Landis, Williams dominate FC meet

May 12—NORWALK — Better than ever.

No matter what's viewpoint, the depth and performances this spring in track and field in the Firelands Conference have never been better.

That got put on display once again this week at the FC championship meet held at Contractors Stadium.

More records fell, and returning state placers and qualifiers put on a show, led by New London's Reese Landis and South Central's Angela Williams.

The two took home co-MVP honors of the meet, as Williams scored 38 points in four events and Landis scored 36 points in four events.

Williams also helped the Trojans cruise to their second straight team championship after the program had never won an FC title prior to last season. South Central scored 114 points to finish ahead of Western Reserve (90) and New London 86).

A junior, Williams won the 100-meter dash in 13.1 seconds, the 200 in 27.12 seconds and the 400 in 1:01.39. She was second in the long jump by one half-inch with a leap of 16 feet, 0.5 inches.

Last year, Williams qualified for state in the 200 and the long jump.

"It's a good feeling," Williams said. "I was super nervous for the long jump and the 200 and 400. But my teammates helped me believe in myself, and I owe it all to them.

"The feeling is very good, but it's always a team effort. Winning the team title is a big team effort. I owe it all to them, it's not just me."

Meanwhile, Landis continued her torrid pace in the distance races. After helping the 4x800 relay place second on Wednesday, the returning All-Ohioan in both track and cross country this past fall turned it on Friday night in perfect conditions.

She took down a 38-year old record FC record — held by Cindy Woods from Edison in 5:12.6 in 1985 — in the 1600 with a time of 5:11.16. The time is also a new program record at New London.

In the 3200, Landis missed her own FC record set a year ago by a hundredth of a second, cruising to a win in 11:21.48. She was second in the 800 by just .52 seconds in 2:28.32.

"My plan was not to go all-out in the mile, but when I heard I was at 2:33 at the 800 mark, I decided to go for it," Landis said. "Knowing when it feels right ... you don't get too many chances when you're feeling that good, so I let loose.

"Going into the 800 I was a little tired, but I had to stay strong," she added. "I decided with 200 meters to go I had a little more, and ended up a half-second behind first, so I was happy with that. The 3200 I was trying to get through that with nothing special, but overall I'm proud of myself for pushing through and doing all three distance events."

Other area winners on the girls side included the return of New London standout Kailtyn Gum in the shot put. The Division III state runner-up a year ago, the NCAA Div. II Tiffin University recruit had missed the last three weeks after hyperextending some fingers on her throwing hand.

No matter. Her best toss of 43 feet, 2 inches is a new FC meet record.

"I didn't plan on throwing that far, honestly," Gum said. "I was figuring on throwing around 40 feet and do just over the meet record, but I had a perfect spot and it just kind of floated out of my hand — I didn't expect that distance at all."

Also claiming first place from the area on Friday was South Central's Grace Lamoreaux in the 100 hurdles (16.15 seconds) and the 300 hurdles (49.61).

Between Williams and Lamoreaux, South Central head coach Brian Kiesel doesn't have to look far to fill out the rest of his team's points.

"Those two are just amazing leaders," Kiesel said. "They don't really say a lot, but they don't have to. All the other girls follow them, because how do you not? What you see is what you get.

"They are the nicest girls, but also the hardest-working. But when they get on the track, they want to perform, and they do it well."

Kiesel lost two state qualifiers a year ago in Onalee Keysor and Claire Osborn.

"It's been fun to see the dynamic change this year," he said. "The young girls have stepped right in. There aren't a lot of them in numbers, but they are for each other."

In relays, Western Reserve's 4x100 team of Avery Kinney, Joslin Cain, Kennedy Latteman and Libby Weisenberger finished first in 52.88. The St. Paul 4x400 of Isabel Gross, Shaelyn Deeter, Kristin Matlack and Chloe Smith also won in 4:14.37.

On the boys side, Crestview cruised to the title by totaling a whopping 176 points. Mapleton (92) was second and St. Paul (83) placed third.

The St. Paul 4x200 relay of Brady Daley, Alex Wynn, Andy Meyer and AJ Meyer took first in 1:32.77.

Plymouth's Gavin McClary, Caiden Allen Layne Bushey and Riley Ramey won the 4x100 in 44.05 seconds.

In a tight 1600 race, St. Paul's Ian Deeter — a returning state qualifier in both cross country and track — was edged by Mapleton's Isaik Schoch. His time of 4:30.55 was just .77 seconds off the pace of Schoch.

However, Deeter just made his season debut two weeks ago after a couple months because of an injury. Deeter suffered from IT Band Syndrome (hip bursitis).

"It's great to be back, as sitting on the sideline is not fun," Deeter said. "I enjoyed cheering on my teammates in a captain role was great, but it's obviously better to be back out here."

His 1600 time on Friday was also three seconds faster than his state meet time a year ago, and just four seconds off his regional time.

"And our 4x800 that won on Wednesday is looking really good, so we're ready to get going and see what's ahead these next three weeks," Deeter said.