CHARDON–The Geneva Eagles broke a pair of school records on the way to winning the Chardon Hilltopper Invitational on Saturday.
The Eagles, who set new marks in both the 4×800-meter relay (8:09.23) and the 4×200-meter relay (1:32.1), won the team title with 114 points. Host Chardon was second with 110 and Mayfield finished third with 107.
Coming off a CVC Athlete of the Week honor, Geneva senior William Hanchosky anchored the relay wins for the Eagles. He led the Eagles to a second-place finish last weekend at the Perry Relays. Outside of the relay wins, Hanchosky also added a second place in the 400 (51.43) and anchored home a second-place finish in the 4×400 to cap the day with a time of 3:29.89.
“We had an amazing day today,” Hanchosky said. “We broke the school records in the 4×8 and 4×2, we were chasing them, but to get two in one day, we were not expecting that. All of our splits in every event, everyone (set new personal records). It was an awesome day. Every meet, we keep getting better and better. We started out a little behind other schools but we keep improving and have been dominating. Hopefully, we will peak by the end of the season.”
Geneva senior Charlie Taylor laid the early groundwork for an Eagles victory on Saturday by sweeping both the shot put and discus.
Taylor uncorked a 142-2 to easily win the discus and he claimed the shot put title with a throw of 51-5.
The Eagles added a win in the 800 by Alex Reese (2:01.82).
Perry finished fourth in the closely contested team race with 94 points. The Pirates were led by junior Javin Richards, who showed off his decathlete ability on Saturday by competing in the pole vault, 200, 110, and 300 Hurdles. He won both hurdle races with ease, winning the 110 hurdles with a time of 15.94 and then later in the meet winning the 300 hurdles in 39.82.
Richards, a 2019 state qualifier as a freshman, drew a crowd at the pole vault as he attempted to clear 15-6. He came up just short, winning with a vault of 15-3. His closest competitor on Saturday only cleared 10-0. He then added a third-place finish in the 200 (23.23).
“Going really good actually, not sure what the 300 time was, but I’m pretty sure it was a PR,” Richards said in between events. “Pole vault, I PRd and won the 110 hurdles; little sloppy, but a good race.”
Fellow junior Issac Balistreri added a pair of second-place finishes for the Pirates in the 1600 (4:48.01) and 3200 (10:45.04). Jackson Roberts added a victory in the long jump with a winning leap of 19-10.25.
On the girls’ side, Geneva finished in third place with 53.5 points.
Emmy Bryan won the high jump by clearing 5-3. Gabbi Selman finished second in the pole vault (10-0), and the Eagles also took home third-place finishes in the 4×200 and 4×800 relays.
