The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Perry freshman wins pole vault regional title
Perry freshman Javin Richards won his regional debut in the pole vault at the D-II Austintown Fitch meet, clearing 14 feet after a 13-9 to win the Division II Perry District at his home facility.
YOUNGSTOWN » Javin Richards may be a young man of few words, but his beyondhis-years pole vault prowess does all the talking necessary.
May 23 during Day 1 of the Division II AustintownFitch Regional, the Perry freshman’s place on the podium spoke volumes.
Richards won his regional debut at Fitch, clearing 14 feet after a 13-9 to win the Division II Perry District at his home facility.
“I’m speechless right now,” Richards said. “I’m still in shock from it.”
He will have company on the road to Columbus, with Tyler Silvis booking a return pole vault engagement at state by taking third with a personal-best 13-4.
Perry’s perennial depth in pole vault never ceases to impress.
A year ago, Silvis and Cameron Rogers both earned state berths, and the Pirates have two boys vaulters advancing again. This marks the fifth time the Perry boys have had two vaulters get to state, three times in the last four years and the others coming in 1970 and 2000. Richards is the 25th different Perry pole vaulter to become a state qualifier, including 18 on the boys side.
Richards was ecstatic over his 13-9 last week, and hitting a 14 at Fitch, suffice to say, had even more significance.
“I just got a little deeper,” Richards said of the key to hitting a 14. “I got a little higher. That’s it.
“If you saw me, I screamed. I was screaming.”
There was a lot of Day 1 enthusiasm to go around amid a solid afternoon and early evening from the area contingent in 4x800-meter relay and in the field.
Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin is headed back to state in boys 4x8 for the first time since 1996, as the quartet of Karl King, Harmond Richardson, Jacob Gerhardt and Cal Yackin took second with a time of 8 minutes, 9.12 seconds.
The Lions hung in there well amid tight packing to give Yackin a reasonable shot on the anchor. The senior made a bold outside move last 50 to seal the deal with a top-two.
“It’s unbelievable, considering the past three years especially,” King said. “We’ve been that close. We’ve been sixth place all three years. At this point, it almost seemed like unreachable. Coming in here, we knew all we had to do was give our best. And whether we got out or not, we were going to be proud of it.
“Oh my god — I could barely watch Cal’s leg. I was getting so anxious, I told Harmond, ‘I don’t think I can watch this.’ The first 200 meters of Cal’s second lap, I couldn’t even watch it. It was that tight, but I mean, we’re used to it. We’ve all run 4x4 and we’ve all been running on 4x8s for a while. We expected this, but I think we performed well.”
The tail end of Beaumont’s 4x8 brought the zenith of anxiety. But the quartet of Elizabeth Rubadue, Addison Ciecierski, Ashley Rulison and Mia
Mlynek earned another trip to state, the Blue Streaks’ 23rd overall in 4x8, with a regional runner-up in 9:35.04.
This 4x8 final at Fitch was as tight as it gets. Akron SVSM went out particularly hard the first two legs. Ciecierski did well to get Beaumont into third at the second exchange, and Rulison hammered her first 250 with her usual precision to give Mlynek a shot at a rally against the Fighting Irish.
Mlynek took the lead with an ambitious bell-lap attack 50 meters in and gamely battled to the homestretch and to the line. But Akron SVSM got the lean at the line by five one-thousandths of a second.
The finish was so close, the timing scoreboard had to reset to display thousandths for the race.
“I saw her in my reach, I think from the back with 200, 300 left,” Mlynek said. “I was like, ‘I can go for it.’ She was fighting. We were definitely fighting. That’s what’s so great about regional is I haven’t felt that adrenaline this season. It was good to experience that.
“We were bummed that we couldn’t get it. I thought I had it. But definitely, it was good to see the fight I knew I had in me come out.”
Beachwood’s Maddie Alexander took a trip to the top of the podium in high jump, clearing 5-3 for her second straight state berth. Alexander fought to adjust and navigate a competition that was in such windy conditions it jarred the massive flag pole at the Fitch finish line.
“Yeah, it really means a lot to me, because I was fighting so hard for this,” Alexander said. “Just knowing I came in with top seed (with a 5-3 from the Perry District), I had a lot of confidence. But I tried to not let it get to me, because I knew obviously everybody who made it here are great jumpers. Everyone else did amazing today, and they were really pushing me.”
Other area state qualifiers on Day 1 at Fitch were Chagrin Falls’ girls 4x8 (third) and Chagrin Falls’ Mick Lawrence (long jump) and Beachwood’s Elizabeth Metz (second, shot put).