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Valley earns 3 second-place finishes on Day 1
By Brian Dzenis
COLUMBUS
Two guys made the bar rattle, but for Lisbon’s Seth Stokes, the bar fell down.
That’s how the Division III state title in the high jump was decided after Stokes and Piketon’s Timothy Trawick raised the bar all the way to 6-foot-9.
“It’s just like how I lost at 6-7 last year,” Stokes said. “My bar fell off and his stayed on. It was the luck of the bounce.”
The pair were in a dead heat and had their scary moments. Both jumpers were on their last jump and they were tied for total misses through the tournament. Had they both failed at 6-9, they would have needed a jump off to decide the championship. In a jump off, the bar is alternately raised and lowered and each jumper gets one attempt until there is a winner.
Trawick nearly bowed out at 6-5, but Stokes needed his last jump to get over 6-6.
“After I hit the bar twice, I got mad,” Stokes said. “I just said, ‘This is so easy, why am I not hitting it?’” I just ran and jumped. I wasn’t even thinking about form.”
Trawick did his ritual backflip before he made the deciding jump. He hit the bar, but it stayed on. Stokes got most of his torso over the bar before the small of his back grazed the bar to send it tumbling.
“I have a lot of room to improve, my form isn’t perfect and my timing is off,” Stokes said. “I just want to come up here and I really don’t want to lose this year.”
Stokes was one of three Mahoning Valley representatives to take runner-up status on the opening day — the others were Newton Falls discus thrower Kayla Barreca in D-II and Maplewood’s 4x800 relay team in D-III — and there were three who took third.
Barreca’s day didn’t contain as much drama. Garfield’s Lauren Jones won her third state title with her best throw (157-09.00) beating Barreca’s best (148-10.00), by nearly 10 feet. East Liverpool’s Lindsay Baker took third with a throw of 145-09.00.
“I think I was winning for a throw and then I think she threw a 153 for her second throw,” Barreca said. “My personal best is 151, so I was confident I could beat her if I got my technique down. It just didn’t happen today.”
The top three in the discus will meet again today in the shot put.
“I don’t plan on beating [Jones] tomorrow. I just plan on getting on the podium,” Barreca said. “If I get 40 feet, I’m happy.”
The Rockets relay team of Adam Burgand, Ethan Sparks, Nick Cowger and Jake Hall were just two seconds away from winning the title (7:52.98). East Canton had a winning time of 7:50.68.
Crestview shot putter Dominic Perry became the Rebels’ first state qualifier and placer in coach Greg Woolman’s seven-year tenure with the team.
“Our goal was to get on the podium. As coach, my selfish goal was to get top three and we did,” Woolman said. “That was special for him, his family and Crestview as well. Dominic was the perfect person to do and he represented us well.”
Perry took third with a throw of 55-05.50 in D-II. Napoleon’s Sam Meece won with a throw of 59-00.75.
“I thought about this everytime I practiced, just getting to state and getting on the podium,” Perry said.
In D-III, Valley Christian long jumper Dante Yanno salvaged a rough start with a third-place finish. The future Air Force Academy cadet fouled his first two jumps, but on his fourth, he hit his best mark of 22-01.25.
“I’m not going to say I was nervous, but my mind wasn’t really in it,” Yanno said. “I had to get my mind right, focus and I made it happen.”
There were a few high placers in the preliminary races on Friday. In D-III, Brookfield’s Xavier Bailey was second in the 100 with a time of 11.09 seconds. In D-II. Salem’s 4x400 relay team of Lex Murray, Connor McKee, Turner Johnson and Quinlan Rumsey were first by running 3:21.04.
Another final to watch today is the D-II 300 hurdles. West Branch’s Rob Lozier was fourth overall and second in his heat, but the difference between his time (39.42) and the three runners above him is less than a second.
“It’s going to be tough. I’m going to have to run the race of a lifetime,” Lozier said. “It’s something I can definitely do.”