Firelands girls win Division II district championship

While the girls from Firelands came up big in the final race to win a Division II track and field district championship May 20, it was a matter of close but no cigar for the boys from Bay and Keystone.

Winning their first district title in at least 20 years, the Falcons led most of the day in the meet at Orrville High School, but entering the culminating 4×400-meter relay, they found themselves tied for the lead with Canal Fulton Northwest with 87 points each and Brookside another two points back.

Brookside didn’t have a team in the final event, but Firelands had qualified first and Northwest third in the preliminaries May 18. Following an impassioned speech from senior Bella Simmons, the Falcons stepped up and won the relay, with the team of Ariannah Floyd, Jordyn Copley, Simmons and Audrey Smith combining for a season’s best time of 4:12.29. Smith got the baton with the lead and held off Northwest’s

anchor with a split of 61.4.

“Coming into this race we were seeded first, and we knew we had to beat (Northwest) to win the district,” Smith said. “We knew we had to beat them, and we did it. We knew what we had to do, and we knew we had to do what we do, which is win.”

Smith said she and her teammates were extremely confident they could win the race, which, according to coach Steve Lias, is by design.

“We put a lot of emphasis on our 4×4 teams,” he said. “Our girls love to be on the 4×4. Not many people can say that because it’s a tough race. But they all know how many meets it’s come down to them running like they did. They were outstanding today.”

The 4×400 was one of only two event victories for the Falcons, but they won the meet because they scored in almost every event. The other victory came from sophomore Ariannah Floyd, who won the 300 hurdles in addition to leading off the 4×400 relay. Firelands also finished second in both the 4×100 and 4×200 relays, and they took second and third in the 400, third and fifth in the high hurdles, fourth in the 100 and fourth in the pole vault.

“Winning the district is an amazing feeling, especially as a freshman coming into this first year,” Smith said. “It’s been a great experience and this is definitely a big accomplishment for all of us.”

The boys team race was excruciatingly close as well, as host Orrville won with 103 points, while Bay and Keystone tied for second with 101. Entering the final event, the Red Riders had 98 points, followed by Bay with 97 and Keystone with 93. Keystone needed to win the 4×400 and hope Orrville finished outside of the top four in order to win the meet.

However, Orrville placed fourth, just in front of Bay, and Keystone was second after anchor Alex Nagle put on a huge move in an attempt to catch top-seeded Doylestown Chippewa but finished just short. It was somewhat representative of the performance of the

Wildcats throughout the meet.

“We just didn’t have a great day,” said Keystone coach Jeff Holzhauer. “I thought we were the best team in the district, but, obviously, Orrville was better than we were today. We didn’t perform at the level I thought we would perform at. I thought we were the better team coming in, but we didn’t run all of our events and the events that we ran, we just weren’t good enough. Days like this, your kids need to step up. We definitely had some people step up, but we didn’t have enough kids step up.”

Keystone got 15 big points in the 100-meter dash, as Ryne Shackelford and Nagle placed first and fourth. Shackelford, who was hampered by hamstring issues on the meet’s first day, won the race in 11.48 but on May 18 he pulled out of the 200, costing Keystone a projected 10 points.

“I don’t really feel much better than I did (Thursday),” Shackelford said. “But the pain kind of moved lower in the hamstring for some reason. I just feel like I’m able to run better on it because of where the pain is. I got warmed up quite a few times today to see how I felt. I could tell I was going to be able to run. I knew I needed to score some points for the team. I’m happy with winning. The time probably wasn’t very fast, but it was a lot better than Thursday.”

The Wildcats won the 4×200 relay with a squad of Logan Nagle, Emory Fedor, Zach Shackelford and Alex Nagle. They also scored well in the 1,600, 400, 200 and 4×400, but it wasn’t quite enough.

“I feel like I’ve coached a really good group of guys and I thought we’d have a few district titles by now, but we don’t,” Holzhauer said. “It’s hard to win at this level. Our guys just need to keep working hard and work harder than they did this year so we can have more success in the future.”

The future already looks bright for Bay’s boys, as the majority of the team is underclassmen. The Rockets won the 4×100 relay with the combination of Jace Knapp, Jayden Perrine, Charles Rice and Liam O’Leary. Perrine also won the 200 and Michael Hanselman and Iain Ray placed 1-2 in the 3,200 run and William Dunstan was second in the 800.

“I thought all of them ran really well,” said coach George Curran. “We’re really looking forward to next week. It’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m superhappy with the way all of them performed. Probably the best part was the 4×200 and 4×400 relays that we put together as a little bit of last-minute stuff, and the 4×4 almost squeaked through and the 4×2 did get through. They’re starting to get it, and it’s pretty cool.”

Perhaps the busiest athlete in the meet was Brookside’s Zuriah Radeff Koonce, who led the Cardinals to third place among the girls teams. She won the 100 dash and the shot put and was second in the long jump and 200.

“Overall, I think it was successful,” she said. “I just wanted to make sure I qualified for regionals so I could get a spot. My legs have been hurting all day. I just have to rest up to make sure I can do my best at regionals. That’s my goal.”