The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
CHARDON’S SELENT IMPRESSES AT WRC
Hilltoppers girls, Kenston boys take home titles
There comes a time when a season has taken out so much on you that you have to take it out on the season.
May 10 during the Western Reserve Conference meet at Mayfield, after a much later invitational start outdoors than she had in mind, Denali Selent took out frustration in that sense in the best way possible.
Selent won 1,600 and 3,200 and ran legs on the winning 4x400and 4x800-meter relays as the Hilltoppers took the team title.
“It was so awesome, because we were all working so hard the whole time and it was super close, too,” Selent said. “So every event, we were trying to get as many points as we could. At the end, when we realized we had won, we were all just so excited because all of our hard work paid off.”
The returning Division I 3,200 state qualifier certainly didn’t show any rust as she recorded a distance double and turned in outstanding legs on relays, but it was a long road there.
“Yeah, this season has definitely been my toughest one yet,” Selent said. “I’ve faced some injuries, and I had some anemia. But I think it’s made me tougher, and we’re working as hard as we can with this weather and not having as many invites just to get ourselves as prepared as we can going into postseason.”
Amid a tight pack of three at the gun lap, the junior rallied in the last 15 meters to pull out the 1,600 win with a time of 5 minutes, 20.98 seconds.
Then in 3,200, Selent timed an outside kick on the backstretch with 300 to go beautifully en route to an 11:47.38. She went right into 4x4, basically using two-mile as a warmup, and delivered a nice third leg to give Jenna Oriani plenty with which to work on the anchor amid a 4:11.65.
“I was just thinking (in 1,600), ‘Just stick on this pack and stick with them,’ ” Selent said. “And then once we got to the 400, we all kind of started to make that move. When we got to the 200, I was just thinking, ‘Just kick it in from here.’ And I just kicked it as hard as I could.
“(In 3,200,) I was thinking of kind of replicating the mile — sticking with that pack, kind of tucking behind and then trying to kick at the end.”
Mayfield’s Bobby Casey got a kick — and rightfully so — out of a unique 4-for-4 afternoon. The Akron signee, who set the area long jump record earlier this season at 2311, won that event on his home track with a 23-4 1/2. He later swept hurdles — 110s with a 15.01 and his first-ever 300s, from an outside lane, in 42.26. In between hurdles, an areabest 14-6 in pole vault also yielded encouragement.
“It feels good,” Casey said. “I started at 2 p.m. — and I just finished — so I’m feeling it on my legs a lot. But long jump, first time I’ve jumped all six jumps really since the beginning of the year. I felt good. (Brush’s Andre Franks) jumped really well, and I had to come out — I like the competition so I can actually push myself. We were talking about it. People are scared of the competition. We love it.
“I’ve never even ran the 3s in my life — that was my first time. My coach was like, ‘I think you can score some points. Let’s put you in this instead of a relay, so we’ll get some more points out of it.’ And I went out there and did what I had to do, but the outside lane? That’s tough.”
Chardon’s Nate Kawalec was tough as always as he completed a distance sweep, the 1,600 in 4:27.20 with a fine last 400 and 3,200 in 9:32.07, punctuated by a brilliant sixth lap to set the tone.
“I went off good (in 1,600), but on the second lap we slowed down quite a bit,” Kawalec said. “And then I just tried to bring it back in the second half, get a good time in and just go for the win and get as many points as I can for my team.”
Nolan Landis, before exiting Mayfield for a weekend meet in New York, was nothing short of dynamic in taking shot put and discus. In discus, the Madison junior recorded a 2018 area-best 193-6 — bettering his 191-3 3/4 from the NEOITC Indoor/Outdoor meet — and was especially pleased with a 60-6 in shot, also an area best throw this spring.
“It is very special, because to me, this is a long time coming,” Landis said. “I have been hitting 59s pretty consistently, so I was starting to get frustrated. So this is a huge breakthrough. I am definitely excited to see where I can take it from here.”
The Kenston boys captured a tight team title race, paced by Kee-Shaun Merrill’s double in 100 (11.23) and 200 (22.97).
Coming soon
For more from the WRC meet, read track and field notes May 14 online and in the May 15 print edition.