The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Firelands girls win Howe on new track
The new Firelands High School track was installed this past summer, and it didn’t take long for the Falcon girls to tear it up.
With winners in nine events, the Firelands girls cruised to a victory at their home Nelson Howe Invitational with 136 points. It was almost 30 points above second-place Avon’s 107.5 points.
Competing on the new track was exciting for Firelands, and the athletes performed like it.
“The kids were aggressive tonight. I thought they ran well,” Firelands coach Steve Lias said. “I thought they jumped well. We had a lot of kids out at the (Washington) DC trip. We have some kids in France right now. We start spring break tomorrow adding that on to the whole thing. I can’t fault them. We have freshmen that are stepping up. They did a great job.”
The Falcons lost some key seniors after a great season a year ago, but the future is now for the program. Junior Ariannah Floyd and sophomore Audrey Smith combined to win five events individually or together.
Floyd picked up right where she left off making it to the state meet last year, sweeping the hurdle events. She won the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.32 seconds, and the 300 hurdles at 47.72. She was also the first leg of the winning 4×400 team.
“I just try my best. I try to push myself to be the greatest that I can be,” Floyd said. “I have good competition, which makes me push myself harder. … I just get really competitive when it comes to hurdles and relays because I want to do it for my team.”
Smith didn’t have any resistance on the way to the 400 title with a time of 1:01.30. She also anchored Firelands to the 4×200 and 4×400 titles. The sophomore teamed up with Floyd in the day’s final event along with Jordyn Copley and Caley Bomback to get the job done.
Teaghan Jasinski (high jump) and Karly Sweinhagan (shot put) notched victories for the Falcons in the field events.
New track, same competitive edge for the Firelands girls. This meet was a good confidence boost early in the season.
“I definitely think we’re getting
there,” Smith said. “Each race we do, we’re getting faster. At practice, we’ve been taking a little more seriously because last year we set a big goal for ourselves and we’re trying to keep up with that goal.”
On the boys side in a closer meet, the Bay boys came out victorious. The Rockets finished with 115 points, as Firelands (102.5) and Brookside (96) followed suit.
Like most teams in this meet in the middle of or just starting spring break, Bay didn’t have its full team at the meet. However, its standouts who were there delivered.
Bay had a solid relay day with wins in the 4×100, 4×400 and 4×800, but three individuals also finished first. Jayden Perrine is ready for a big year, and he had a nice showing to win the 200 with a time of 22.82 seconds. He was also a part of the winning 4×100 and 4×400 squads.
Spencer Grace was the 3,200 champ by over 20 seconds with a time of 10:39.93, and Kieran Ripley took home the 1,600 with a 4:44.92 finish. The sophomore was also a winner in the 4×800.
Bay has a strong distance team, which is shown from its Division II state cross country appearance this past fall. Ripley has gotten the opportunity to practice with and learn from the stud runners around him such as his teammates in the 4×800, Michael Hanselman, Connor Spellman and William Dunstan.
“It feels good, especially after cross country not having the best times,” Ripley said. “I feel like just opening up with a good mile, it’s really nice. I tried to run the race smart, I ran conservative until the final 250 and then I sprinted. It felt nice to get that boost of confidence.”
Other highlights include Firelands’ James Berry sweeping the hurdles and Keystone’s sprinters doing well. Emory Fedor won the 100 title and Logan Nagle took home the 400. Both were also a part of the Wildcats’ winning 4×200 team along with Vincent Taylor and Tyler Ohl.
“At first, I was worried about how I would do today because it could kind of determine where I was in terms of conference standings,” Fedor said. “But I’m happy with the progress that I’ve made and I think I can still dwindle my times down a little bit.”