Regional track meets got underway on Wednesday and several Chagrin Valley Conference athletes remain in the hunt for a berth to the state meet.
Listed below are the first-day results from the Division I Austintown and Division III Massillon Perry regionals.
DIVISION I – AUSTINTOWN
Geneva’s Charlie Taylor placed sixth in the discus throw (154-03) while West Geauga’s Jonathan Gemba was eighth (143-10). Geneva’s 4×800-meter relay team of Alex Reese, Zack Reese, Cole Smith, and William Hanchosky finished seventh with a time of 8:05.98. Only the top four advance to the state meet.
Advancing to Friday’s finals round were Lakeside’s Anthony Donahue (7th, 110m hurdles, 15.33), West Geauga’s Shannon Swinerton (4th, 300m hurdles, 47.28), and Geneva’s Connor Boland (6th, 200m, 47.28).
Geneva’s 4×400-meter relay team also advanced to the finals.
Hanchosky, Jack Kollhoff, Alex Reese, and Boland placed fifth in the preliminaries with a time of 3:24.30.
DIVISION III – MASSILLON PERRY
Two CVC athletes already have earned their ticket to the state meet as Independence’s Madison Stepanik finished third in the shot put with a toss of 36-6 and Cardinal’s Karalyn Rutkowski cleared 5-feet in the high jump to place second.
Those who qualified for Friday’s finals included Cuyahoga Heights’ Kenni Voytek (4th, 300m hurdles, 48.17), Independence’s Skylar Leichliter (6th, 100m hurdles, 17.04), Emmett Stralka (6th, 100m, 11.31 and 3rd, 200m, 22.67), and Kyle Zygmunt (3rd, 400m, 51.19), as well as Trinity’s Jack Maloney (4th, 400m, 51.60).
Independence also advanced two relay teams to the finals.
Jack Taliaferro, Zygmunt, Stralka, and Josh Belitz placed fourth in the 4×200 with a time of 1:33.60 and Alex Adams, Casey Adams, Leichliter, and Ava Moreal finished seventh in the 4×100 with a time of 52.43.
Trinity also will send two relay teams into the finals on Friday as Sean Arth, Zion Owens, Maloney, and LeJon Woods teamed up to place eighth in the 4×100 preliminaries with a time of 45.08. Isaiah King, Maloney, Owens, and Woods ran a time of 1:32.84 in the 4×200 to finish second.
Grand Valley’s Maggie Waldo and Cuyahoga Heights’ Jack Klamert both placed in their regional final events on Wednesday but finished outside the top four and did not advance to the state meet.
Waldo placed eighth in the high jump when she cleared 4-10 and Klamert was sixth in the pole vault with a top height of 12-4.
