Bulldogs growl, Tigers roar at rainy Austintown regional track meet
AUSTINTOWN — There's more than one way to succeed in a postseason track meet.
Teams can get a multitude of contributions from different athletes or rely on one superstar to lead them. Both approaches worked in the rain Friday at the Division I regional track meet at Austintown.
Xavier Preston scored a perfect meet for Stow-Munroe Falls, winning all four of his events for the Bulldogs. He led Stow to a runner-up finish with 41 points. Solon won the boys title with 59 points.
Meanwhile, Twinsburg's girls had its three sprint relays all advance to the state meet.
That led the Tigers to a third-place finish in the girls team race with 43 points, finishing behind Jackson (60 points) and Euclid (47).
Reflecting on his four-victory evening, Preston said it was "unreal," right before he heard Stow finished second.
"That makes it even more unreal," he said.
"We knew it was possible," said Stow coach JK LeSeure, who added that he believed the finish was Stow's best at the regional meet.
Preston accounted for all but one of Stow's 41 points.
He opened in the 100-meter dash and won in 10.64 seconds, besting Mayfield's Nick Biega.
"Nick is always fun to run against," Preston said. "He pushes me hard."
Preston then anchored Stow's 800-meter relay, which set a school record by winning in 1:26.85. He was joined by Brian Turner, Bryce Turner and Dustin Horner on the relay.
"That was 20 points in about 10 minutes," LeSeure said.
With heavy rains hitting the meet, LeSeure said he was worried about Preston in the 200-meter dash.
"He finished fifth here last year," LeSeure said. "With the rain coming down, you never know what can happen."
LeSeure need not have worried. Preston won the 200 in 21.5 seconds, besting Biega by .15 seconds.
Stow needed a win in the 1,600-meter relay to close the meet if it hoped to claim a trophy.
LeSeure decided to insert Brian Turner into the relay after he was unable to reach the final of the 200. The move worked perfectly,
"Brian's the big reason we won," Preston said. "He went from being fourth to second to handing me the baton with the lead."
Preston took the lead in the third leg before Horner closed the relay out in a school-record time of 3:18.56.
"We pretty much knew we had it from there," LeSeure said, as he hopes the Bulldogs can earn at top 10 finish at the state meet.
Horner scored Stow's other point, finishing eighth in the 400-meter dash in 50.7 seconds.
Also earning a regional title was Walsh Jesuit senior Luke Ondracek. Choosing to concentrate on the 3,200-meter run, Ondracek ran a perfect race, pulling away from GlenOak's Thomas Rice in the final lap.
Ondracek won in a school-record time of 9:02.04.
"Honestly, I don't know when he dropped off from me," Ondracek said. "I was just sprinting as hard as I could at the end. I just took my time."
The weather played havoc with the field events Friday, but Tallmadge senior Riley Murphy fought through to advance to state in his second event.
Murphy finished in a three-way tie for second place in the high jump, with a leap of 6 feet, 4 inches. He was tied by Shaker Heights' Ethan Bryant and Mentor's Tai Malone.
"It was a really difficult to jump in the rain, but you just have to fight through it," Murphy said. "I came in really late, but I wanted to make sure I moved on."
Sprint relays shine again for Twinsburg girls
Twinsburg senior Sophie Besett has done her share of winning at Austintown, dating back to her time with Tiger standouts Nya Bussey and Nia Robinson.
"It definitely is important to carry it on," Besett said. "As a freshman, I ran with Nya and Nia and they meant so much to me. Now, the girls are looking up to me, which just blows my mind."
Besett just missed advancing to state in the 400, finishing fifth in 55.88 seconds.
"I definitely was not going to let us not get there," she said.
Besett made good on her promise by anchoring Twinsburg's 1,600-meter to a second-place finish in 4:01.33. She was joined by Bree Banach, Sanayah Ruffin and Arriah Gilmer in the relay.
Earlier in the meet, Twinsburg's 800-meter relay team of Paris Gosha-Foreman, Rana Thornton, Savannah Swanda and Arriah Gilmer seemed a bit miffed to finish second in 1:42.34, behind Euclid.
The Tigers used that anger to fuel a dominant win in the 400-meter relay. Banach, Swanda, Akira Johnson and Gosha-Foreman won the relay in 48.37 seconds, beating the field by more than a second.
"Every year at the regional meet, they perform," Twinsburg coach Sarah Kmet said. "The 4x200 relay is probably going to compete for a state title. The 4x100 looked really good."
Swanda also advanced in the 200, taking third in 25.41 seconds.
Opening the meet in the 100-meter hurdles, Hudson senior Klaudia Kosa won in 15.06 seconds to earn her first trip to Columbus.
The rain affected the girls pole vault more than any other event.
Despite the conditions, Nordonia senior Emily Eterovich was able to win the truncated competition with a vault of 12 feet, 4 inches. She tied for the title with Perry's Kendal Fisher.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Xavier Preston leads Stow with four wins at Div. I regional track meet
