams. She was joined by Chyna Stroud, Nautica Hill, Gariana Bercheni and Emily Stevens — all underclassmen.
“It feels great to be going to state as an individual,” Richardson. “And I knew our relay teams were gonna do a great job because of all the speed we have.”
Harding’s 4x400 relay team, with a fourth-place finish, is also advancing to state. That lineup consists of Stroud, Hill, Stevens and Jackson.
Jackson will also compete individually in Columbus after finishing first in the 100 hurdles and second in the 300 hurdles.
“It feels wonderful because going to state means everything to me,” Jackson said. “The 300, I wish I could have hung on a little bit longer, but I’m happy.”
The Austintown Fitch boys are sending a large group to Columbus next weekend as well. The Falcons’ 4x200 and 4x400 teams placed second while its 4x100 squad finished third. Gary Gibson, Nathan Bowlen, Joe Harrington and Darrin Hall made up all three lineups.
Fitch (49) finished second to Cleveland Glenville (53) in the team standings.
“We’ve been doing hard workouts all week to push back our peak because we don’t want the same results as last year,” Harrington said. “We were hungry to get back. We struggled with some injuries a little, but now we’re back on track.”
Harrington and Bowlen also qualified for state in the 200 with third- and fourth-place finishes respectively. Another Falcon, Sam Ortz, will head to Columbus after finishing second in the high jump.
They’ll be joined by the Fitch girls 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams of Brittany Floyd, Ebony Davis, Jayme Ritchie and Makaila Barbel. The Falcons placed fourth in each race.
“Last year we were so close and just missed, so it’s real exciting to get down to state,” Ritchie said. “We lost some good athletes last year and I don’t think people had a lot of confidence in us. But us four girls really came together and pushed for it.”
Other locals who qualified for state are East’s Terell McClain in the long jump (23-3), Howland’s Taylor Craigo with a fourth-place finish in the 1600 and Mark Hadley of Boardman who finished third in the 3200. Harding’s Ja’vone McCollough-Provi also qualified with a fourth-place finish in the shot put.