Cardinal head coach Greg Cicero found out his team has loads of potential when all his athletes are on the track at the same time.
The Huskies had a complete lineup for the 2015 George Gross Invitational at Cuyahoga Heights on Tuesday, which led to strong finishes from both the boys’ and girls’ teams. The boys finished third overall while the girls were fifth.
“It was a pretty good showing,” Cicero said. “It was a good meet for us. We finally had everybody at a meet for the first time this season. All our athletes were at the same meet and they came in with the right attitude.”
Brandon Wicks led the Huskies with three individual titles. He won the long jump (19-0), 110-meter hurdles (17.03) and the 100-meter dash (11.94).
“Brandon led the way and set the tone for us by winning three of the first five events,” Cicero said. “He put everybody in the right mood.”
Wicks almost claimed a fourth title but was disqualified in the 300-meter hurdles after contacting a hurdle in the next lane near the finish line.
“It was a good learning experience for him,” Cicero said of the disqualification. “He might have been running his personal best but he just came up on the last set of hurdles too fast and he was too close. He made an attempt and knocked it over, which led to disqualification.”
Lester Troyer and Nate Peters finished first and second, respectively, in the shot put. Troyer won with a toss of 44-01 while Peters threw the shot 41-11.75.
“They come in and work hard in practice, all our throwers do,” Cicero said. “We haven’t had Nate in meet all year so this was his first meet. Lester has been to all the meets but he has a full time job so he doesn’t get to practice all the time. We know they’re talented and they came out and blew away the field.”
Troyer also finished fifth in the discus (115-5).
Anna Avalon claimed the title in the discus with a throw of 90 feet, 10 inches.
“She really was excited,” Cicero said. “She let out one of those screams when she let it go. She knew it was a good throw. I don’t know that she has ever thrown 90 in a meet. For her to improve by about 12 feet already this year is great. She works extremely hard and could be one of our best throwers we’ve had in a long time.”
Jacob Revak ran the 200-meter dash in 25.35 seconds to finish second and Kyle Simms, Craig Shanower, Sara Riebe, Tricia Cesar, Erin Ross and Ashley Lucarelli all earned third place finishes.
Simms ran the 110-meter hurdles in 18.12 while Shanower posted a time of 47.17 in the 300-meter hurdles.
Shanower also paced the 4×800-meter relay team to a fourth place finish. Jonathan Anderson, Chris Noreika and Hayden Cummins also competed in that event.
“Craig Shanower ran a bunch of our relays too,” Cicero said. That was only his second time ever running a competitive 800. He led it off with a pretty good opening leg. He ran about 2:20. It was nice and controlled. Afterwards he said, ‘I should start kicking earlier. I had more left.’ To have a better guy’s 4×8 is a blessing. He’s doing a good job leading that group right now.”
Riebe was third in the shot (28-05) and seventh in the discus (79-11).
“She’s come a long way,” Cicero said. “We have six throwers and she’s the most experienced. She’s dealing well with the competition on the team and performing well in meets.”
Cesar finished third in the long jump with a leap of 13-7.5 and Ross turned in a time of 54.54 in the 300-meter low hurdles.
Lucarelli ran the 400 in 1:07.25 to edge teammate Caitlyn Lechene (1:07.34).
“They had a productive meet,” Cicero said of Lucarelli and Lechene. “They’re veteran runners and they’re able to go out and prepare and take care of the business they need to. They ran two pretty good 400’s each and showed they’re going to be someone to contend with later in the season.”
Ross also finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles (19.02) and Stephanie Wolff was fourth in the long jump (13-05.75). Emily Kruse and Jordyn Schultz both earned fifth place finishes. Kruse ran the 800 in 2:40.55 and Schultz threw the shot 28-01.5.
Cardinal’s relay teams also excelled at the meet.
The boys’ 4×200 team of Simms, Revak, David Bowden and Khaleel Samir finished third with a time of 1:44.12 and the 4×100 team of Revak, Shanower, Samir and Andrew Bolton was fourth with a time of 48.51. Revak, Bowden, Shanower and Ryan Riebe combined to finish fifth in the 4×400 relay with a time of 3:58.18.
Ross, Lucarelli, Lechene and Cesar teamed up to finish third in the 4×200 relay with a time of 1:59.04 and Cesar, Wolff, Mackenzie Conley and Noel Springer were fifth in the 4×100 relay with a time of 1:01.58.
The Huskies travel to East Palestine on Saturday.
Boys Scores
1. Cuyahoga Heights 153.5
2. Independence 136.83
3. Cardinal 105.00
4. Open Door Christian Academy 78.33
5. Beachwood 75.00
6. Kirtland 65.33
7. Lake Ridge Academy 22.00
8. Fairport 4.00
Girls Scores
1. Kirtland 166.00
2. Beachwood 121.00
3. Independence 113.00
4. Cuyahoga Heights 92.50
5. Cardinal 78.00
6. Lake Ridge Academy 24.00
7. Fairport 23.50
8. Open Door Christian Academy 10.00
