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Youth is served in district meet at Fitch
AUSTINTOWN
The younger athletes put on a show at the Division I district track and field meet at Austintown Fitch Friday as a number of freshmen and sophomores won titles.
Six final events were won by area freshmen or sophomores.
East’s Jahniya Bowers won the 100, 200 and powered the Panthers to a fourth-place finish in the 4x100 relay, qualifying them for regionals after East was in last place at the start of the final leg.
Howland freshman Ashley Bowker won the 300 hurdles while Fitch freshman Alena Williams won the 400. For the sophomores, Warren Harding’s Theran Hargrove won the 200, Fitch’s Ralph Fitzgerald won the 100 and two Harding sophomores (Hargrove and Kayron Adams) were part of the 4x100 relay team that won as well.
Other area track winners included Fitch junior Lauren Dolak in the 800, Boardman’s Casey Zaitzew in the 3200 and Howland’s George Beatty-Marsh in the 400.
Boardman’s George Wallace won the boys shot put as well.
But Bowers stole the show, winning her two events and propelling East to regionals in the 4x100 relay. The Panthers were seeded last going into the event.
“I think my day was great,” Bowers said. “It couldn’t have been any better.
“I knew I had to catch those girls [in the final leg of the 4x100 relay] because my team was counting on me. I was just thinking, ‘I’ve got to get them by the end. It’s all or nothing.’”
For Fitch, in addition to the three track wins, the Falcons also performed well in the field. Jakari Lumsden won the high jump at 6-4 and Fitch sophomore Deondre McKeever came in second at 6-2.
“This is great,” Lumsden said. “This gives us a lot of confidence going into the regionals.”
McKeever said he hopes to go toe-to-toe with Lumsden again next week.
“I’ve been trying to get 6-4 all season and when [Lumsden] got it I just tried to push even harder. But I’ll get 6-4 in regionals.”
Strategy paid off in Dolak’s win in the 800. The Fitch junior decided to sit out the 1600 and instead ran the 800 — which paid off.
“I talked to my coach and our main goal is to get back to state in the 800 so I decided to scratch the 1600 to be fresh for this race. I’m really happy I did that.”
Fitzgerald said he was especially pleased with his district title in the 100 in just his second year.
“It means a lot as a sophomore,” Fitzgerald said. “I just missed the top four last year so it feels good to come out on top.”
Bowker was wiping away tears between hugs from coaches and family members when she blew away her competition in the 300 hurdles. The freshman won by 1.35 seconds.
“I put in a lot of hard work the past winter and it’s paying off,” Bowker said. “This is a huge accomplishment, it’s a great learning experience and I can’t wait to see what regionals are like for me.”
Solon won both the boys and girls team titles comfortably. On the boys side, Fitch was second, Harding third, Boardman fourth, Howland sixth, Canfield 13th and East 14th.
On the girls side, Fitch finished third, Canfield was fourth, Boardman seventh, East ninth, Howland 10th and Harding 12th.
Regional competition is at Fitch on Wednesday and Friday. Qualifiers from regionals will compete at the state track and field meet in Columbus.