Mayfield runner leads by example at Perry Relays

As Mayfield carved out a memorable run to a Division I state berth in boys 4x400-meter relay last fall, perhaps the biggest beneficiary was Zak Mahdaoui.

The then-sophomore turned in some composed postseason legs as the Wildcats charged for Columbus.

Between the graduations of Jonathan Haling and Kobe Berry and Bailey Rotsky not participating in track and field this spring, Mahdaoui is the last remaining piece of that quartet who can put that knowledge and hunger to return to use.

April 15 at the Perry Relays, that journey began in earnest. Mahdaoui was on the Wildcats’ firstplace 4x2 and 4x4, two of seven event titles in a strong across-the-facility performance for Mayfield.

Due to a potential scoring issue in the boys A Division discovered late April 15, whether it translated into a team title amid a tight race with Madison was in some doubt. A ruling on the winner of the team title was not available late April 15.

But what was in Mahdaoui’s control are two facets: Either way, it was a good team showing, and as a junior he understands what’s required to separate yourself from the pack.

“All around as a team, we’re a great team,” Mahdaoui said. “We’ve been working. Distance side, they’re always putting in work. And me, trying to get our sprint side to kind of pay attention and get to where we’ve got to be, performing like we did last year.”

Mahdaoui is glad to oblige in taking over more of a leadership role after invaluable experience as a sophomore on Mayfield’s veteran-laden D-I state-qualifying 4x4. That quartet, with seniors Haling and Berry and junior Rotsky in addition to Mahdaoui, became just the third Wildcats relay to qualify for state in the last 25 years and the first since boys 4x8 made it in 2006.

“I was confident coming in with what I needed to do and just bring it home,” Mahdaoui said.

“Being so young last year and seeing how they did it, I just took it from them and brought it out this year, being a young leader and showing people what it takes to actually get there.”

Mayfield also got relays wins from its 4x1,600, long jump, pole vault, shuttle hurdles and distance medley. Bobby Casey recorded the best individual long jump (2083/4) as part of winning relay, was on the first-place shuttle hurdles and was among the final three in a drawn-out pole vault competition.

It appears the next generation is in place for the Geneva girls, who rolled to the A team title with seven firsts and 119 points. After graduating all-time program and area staples in recent years such as Brittany Aveni, Emily Deering and Ally Thompson, the Eagles are notably younger.

But that doesn’t appear to be a hindrance.

“It feels really good,” said sophomore Taylor Cupp, who ran legs on Geneva’s first-place 4x1

Video interviews with Mayfield’s Dominique Miller and Bobby Casey and Geneva’s Tayler Jamison and Cheyanne Santiago, video meet highlights, Coleen Moskowitz’s photo gallery and full audio interviews with Mayfield’s Zak Mahdaoui, Geneva’s Taylor Cupp, Perry’s Grace McGarry and Kirtland’s Grace Powers. NEWS-HERALD.COM.

(50.72), 4x2 (1:47.41) and 4x4 (4:12.29). “We work really hard at practice, and it just feels good to come here and do really well.

“We look up to (the program’s past standouts) a lot. During practice, we tried to work really hard with them, and during the meets, we’d follow them around and just learn from them.”

Perry’s Grace McGarry made her final regularseason invitational in her home facility a memorable one with a 4-for-4 day. The Pirates’ longtime long-jump stalwart helped lead Perry to a relay win in that event with a best individual effort of 15-111/4 and ran legs on the first-place 4x1 (52.28), 4x2 (1:52.09) and sprint medley (1:56.99).

Given the Pirates were without some key personnel on spring break, including returning D-II state hurdles qualifier Leah King, McGarry was especially pleased with the team performance, which earned a close runner-up to Woodridge, 9998, in the girls B team title race.

“That’s actually really awesome,” McGarry said. “Every event I was in, we won. We worked really hard, and it was awesome to get there and have really nice weather. That was the big key because it’s been raining or too cold.

“I was wondering how it was going to go, but it went really well.”

Kirtland had a pair of quality runs in girls B, taking first in distance medley (13:21.06) and 4x4 (4:17.27).

The Hornets’ Danielle Bryll, Kristi Bryll and Jenna Sayle did well to give Grace Powers a say on the 4x4 anchor, and the multi-sport standout took advantage. She hammered her opening 125 to the backstretch to rally past Grand Valley.

“We only had four girls come to this track meet, and the same four girls that were in the distance were in the 4x4,” Powers said. “And all the girls in distance — we’ve never run those events before, aside from Jenna Sayle, who is obviously an amazing miler.

“So it was awesome to come out here today.”

For much more from the Perry Relays, read Chris Lillstrung’s boys and girls track and field notes next week.