CUYAHOGA HEIGHTS—Kirtland juniors Austin Fulco and Joey Torok both extended their track seasons by at least one more week after finishing among the top four in their individual events at the Division III district track meet at Cuyahoga Heights High School on Friday.
Fulco placed fourth in the shot put with a toss of 44-feet, 10 ½ inches.
“It feels amazing to move on to the regionals as a junior,” Fulco said. “At the beginning of this year, I never even saw myself placing at the district meet, much less moving on to the next round. It’s great to know that I live to fight another week in the shot competition.”
Placing fourth and setting a new personal record near the 45-foot mark has Fulco excited to compete next week at the Massillon Perry regional.
“I was amazed by my throws today and couldn’t have asked for anything more,” he said. “Throwing two separate PR’s in one day is any throwers dream and I can hope for nothing more than continued improvement in the next week.”
Fulco also placed eighth in the discus (124-7).
Torok became a rare three-time regional qualifier after leading the Kirtland football team to the Division VI state title game in the fall and also helping the Hornets advance to regionals earlier in the week.
“Qualifying in any sport for regionals is awesome but I’m lucky enough to be at such a successful school that I can qualify for three,” he said. “It’s just fun to be out here competing in every sport I can.”
Torok finished second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.20, just 0.11 seconds behind the district champion.
He’ll run in Wednesday’s regional semifinals then play in the baseball regional game on Thursday. If the Hornets win that game, Torok would have to be in two places at one time as the finals of the regional track meet will take place on Friday, the same day as the regional championship baseball game.
“My strategy for next week, if I’m able to run, is just to stay relaxed and run hard,” he said. “I need to keep my arms closer in while I run, so that’s something I have to work on. I just have to run hard and the rest will work itself out.”
Other Kirtland athletes to score in the district meet included freshman Luke Gogolin, who tied for fourth in the high jump by clearing 5-8 but slid into fifth place based on tie-breaker criteria, freshman Ryan Ritossa, who was fifth in the pole vault (10-6), senior Colin Stack, who was fifth in the 400-meter dash (54.54), and senior Joey Zovko, who placed sixth in the open 800 (2:11.40).
Kirtland’s 4×200-meter relay team of freshman Mason Sullivan, junior Tommy Powers, senior Alex Weaver and sophomore Logan Miguet finished seventh (1:39.48) and the 4×100-meter relay team of Weaver, Miguet, Sullivan and sophomore Anthony Blasini placed eighth with a time of 48.53.
Kirtland’s girls’ track team is competing in the Division II Lakeview district on Saturday.
