The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Bison boys make case
Beachwood 4x400 relay takes a strong second at Euclid Relays
Beachwood’s boys 4×400-meter relay probably had just as many reasons as it didn’t to mail it in May 6 at the Euclid Relays.
The Bison’s girls team had already been sent home.
The alarm was going to ring for Noah Saidel, Braylen Eaton, Caleb Berns and David Steckner at the same early hour the following morning for the trek to Austintown-Fitch for the venerable Optimist Meet anyway.
And perhaps above all, there was no way around it: The weather stunk.
With all that in place, Beachwood’s run on the hallowed Sparky DiBiasio Stadium track reeked of brilliance.
That 4×4 quartet took a strong second to St. Ignatius with a sterling early-May time of 3 minutes, 22.53 seconds, its second sub-3:23 run of the spring
after going a 2022 News-Herald coverage area-best 3:22.05 to edge Glenville at Shaker Heights’ Woodard-Richard Invitational on April 22.
“It’s a great lead-in to the upcoming CVC (meet), district, regional, state,” Steckner said. “Today wasn’t a really good day — windy, rainy. I’m proud of the 3:22 just because of the conditions. I feel like we all could have gone 3:20 — Glenville, Ignatius and us. All in all, I’m just impressed with everything today.
“This experience helps a lot, but also having Glenville in our district, that is really good competition. They’ve been a big part of our success in getting that
time down.”
The 4×4, especially given the conditions to which Steckner alluded, was something else to cap a solid day like usual on this first Friday in May at Euclid. The top six in the event all went sub-3:35.
“I think it’s pretty important just to get our name out, that we’re a name to just see later on in the year, next year and postseason,” Steckner said.
The new-look Mentor girls recorded another dominant performance, ascending above and beyond a quality field for 117 points and the team crown, well ahead of the host Panthers and Boardman, each in second
with 65.
Ada Sabo had another encouraging outing in 1,600, as she took second with a 5:14.87. With Tusky Valley’s Hannah Wyler setting a hard tempo to the third lap, the sophomore hung in admirably for her second straight sub-5:15 after hitting a 5:14.30 to take second to teammate Savannah Dennison last weekend at Mentor Cardinal Relays.
“I thought everyone ran really well today, even though the conditions were bad,” Sabo said. “And I am really proud of everyone on the team. We all did our
best, and that’s all we can do.
“(That 1,600 run) definitely makes me feel pretty good. Running the same thing as last week in bad weather proves to me I can be faster in the mile and two-mile and whatever event I end up running. And it definitely makes me feel better.”
Beachwood’s girls 4×1, before exiting back down Interstate 271 with Coach Willie Smith’s blessing, delivered a statement
in its own right, going a 2022 News-Herald coverage area-best 49.16 with Dakota Houston, Sarah Brown, Amelie Cotta and Lauren Luxenburg.
Coming off their Division II state title last spring, the Bison are eager to keep a vise grip on that a pedestal.
“They ran confidently,” Smith said. “The batons were really smooth. Every time they run it, they get more excited about running it. We’re the defending champions in that, so they’re taking some pride in wanting to uphold that.”
Perry’s girls 4×8 also had a highly encouraging run, winning at Euclid with a 9:57.79 fueled by a confident display by Grace McKoon, Alyssa Vis, Holly Vis and Addison Renau. Like Beachwood, though, the Pirates, after notching the fourthfastest News-Herald coverage area time this season, were taking part in Optimist and made an early exit from East 222nd Street in turn.
Mentor’s Brett Greer was second in 110 hurdles with a 14.77, the second-fastest News-Herald coverage area performance in that event this spring.