ORRVILLE — Winning a district title as an individual is quite an accomplishment.
However, winning it as a team takes it to another level.
The Firelands girls and Bay boys had high hopes entering this week’s Division II district track and field at Orrville High School, and they delivered with district championships on May 18.
After winning the first district title in program history a year ago, Firelands doubled down and repeated with a total of 124 points.
“It means a lot to me, especially because we are a team and we are very close, but off the track, we’re very close friends,” Firelands sophom*ore Audrey Smith said. “We’re not just a track team, we’re a group of best friends.”
Smith and Ariannah Floyd led the way for the Falcons with three victories each. Smith won the 400 title with a time of 1:00.47 and anchored the winning 4×200 and 4×400 teams.
Smith adds a 3rd win by anchoring the 4×400 and wraps a bow on Firelands’ 2nd straight district championship!@MJournalSports @FirelandsFalcon @firelandstrack pic.twitter.com/cFG2A6Y7cl
— Travis Nelson (@travisnelson40) May 18, 2024
Floyd was a part of the relays also on top of winning the 300 hurdles with a PR of 44.14 seconds. She also finished second in the 100 hurdles.
All four relays also qualified for regionals as the 4×800 placed second on Day 1, and the 4×100 squad took third. Kendra Hardwick (third, 100 hurdles) and Mia Sutorius (fourth, 1600) also qualified on the track.
Jorja Weber (third, discus) and Sophia Stepp (fourth, pole vault) both qualified in field events.
“It shows how much our program is growing and improving. It just means a lot to me to be a part of it,” Smith said. “We’re a young team and I think we have a lot coming for us.”
Elyria Catholic had a solid day with a district runner-up finish of 102 points. It’s the Panthers’ best finish in quite some time.
They started well on Day 1 with the winning 4×800 relay team of Sophia Niederst, Ella Feskanich, Gracie Jones and Audrey Fote. The momentum continued on the meet’s second day.
Jones picked up the lone win of the day in the 800 with a PR of 2:26.79, and the rest of the team followed suit.
Like Firelands, all four of the Panthers’ relays are moving on to regionals. Feskanich (800), Fote (1600) and Lauren Schemmel (3200) all placed second in the distance events, while Niederst (long jump) and Peyton Essenmacher (discus) did so in the field events. Macie Wakefield (third, 300 hurdles) and Lexi Rodriguez (fourth, 200) also qualified.
“It’s really cool,” Jones said. “We have a lot of good girls this year and we’ve all worked very hard for it. It’s really exciting for us to get there. It would be a shame to see that our hard work didn’t pay off, so it’s exciting that we’re going somewhere with it.”
It was a tough conference meet for Brookside’s Zuriah Radeff-Koonce last week, but she made up for it at districts. The senior took home four titles this week, including three on the second day. The Cardinals finished third as a team with 83.5 points.
Nice start for Brookside continues as Zuriah Radeff-Koonce wins her 3rd district title of the meet!
She won long jump earlier with a leap of 17-1 and wins the dash at 12.90 seconds@MJournalSports @Brookside_AD @brooksidetrack pic.twitter.com/i0gR6Dw5wz
— Travis Nelson (@travisnelson40) May 18, 2024
After winning shot put on Day 1, Radeff-Koonce started strong with a long jump victory. She leaped 17-1 and then went right into her sprinting events. During last week’s downpour, she slipped in the blocks and finished fourth in the 100. That wasn’t going to happen this time around.
She won the event with a time of 12.90 seconds and later anchored the Cardinals to a 4×100 win. Bella Diaz, Avery Davis and Octavia Gonzalez joined her to run a time of 50.57 seconds.
“It’s a different ball game,” Radeff-Koonce said. “Having the motivation to step out here and say that I just have to race, it means everything. … I came in here wanting it all. I knew in the finals that I had to execute.”
Davis had quite the day herself. She was fifth in long jump heading into final jump, but that’s all it took to reach a mark of 16-3 1/4 to reach third place and qualify for regionals. On top of the relay title, she had two battles with Floyd in hurdles.
Davis beat Floyd last year in the 100 hurdles at this meet, and it happened again as the Brookside sophom*ore ran a PR of 15.48 seconds compared to Floyd’s time of 15.92. Floyd got revenge in the 300 hurdles as both set PRs in that event as well.
Woah! We’ve got an upset in the 1st event
Brookside’s Avery Davis wins the Girls 100 hurdles once again!
PR of 15.48 bests Firelands’ Ariannah Floyd (15.92)
Kendra Hardwick also qualified for the Falcons in 3rd@MJournalSports @Brookside_AD @brooksidetrack @FirelandsFalcon pic.twitter.com/B33TKoVMbs
— Travis Nelson (@travisnelson40) May 18, 2024
“It feels good, Ariannah definitely pushes me,” Davis said. “She’s good competition and the best part is we’re friends, too. At the end of the day, we know that we’re getting each other better.”
It had been 13 years since the Bay boys won the district, but that streak ended as the Rockets cruised to victory with 111 points compared to Norwayne’s 80.
“I don’t think we’ve had this many people go to regionals in a long time,” Bay junior Michael Hanselman said. “It feels awesome to wear the Bay jersey. It gives a lot of confidence because I know everyone else is cheering for me or for each other. It feels like we’re a big team.”
Hanselman picked up his second win with a time of 9:50.09 in the 3,200. Bay also won three of the four relays and finished third in the other. Connor Spellman finished second in the 1,600 and fourth in the 3200, while William Dunstan was second in the 800 and Kieran Ripley finished third in the 1,600.
Liam O’Leary had a nice day with a win in the 100 at 11.19 seconds and runner-up finishes in both the 200 and 400 with respective times of 23.29 and 50.80 seconds.
Bay’s Liam O’Leary wins the Boys 100!
Time of 11.19 seconds
Lorain County sweeps the final 3 regional spots with EC’s Connor Petrus, Keystone’s Tyler Ohl and Brookside’s Dominic Lundberg @MJournalSports @BayAthletics @ECHSAthletics @KLSD_Sports @Brookside_AD pic.twitter.com/2PL13uS5sc
— Travis Nelson (@travisnelson40) May 18, 2024
“It felt good,” O’Leary said. “We were going for a team win today so I was just trying to get us some points and also qualify myself. … We do some crazy workouts, I’m not going to lie. Shoutout to Coach (George) Curran, we do insane workouts (to get us ready). We’re well-rounded.”
The day didn’t start off how Jayden Perrine would have liked, but he made up for it. The sophom*ore had the best seed time in the 100, but false started and was disqualified. With a bitter taste in his mouth, he went out and raced hard. He was a part of the Rockets’ 4×100 and 4×200 winning teams, and he finished in the 200 at 23.41 seconds.
The Bay boys also win the 4×200
Here comes Jayden Perrine to finish the race for the Rockets!
Brendan Spellman, Charles Rice and Jack Krueger joined him to run a time of 1:28.99
Brookside, Keystone and Firelands all qualify for regionals @MJournalSports @BayAthletics pic.twitter.com/gd0hhTw4hT
— Travis Nelson (@travisnelson40) May 18, 2024
“I knew I couldn’t let it get the best of me and I had to just erase it from my mind,” Perrine said. “It wouldn’t benefit me in any of my other events if I kept thinking of it. We destroyed in the 4×200, I was exhausted going into the 200 and feel pretty happy with how I placed. The 4×100 we also did really well and I think that made up for it.”
Fairview’s Tyson Crandall (800) and Elyria Catholic’s Connor Petrus (200) also won individual titles, while Keystone’s 4×400 team took home the gold in the final event.
