Boys track captures championship

The Boardman boys track team defeated 11 other schools to capture the team championship at the 2015 Bedford Kimberly Relays.

The Spartans opened the meet with a first place finish from senior Nick Long in the 3200 in a time of 10:11.

In the next event, the 800-meter run, junior Adam Deeley placed fourth overall in 2:11. The first relay on the track was the shuttle hurdles with the team of junior Nick Cessna, junior Canon Carlisle, sophomore Don Lewis and senior Zach Smotzer placing third in 1:13. The sprint medley team of sophomore Jeff Kollar, senior Jon Cina, sophomore Sheldon Broyles and sophomore Kobe Adu-Poku was seventh in a time of 1:42.4. The distance medley team of sophomore Matt Maroni, sophomore Jonathan Tran, sophomore Chris Butler and sophomore Nick Digiacomo finished fourth in a time of 12:31.2.

In the next event, the 4x200, the team of Adu-Poku, Kollar, freshman Noah Massie and junior Tyler Kellam finished sixth overall in a time of 1:38.8. In the 110 hurdles, Cessna finished third overall in a time of 17.70 and in the 100 dash Broyles was fourth in a time of 11.40. The 4x800 relay team of junior Nathan Hadley, Long, sophomore Nathaniel Ams and Deeley placed first overall at 8:53. The 4x100 team of Broyles, Massie, Cina and Kollar placed seventh in a time of 46.30.

Hadley placed first in the 1600 in a time of 4:36. In the field events, the Spartans placed first in the shot put relay with the team of senior Doug Kephart and junior Jason Jama with throws of 46 feet 6.5 inchies and 45 feet 5 inches, respectively.

The discus relay team of Kephart and junior Shawn Devlin placed first with throws of 130 feet and 123 feet 8 inches, respectively. The long jump relay team of sophomore Richard Fisher and Massie placed sixth and the high jump relay of Fisher and freshman Justice Jama placed fourth.

Finally, the pole vault relay team of seniors Andrew Cessna and Dan Liptak placed third.

“This was a great confidence booster for our entire program,” said Spartan Head Coach John Phillips, “we had a bunch of freshmen and sophomores compete against very good senior laden teams and to come out on top is a tribute to our kids and coaches.”