The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Midview dominates at Shipwreck Invatational
It wasn’t that long ago that the girls from Midview would compete in an invitational track and field meet and be held scoreless. But those days are long gone.
At the second annual Midview Shipwreck Invitational April 9, the Middies dominated the 10-team field with 212 points, well ahead of second-place Westlake with 102.
In the boys competition, Westlake broke open a close race with Midview late in the meet to win comfortably with 161 points to 121 for the Middies.
“In most events we’ve had two girls scoring, which is phenomenal from where we’ve come,” said Midview coach Katie Salva. “We’ve been in meets where we didn’t even score. In the past four years, some of these girls have experienced not scoring. We’ve really worked on recruiting girls and now they believe, and they see it.”
It was the first outright invitational crown for Midview since 2005, when Salva was a member of the team. Last week at the Margaretta Polar Bear Relays, the Middies tied for first with Tiffin Columbian, but would have none of that at their own invitational.
“They were definitely sad about that,” Salva said. “When they announced that we were co-champions, you could see the fire in their eyes. It was like, ‘Next week we are winning. We are not letting someone tie us.’ They wanted to win outright.”
A prime example of how far the program has come is senior sprinter Maddie Wendling, who won the 100, led off the winning 4x100 and 4x200 relays and ran on the second place 4x400 relay. When she was a freshman, Wendling experienced some of those scoreless meets.
“I was the fastest as a freshman, which didn’t say a lot about the program,” she said. “I was at the top at our school, but going to those meets and being at the bottom only pushed me to go harder and harder each year. We want to build this program and make it something.” Mission accomplished. In addition to the events Wendling ran in, the Middies also won the 200 (Madison Morris), the 1,600 (Audrey Sanzone), the low hurdles (Stephanie Sturgeon), the long jump (Jordan Reddinger), the high jump (Alexis Weber) and the 4x800 relay. Wendling is quick to give credit to the coaching staff, led by Salva and Kevin Radigan.
“It’s the greatest feeling, honestly, but I couldn’t do it without our coaches,” she said. “They spent hours outside of practice putting in that work, studying other teams, studying technique, figuring out ways for us to improve our times. I give all the credit to them.”
On the boys side, Westlake held a slim, 97-93 lead over Midview after the 4x100 relay, which was won by the Middies. However, the Demons piled up the points the rest of the way to take the title easily, winning seven events.
“Every week we just try to improve our individual performances and get better,” said coach Jake Schober. “We’re on spring break, and we’re lucky enough to not have too many guys out because of that. With the competition here, we thought we might have a chance to put up some good times and maybe get some team hardware and it looks like it worked out.”
Westlake was led by senior Austin Norris, who won the high jump and the intermediate hurdles and took second in the high hurdles and 200 dash.
The Demons also got first place finishes from KJ Mueller in the 1,600, Gabe Samide in the discus and the 4x200, 4x400 and 4x800 relays.
“(Austin is) a great athlete and a great kid,” Schober said. “We’re really working him. Last weekend and this weekend he’s had to run six different times because of prelims. He’s a guy who really missed having a season last year. So, anything we want to do with him, he just wants to compete and see what he can do.”
It was the first time the 6-foot-5 senior ever competed in the high jump, and he responded by setting a meet record with a jump of 6-0.
Norris admitted to being a bit tired after his final race, but it’s all part of the process of getting ready for the big meets at the end of the season.
“It was tough,” he said. “I’m still not really in the condition that I want to be because it’s early in the season. I always see this as a challenge. I don’t want to go easy now and then regret it later.”
Despite windy conditions, there were several outstanding performances in the meet, including Midview’s Joey Bratkovich (212¼ in the long jump) and Westlake’s Sarah Coleman (59.49 in the 400).