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Niles’ Matlock soars with four wins, two AAC White records
Niles’ Matlock soars with four wins, AAC White records
By Brian Dzenis
POLAND
Kyndia Matlock is a dancer and a runner.
The Niles sophomore takes her cues from the dance floor to the track and on Monday at the All-American Conference White Tier Championship, she stepped to the tune of four first-place finishes and two meet records.
“[It gives you] that smoothness in track that you need,” Matlock said. “I do all different styles of dance, but ballet is a big help for my flexibility and my transitions with each step.”
She set a new meet record in the 200 and the 4x100 relay. Her 200 time of 27.19 seconds beat fellow Red Dragon Tiawna Whitmore’s mark of 27.30 in 2014.
Matlock anchored the 4x100 relay team of Emma Reed, Bella Sergi and Halli Petillo, finishing with a time of 52.44. Poland set the old record of 53.70 in 2014.
The same relay crew won the 4x200 relay, finishing just 0.33 off the record time.
The chance of getting a third record in one day was there for the taking in the 100. All she had to do was beat her own record of 12.95 from her freshman season.
She tied it.
“I wanted to do better, that time wasn’t my best,” Matlock said. “I’ve run a 12.55 and I ran a 12.95.”
Niles coach Alan Caldwell knew he a talent in Matlock since she was in seventh grade.
“She approached me and said she didn’t want to work out with the middle school kids. She wanted to work out with the high school kids,” Caldwell said. “She let me know right there, ‘Coach, I have the eye of the tiger,’ so I let her work out with the high school kids.”
He taught her to run the 400 just to get her strength up for other events. As much as dancing helps her in her career, Caldwell had to take some of the dancer out of her to make her into a viable runner.
“It’s her footwork, she would be dancing on her toes and stuff like that,” Caldwell said. “You want her running on the balls of her feet.”
Matlock made a regionals appearance as a freshman and is eyeing more as the postseason starts next week.
“I want to make to state, the regionals were a big eye-opener. Hopefully I can make a big difference this season,” Matlock said. “I trust myself more on the track. It was all new to me and I was looking at other schools rather than being in my zone. My head is different this year.
Other area girls winners on Monday was Struthers’ Keasia Chism in the 100 hurdles, Lakeview’s Mara Wilson in the 300 hurdles and Lakeview’s Abby Langmeyer in the high jump.
Jefferson leads the team lead with 120 points. The AAC title won’t be officially decided until today because the pole vault wasn’t completed due to Poland not having the facilities for it. The pole vault will be completed at Lakeview.
Lakeview boys track coach Mark Swinning wasn’t a fan of the arrangement. Lakeview is a regular host of large track meets, including the Trumbull County Meet.
“We should be at a place that holds all the events. We shouldn’t have to wait to see who wins the title just because of one event,” Swinning said. “I don’t know what happened there.
“I know we’ve had three athletic directors in three years, maybe the conference is leery of a school that’s unsettled in that area.
“Poland is solid. They’ve had the same people for a long time. It’s a good fit, but they don’t vault.”
That fact will decide the tier title. Poland leads Lakeview 134-133.50 after all the Saturday events, but will not have any participants in the pole vault. Lakeview has two and barring a disaster, the Cortland-based Bulldogs will have their first conference title since 2014. The team had won 12 straight titles before the streak snapped that year.
“It’s devastating coming into my sophomore and junior year and losing the conference meet,” Lakeview senior Jatise Garrison said. “It’s nice to come back and win some meets like this.”
Garrison recorded a clean sweep in his four events, winning the 110 and 300 hurdles, the 4x100 relay and the long jump. The latter was the most dramatic of the three.
Four jumpers, Poland’s Alexander Catsoules and Richard Bailey along with Lakeview’s Tannor Drum and Garrison cleared 19 inches. Garrison won with a leap of 19-06, beating out Drum’s leap of 19-05. This came after Garrison barely made the finals field with a shaky prelims performance.
“I snuck into the finals. I shouldn’t even be in the finals. I came off really bad,” Garrison said. “I had to make up for it.”
Struthers’ Kyle Lough won the 100 and 200 and he Wildcats’ Kylel Griffin won the high jump. Poland took the 4x200 and Drew Davies won the shot put for the hosts.