East Liverpool’s Baker, Salem’s 400 relay star on Day 2

June 4, 2017 at 12:08a.m.

COLUMBUS

The pride of Salem track salvaged what had been an awful weekend.

The Quaker boys started the State Track and Field Tournament on Friday with a last-place finish in the Division II 4x800 relay. They followed up with a 13th place mark in the 4x200. Quinlan Rumsey offered no excuses. They ran bad races. The 4x400 offered a chance at redemption.

“Our 4x4 is kind of the pride of what we do and we always feel like we have something to prove.” Rumsey said. “If there’s one thing Salem has, it’s 400 runners.”

Rumsey anchored Connor McKee, Lex Murray, and Turner as they won their 4x400 heat Friday to set the stage for Saturday.

“Basically we had to forget about it and move on, you know?” McKee said. “There were bigger things the next day and that’s all there is to it.”

The Quakers ended their season on a high note with a runner-up finish, leading for half the race before falling behind eventual winner Lexington by less than a second. Rumsey crossed the finish line at 3 minutes, 21.51 seconds.

“It was definitely a mix of emotions. There was a lot of frustration and anger yesterday,” Rumsey said. “This almost evens it out, but it’s a great feeling to be down here and do what we’ve done.”

Salem wasn’t the only Columbiana County school to have a successful Saturday. Senior shot putter Lindsay Baker returns to East Liverpool as a state champion, which won’t go unnoticed in the small Columbiana County community. It’s the school’s first state champion in girls track since 1983.

“It’s a big deal. Our school district is small and whenever someone makes it this far, the whole town knows,” Baker said. “The whole town supports you and it’s a great feeling.”

Baker — the Potters’ only state qualifier in D-II — brought 15 people with her to Columbus and her mother livestreamed her throws on Facebook for those who couldn’t make it. East Liverpool’s police and fire department escorted her out of the city and they’ll welcome her back.

The deciding throw was her third, a 45-feet, 8.5-inch heave. Her worst throw that counted was 43-09.75 and also was enough to win. She’s made state previously as a discus thrower, but only recently started taking the shot put seriously.

“I did [shot put] all four years, but I always liked discus more. I knew I wanted to go to college for throwing,” said Baker, an Ashland commit. “I just worked harder at it and it worked well for me.”

Newton Falls junior Izzy Kline was the runner-up with her best throw coming at 43-09.25. Teammate Kayla Barreca was ninth, throwing 39-05.00.

Despite just two years of track experience, LaBrae’s Tariq Drake put up a bronze medal performance in the D-II 200 with a time of 21.77. The Ohio University football commit leaned forward to beat Norwayne’s Brevin Harris by 0.02 seconds and there’s no regrets about picking up the sport late.

“I was a baseball player and after two years, I was like ‘man, I’m batting at the bottom of the lineup and I’m not doing too well,’” Drake said. “Everyone was telling me how fast I was. It was a pretty successful decision.”

West Branch’s Rob Lozier barely missed out on third, falling over the finish line 0.03 seconds behind Sheridan’s Ethan Tabor. He still hit a new personal record and was upbeat about the experience.

“Even though I’m not winning it or whatever, the football team came down and this was so much more fun with them,” said Lozier, who took fifth in the same event last year. “This year was the best year.”