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Valley athletes sweep throws
Gallery
By BRIAN DZENIS
bdzenis@vindy.com
YOUNGSTOWN
Division III throwing events at next week’s track and field state tournament in Columbus are basically going to be a social call for Mahoning Valley athletes.
In Friday’s regional finals at Massillon Perry, area throwers took seven of the eight available state bids.
This comes after Trumbull County took all four girls shot put bids on Wednesday. It makes for more nice scenes like Newton Falls’ Libby Barreca using her alto voice to serenade Mathews’ Claire Miller as she prepares to throw the discus or Crestview senior Dominic Perry rooting for his heir-apparent as the Valley’s best shot put thrower in Western Reserve freshman Ryan Henry.
“I’m so glad I’m getting that out of all of this. With all the people I meet, I get to make a ton of new friends,” Barreca said. “Like, I’ve got five new friends on Snapchat because of track.”
Barecca won the discus in convincing fashion with her third throw coming in at 124 feet, 11 inches. Joining her in Columbus are Miller and McDonald’s Trinity Hobbs.
“When I got to my last throw, I knew where I would stand and it just had me really confident,” Barreca said. “I just told myself when I got in the ring to take a breath, be fluid and have fun. If you’re not having fun, what are you doing?”
Perry — the reigning Division III shot put champion — cruised to another regional title and a facility record with a throw of 58-9. Behind him was Mineral Ridge’s Nathan Chiclowe, McDonald’s Zach Grey and Henry.
“We’ve all been pushing each other to do our best. You cheer them on,” Perry said. “Now you go to state and it’s like ‘hey, I know these guys.’ It’s a really good environment.”
Henry was the only freshman in the field and is having a career that has so far lived up to the hype he had in middle school, where he had the second-best mark in the nation in shot put. He threw 51-9 on Friday.
“It’s been a really good season. I put in a lot of hard work and it’s really nice to see hard work pay off,” Henry said.
Wellsville’s Justin Wright tied a region record in the 100-meter dash with a winning time of 10.7 seconds, but by his standards, Friday was a step back after his 10.57 preliminary time that was two hundredths of a second away from tying Chad Zallow’s Div. III state record.
“I just wanted to go as fast as I possibly could today, but I just had a really bad start and had to recover the rest of the race,” Wright said.
Wright took the 200 title in convincing fashion to go with his long jump state bid that he earned on Wednesday.
LaBrae’s Dynesty Ervin had the podium to herself. After taking second place in the 200 and the medal ceremony took place, every athlete save Ervin vacated the podium and she was presented with her cap and gown because her school’s graduation was the same day as the meet.
“This was definitely better than graduation. I was iffy about going there or having another try at making state,” Ervin said. “I’m glad I took the state route.”
Ervin, a Cleveland State commit for track, gets a chance to redeem herself in Columbus after a hamstring injury ruined her races last year at state.
“I feel healthier and I feel like have the confidence to do well,” Ervin said.