Two sweet: Fairless boys track and field wins second consecutive outright PAC-7 crown
Mission accomplished for the Fairless boys track and field team.
The Falcons went into Thursday’s PAC-7 Championships hoping to finish another wire-to-wire run through the conference. Six dual meet wins in six tries pushed them ahead in the race for the overall PAC-7 championship. Thursday’s team title clinched it.
Head coach Ben Russell has built a strong program at Fairless. The year prior to the canceled 2020 COVID season, the Falcons went 2-4 in PAC-7 dual meets. Now they are unbeaten conference champions for the second straight season.
“I’m really proud of our kids,” Russell said. “They battled some adversity this year. Coming into this meet we knew we were facing great teams in Orrville and CVCA, and we knew they were going to give us everything they had.
“We were counting on our kids to show up and step up, and we got some big wins.”
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Brant Marchand won the pole vault and ran on the winning 800 and 1,600 relays. Brody Pumneo took the 800 and ran on the 1,600 relay. Tayler Buttermore, Carson Colucci, Max Kirby and Luke Yoder each had a pair of wins in relays. Gavin Conley had one.
With a 10-point lead, the Falcons practically had the title wrapped up going into the final race. Their win in the 1,600 relay left no doubt.
“This just shows we can compete with anybody and that we’re not scared to go up against anybody,” Marchand said.
Marchand’s win in the pole vault helped Fairless get off to a fast start. He jumped 15 feet, 1 inch to break his school record of 15-0 set earlier this season.
“I’ve been struggling a little bit recently,” Marchand said. “It was warm out today, which we haven’t had much of. I was feeling really fast and really good.”
Pumneo’s 800 win put the Falcons in a good spot going into the meet’s stretch run.
“It was his third race on a hot day,” Russell said. “He was down by about 5 meters going into the last 150, then he just hit another gear.
“That was the huge momentum swing.”
It was a good night all around for the Fairless program. The girls team finished second in the meet and second overall behind CVCA.
Fairless went 2-4 in dual meets last season. This year the Falcons and CVCA shared the regular season title with 5-1 records.
“Our girls showed up tonight and they all performed,” Russell said. “We got points out of everybody. It was a huge team effort, and I’m super proud of them.”
Lainey Oakleaf broke the Fairless long jump record twice. Her best jump of 16-3.25 was good for second overall.
Six days after hyper-extending her knee at the Falcon Twilight Invitational, Kam Kondrach swept the 100 and 300 hurdles. Her winning time of 48.19 seconds in the 300 hurdles broke the school record by one one-hundredth of a second.
“She has been the heartbeat of the team,” Russell said.
Tuslaw’s Malena Cybak was selected the PAC-7's girls athlete of the year after the meet. She won conference titles in the 800 and 1,600 for the second straight season.
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Manchester thrower Josiah Cox was named boys athlete of the year. He swept the shot put and discus.
Russell was voted boys coach of the year. CVCA’s Chip Johnson is the girls coach of the year.
Reach Mike at mike.popovich@cantonrep.com
On Twitter: @mpopovichREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Fairless boys track wins second straight outright PAC-7 title
