INDEPENDENCE— Cardinal’s Kaylee Klepper won two individual events in leading the Huskies to the girls’ team title at the 2018 Dan Potopsky Invitational Independence High School’s Stan Skoczen Stadium on Tuesday.
Klepper also was named the Field Event MVP after winning both the shot put and the discus. Marina Cooper won the 100-meter hurdles in 18.60 seconds while Taylor Zeigler took home the 300-meter hurdles title with a time of 51.82. Cardinal’s 4×200-meter relay team of Zeigler, Sarah Shahan, Anna Blubaugh and Mackenzie Conley edged Laurel with a time of 1:56.53.
“I was very pleased with the overall effort of the team,” said Cardinal coach Greg Cicero. “We picked up a lot of secondary points, which we have been missing early in the season. With Kaylee and Anna (Avalon) scoring so well in the throws that got us off to the right start. Marina and Taylor really contributed with excellent nights.”
Cardinal finished with 169 points while Independence was second with 148 and Kirtland placed third with 117 points.
Klepper won the shot put with a toss of 33-feet, 4-inches and the discus (110-2). Avalon finished second in the shot (33-3 ½) and discus (109-1). Daisy Robinson placed third in the high jump (4-6), Conley was second in the long jump (15-1 ½), and Camille Cummins earned second place in the triple jump (29-3).
Also finishing among the top three for Cardinal was Cooper, who was second in the 300 hurdles (56.51), Megan Maddox, who was third in the 800 (2:42.86), Cummins, who placed third in the 1600 (5:52.75), and three relay teams.
Jenna Ayer, Zeigler, Shahan and Blubaugh finished third in the 4×400 (4:32.94), Maddox, Ayer, Cummins and Lauren Dines were second in the 4×800 (10:59.39) and Abby Geesling, Jessica Proch, Cooper and Conley placed third in the 4×100 (57.89).
Senior Christina Brunsman led Independence to the second place finish. She was named Running MVP after claiming titles in the 100-meter dash (14.04), 400 (1:03.84), and the 200 (28.34). She also ran a leg in the winning 4×400-meter relay that finished with a time of 4:28.8. Josie Lee, Emily Skoczen and Paige Westerburg also competed in that event.
Independence’s 4×800-meter relay team of Lee, Makenna McGhee, Skoczen and Westerburg also finished first with a time of 10:47.53.
Other top three finishers for Independence included Emma Wensink, who was third in the pole vault (7-6), Willow Crist, who placed second in the 10-meter hurdles (19.38), Skoczen, who finished second in the 800 (2:39.55), McGhee, a runner-up in the 3200 (13:04.38) and the 4×200-meter relay team of Jasmine Harb, Lee, Mahlaina Leichliter and Holly Stralka, that finished second with time of 2:00.65.
Kirtland’s Jenna Sayle brought home individual wins in the 800 (2:31.68) and the 1600 (5:27.66) and also ran a leg in the 4×400-meter relay team that finished second with a time of 4:29.94. Danielle Bryll, Kristi Bryll and Isabel Anness also competed in that event.
Danielle Bryll was the runner-up in the 200-meter dash (29.10) and finished third in the 400 (1:04.87). Megan Yarborough, Gabby Piazza and Julie Namciu added third-place finishes for the Hornets. Yarborough threw the discus 93-feet, Piazza recorded a 29-foot, 9-inch triple jump and Namciu ran the 3200 in 13:12.26.
Cuyahoga Heights used individual wins from Dylan Drummond (long jump), Jon Teter (shot put), Kyle Wolff (pole vault), and Austin Knaack (200) as well as two relay wins to take home the boys’ team title with 153.5 points. Independence was second with 133, Cardinal was third with 104 and Kirtland finished fourth with 102.5.
Senior Mason Crist won two individual events and helped the Blue Devils to a second-place finish in the 4×400-meter relay team and he ran a leg in the 4×200-meter relay that finished third. For his efforts, Crist was named the Running MVP for the second straight time.
Crist won the 110-meter hurdles (16.40) and the 300-meter hurdles (43.56). He also teamed up with Thomas Rega, Trevor Thompson and Ryan Zygmunt to finish the 4×200-meter relay in 1:38.96. Crist, Rega, Thompson and Zygmunt also finished second in the 4×400 with a time of 3:51.25.
Other Blue Devils who finished among the top three included Luke Clymer, who won the discus (131-05) and finished third in the shot (45-01), Collin Patton, who won both the 1600 (4:56.27) and the 3200 (10:59.75), Robert Artrip, who was second in the discus (128-03), Josh Belitz, who was second in the triple jump (33-9 ½), P.J. Oschmann, who was second in the 1600 (5:02.20) and the 3200 (11:03.03) and Zygmunt, who won the 800 with a time of 2:15.00. Independence’s 4×100-meter relay team of Rega, Thompson, Zygmunt and Jimmy Senick finished third with a time of 49.26.
Cardinal saw wins from Seth Peters, who won the triple jump (34-2 ½) and the 4×100-meter relay team of Jacob Revak, Michael Lucarelli, Tyson Sinclair and Hayden Cummins.
Cummins also finished second in the 110 hurdles (16.69) and third in the 300 hurdles (46.62). Todd Wright claimed third in the pole vault (8-6) and third in the 800 (2:23.16) and the Huskies finished second in the 4×200-meter relay and third in the 4×800.
Revak, Lucarelli, Sinclair and Connor Sodee ran the 4×200 while Trevor Bachna, Gene Henrie, Wright and Brenden White competed in the 4×800.
Kirtland’s Joey Torok and Luke Gogolin both won individual events.
Torok won the 100-meter dash in 11.63 seconds and Gogolin claimed the high jump title after clearing 5-feet, 6-inches.
Gogolin also finished second in the long jump (18-5), fourth in the 110-meter hurdles (18.68) and fifth in the 300 hurdles (49.36) on his way to earning Field MVP honors.
Kirtland’s 4.800-meter relay team of Konnor Duncan, Joey Zovko, Andrew Beinhardt, and Ian McGreal placed first with a time of 9:33.45.
Ryan Ritossa, Colin Stack, and Zovko all earned runner-up finishes for the Hornets. Ritossa cleared 9-feet in the pole vault, Stack ran the 400-meter dash in 55.42 and Zovko finished the 800 in 2:20.76.
Nico Podojil-Schles, Logan Miguet, Mason Sullivan and Torok teamed up to finish second in the 4×100 with a time of 48:19 and Kristian Grman, Tommy Powers, Zovko and Stack ran the 4×400 in 3:53.77 to finish third.
Podojil-Schles also finished third in the triple jump (33-6 ½).
- Full Results
- Photo Gallery (Field/Independence Seniors)
- Video: Full Replay (no audio)
- Video Interview: Christina Brunsman/Mason Crist
- Video Interview: Kaylee Klepper
