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Poland’s Partika continues strong season for Bulldogs
By Joe Scalzo
AUSTINTOWN
Three hundred and 64 days after narrowly missing out on his dream, Poland senior Bryan Partika stood at the starting line for Saturday’s 110-meter hurdles, looked up at the sky and said, “God, I hope you run with me today.”
“And then he did,” Partika said, grinning.
Running out of Lane 7, Partika placed second in the high hurdles at the Division II regional meet to earn his first state berth, thrusting his arms in the air as he crossed the finish line, then pumping his fists. Over the next two hours, Partika advanced to Columbus in two more events, placing fourth in the 300 hurdles (the top four move on) and helping the 4x400 relay place second.
It was a good day for a guy who has had his share of bad days at the regional meet, failing to qualify in five events over the previous two years, including a fifth-place finish in last year’s 300 hurdles.
“It feels awesome,” he said. “I’ve been waiting so long. I was hungry for this. Really hungry.”
Partika will have plenty of company in Columbus as the Bulldogs advanced two other relays, the 4x100 and 4x200, and finished an area-best fifth in the team standings with 39 points. It continued a strong 2014-15 school year for Poland’s boys programs, which won district titles in soccer (Partika was a captain on that team), basketball, baseball (which also won the regional) and track and advanced to the state football playoffs.
“We knew our class was athletic and we’ve been working since middle school to achieve something great,” he said. “It’s just a wonderful feeling to be part of soccer in the fall and now track.”
Putting shot first
Cardinal Mooney senior Dante Penza followed up Thursday’s discus victory by winning the shot put on Saturday. Penza had to skip his high school graduation — it started at 10 a.m., while the shot put began at 11:30 — but got his diploma on the medal stand from Mooney principal Mark Vollmer.
“Both are once-in-a-lifetime experiences,” Penza said. “I guess I experienced both on the same day.”
Penza threw a personal-best 153 feet, 1 inch to finish eighth in the discus at last year’s state meet and is hoping for career-bests in both throwing events next week.
“I’m gonna focus on technique all week because I know once I get to the meet, all the energy will be there,” the Walsh University track recruit said. “I think I can do well. I’m really excited.”
Regional record-setter
West Branch senior Zach Robbins broke a 17-year-old regional record in the high jump by a quarter-inch, clearing 6-9 1/4.
“I knew it was gonna be one of the last records I could get,” he said. “I wanted that one.”
Robbins placed second at last year’s state meet by one inch — Linden McKinley sophomore Jeffery Floyd jumped 6-10 — and placed second at March’s indoor state meet to Shelby senior Cody Stine. Both jumped 6-10, but Robbins lost because he had the more recent miss.
He’d like to clear 7 feet next week and erase all doubt.
“I’ve been gunning for 7 foot since the beginning of the year,” he said. “It’d be a heck of a place to get it.”
Hill thrills
Hubbard junior George Hill, an Ohio State football recruit, ran a personal-best 10.75 in the 100-meter dash to finish second to defending state champion Dakari Carter of Streetsboro (10.61).
“I knew this day was gonna mean a lot,” said Hill, whose previous best was 10.99. “I practiced hard for it and it shows, I guess.”
It was the first state berth for Hill, who missed the second half of last track season with a cyst on his foot. He’s hoping to run a 10.6 next week.
“Anything’s possible,” he said.
Trebella leads girls
In girls competition, Girard senior Caitlyn Trebella earned the Valley’s only gold medal, finishing first in the pole vault with a leap of 10-6. The Indians, who won last week’s district meet, finished an area-best seventh in the team standings. Ursuline senior Alexandra Carnathan and Poland senior Nicolette Kreatsoulas (discus) each earned silver medals.