The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Beachwood duo headed D-II
Ashley Perryman and Maddie Alexander have done all of their postseason damage during strong high school track and field careers in Division II.
That will be their address in college as well.
The Bison standout seniors will be headed to D-II programs for college track and field, with Perryman going to Grand Valley State and Alexander headed to Findlay.
Because of how much days have run together since stayat-home mandates commenced with the novel coronavirus pandemic, Perryman had to think for a moment to recall when she made it official.
“I think it was a couple weeks ago, right before all of this went down,” Perryman said.
Perryman, a first-team News-Herald girls track and field all-star as a junior and second-team honoree as a sophomore, was the D-II state runner-up in long jump last spring and was fifth in the 100-meter dash and powering the Bison’s skilled 4x100.
She plans to major in health science at Grand Valley State, a member of the competitive Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in Allendale, Mich.
“I had visited the campus last spring break, and I just went on a regular college tour,” Perryman said. “I loved the campus. It just felt right at home. I left the campus smiling — ‘Yeah, this is somewhere I could definitely see myself.’ And then I reached out to the coaches.
“(Beachwood coach Willie Smith) helped me to reach out to them, and they have a really good program for track as well. The facilities were beautiful. I just loved everything about it. There wasn’t anything I could be like, ‘Yeah, there’s something wrong with it.’ I warmed up to the idea of Division II as well. It’s not like a Division I or nothing type of deal. So yeah, I loved everything about it, so that’s what made it my ultimate choice.”
Grand Valley State was the top-ranked D-II women’s program in the country during this past indoor season and is coached by Jerry Baltes, who was recently named as the 2020 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association national women’s coach of the year.
Perryman, also an outstanding central defender for the Bison’s girls soccer side during the fall, had an outstanding state indoor meet March 7 at SPIRE, spearheading the Bison’s D-II/III team title quest with wins in long jump and 200 and a second in 60.
Her second in D-II long jump outdoors last season made her the third Beachwood girls field-event athlete to crack the top four at state all-time, along with Nichole Maloy (fourth, 1991 D-III high jump) and Olivia Mayfield (fourth, 2011 D-II long jump).
Similar to her longtime teammate, Alexander was drawn to the idea of competing in D-II.
“I did a couple visits, and Findlay was actually the only Division II visit that I did,” said Alexander, who will major in exercise science. “Everyone kind of has that stigma — you have to go D-I. You have to. But I soon found that D-I, it wasn’t really for me. I wanted to be able to go to NCAAs and stuff and compete. And to do that, I could compete in my conference in D-I, because I looked at Eastern Kentucky, Butler and George Mason, all these other schools. To be able to get out of conferences in D-I, you’re going to have to do something crazy.
“But I fit in really well with their team. It was a great fit there. There was nothing I could find wrong with that school. Every time I’d go to a school, there was always, ‘It was perfect, but …’ and there was one thing. So I needed to be picky, and there was nothing I could find wrong with Findlay.”
Alexander noted she is accustomed to competing for smaller-sized schools, having attended Cloverleaf until seventh grade before moving to Beachwood. She was also sold on Findlay thanks to a good rapport with jumps coach Bree Woelber.
“I’m just really excited to go there, because the team is really growing,” Alexander said.
Staying in contact with future coaches and teammates has obviously presented a challenge during the pandemic, with college track and field shut down across the nation and Ohio’s season indefinitely halted at the high school level.
Perryman and Alexander both said they have managed that challenge well.
“I spoke with my coach yesterday, checking in,” Perryman said. “They don’t have a season or anything, but yeah, they’re still keeping in touch and asking what they can do, if there’s any questions that we have. I’m still getting connected with my future teammates, trying to connect with everyone and meet people. They’re stuck at home, too. We’re all just in the same boat.”