The final march to the state track & field championships began on Wednesday with a pair of regional track meets.
Two Chagrin Valley Conference athletes punched their ticket to the state meet out of the Division I Austintown Fitch Regional.
Madison’s Ryan Radkowski finished as the regional runner-up in the discus with a best throw of 167-3, and Geneva’s Joseph Pecore placed fourth in the pole vault after clearing 13-0 and will join Radkowski in Columbus.
At the Division III North Royalton Regional, Kirtland’s girls’ 4×800-meter relay team started off the meet by running a lifetime personal record time of 9:48.03, good enough to finish fourth.
Izzie Copeland, Megan Urbanick, Kylie Sayle, and Sylvia Vosicky competed in that event.
Joining the Hornets at the state meet is Cardinal’s Max Soltis, who placed fourth in the discus with a throw of 157-9.
Several more CVC athletes advanced to Friday’s running finals by finishing among the top eight in their respective events.
Trinity’s Aidan Duncan finished first in the 200 (22.37) and third in the 100 (11.12). He also ran a leg in the 4×100-meter relay with Orlando Smith-Carle, Lucciani Hamilton, and Davarie Bennett. That group ran the fastest preliminary heat time of 43.66.
Others advancing to Friday’s finals included Cuyahoga Heights’ Zach Unger (4th, 300 hurdles, 40.51) and Samantha Vallee (8th, 100 hurdles, 16.71), and Independence’s Carter Howard (3rd, 110 hurdles, 15.08) and Tyler Miller (5th, 200, 22.91).
Cuyahoga Heights advanced a pair of relays to the finals.
The boys’ 4×200-meter relay team finished second in 1:30.37. Gavin Chamberlin, Nicholas Armbrust, Devon Dzik, and Tristan West competed in that event, and the 4×100 team of Tamir Julious, Maurice McClardy, Dzik, and Kurtis VanDivner finished third in 43.84.
Cardinal’s girls’ 4×100 team of Natalie Soltis, Brooklyn Whitely, Emily Pleva, and Ivy Kaminsky raced to eighth place in 53.02, and Independence’s boys’ 4×100 team of Howard, Miller, Manoli Fourtounis, and Rocco Ressler finished fourth in 44.01.
