Curbstone Coaches honor state champions

March 26, 2019 at 12:05a.m.

Canfield wrestlers

added three titles

BEAVER TOWNSHIP

The Mahoning Valley had five individual and two team state champions over the winter.

Youngstown State head track coach Brian Gorby is set to welcome two of East High’s record setters into the Penguin fold this fall.

Bowling, swimming, indoor track and wrestling was the theme at Monday’s weekly Curbstone Coaches weekly as the organization honored the championship group at Avion Banquet Center.

Canfield’s two-time state wrestling champion Tyler Stein, who is headed to Ohio State University upon graduation, was joined by teammates Nick Crawford, Anthony D’Alesio and head coach Stephen Pitts.

The tradition rich mat program has now produced 12 state champions in its 54-year existence with seven of the 12 coming in the past five years and five the past two seasons.

“We’re all very close and feel like a family,” said Stein, the lone senior who won the 220-pound title. “When you spend as much time together as we do you develop a special bond. We push one another to be the best that we can be.

Pitts called their accomplishments very special.

“We’re blessed to have a tremendous wrestling program at Canfield High School,” he said. “This is the first time we have ever had three state champions in the same season and that is a special accomplishment.”

Crawford, a junior, was fifth at state last season, winning the 195-pound crown this year while D’Alesio, the 182-pound champion, has now placed three consecutive years after finishing third last year as a sophomore and fourth as a freshman in 2017.

The East High girls track team, comprised of Jahniya Bowers, Kyndia Matlock, Deshante Allen, I’Yana Dixon, Laniya Lewis and Khallada Mahone, won the recent indoor state crown at Spires Institute in Geneva.

Bowers won the 60m and 200m state event, setting a new state record in the 60 with a 7.49 clocking with Matlock, Lewis, Dixon and Allen combining to win the 4 X 400 relay.

Allen is ranked No. 1 in the state in the long jump with a 17’ 11” effort.

Bowers, who was recently named female Athlete of the Year by MilessplitOhio.com, will join Matlock at YSU while Allen is headed to Chicago State University to compete for the Cougars, a former Mid-Continent Conference foe of the Penguins.

“We worked really hard as a team, so it was great to be able to win the state championship as a team,” Bowers said. “The goal now is to get to state in the outdoor season to improve my numbers.”

Matlock served as anchor on the winning relay team.

“Winning state meant everything to us,” Matlock said. “We created a bond, but we’re not done yet because we still have the outdoor season to go.”

Head coach Kevin Cylar said his group is special group for a variety of reasons.

“I’m not so sure you’ll see anything like this again,” he said. “A group like this only comes along once in a generation.”

Madison Stanton went to state as a member of the Struthers Wildcats’ state qualifying team – they finished ninth overall – winning the individual championship as a sophomore with a 634 roll (192-223-219).

“It was amazing to win, but I’d rather go as a team any day,” she said. “We missed the qualifying round by 60 points, so the goal is to get back to state next year again as a team and improve that performance.”

Chaney’s 4x400m relay team of Mi’kel Holland and triplets Marquis, Marquan and Marshall Herron earned a state championship in the program’s return after a nine-year absence.

“We practiced hard all season and developed a chemistry. That was the key,” Marquan said. “We’re hungry and want to get to state again.”

Cowboys head coach Anthony Floyd had a feeling something good would happen at state.

“Our idea was to do our very best because we felt like we one of the top-3 relay teams at state,” Floyd added. “Winning wasn’t surprising because of the hard work this group has put in.”

Unable to attend was West Branch swimmer Jamyson Robb, the state 100 breaststroke champion.

Next week, Andrew Wingard, YSU assistant athletic director for sales and development, will serve as guest speaker.