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Lions, Bombers are runners-up in Orange Relays
(by Tony Lange - May 04, 2011)
Lions, Bombers are runners-up in Orange Relays
By TONY LANGE
The host Orange boys' track and field team was led by its sprinters at the Orange Relays April 29 as the Lions finished second in the eight-team field with 98 points, behind Stow with 110 points. Kenston finished fifth with 39 points, while West Geauga tied for sixth with 25 points.
Meanwhile, the Kenston girls' track and field team finished second at the relay meet with 82 point, also bested by Stow with 102 points. The Lady Lions finished third with 76 points, and the Lady Wolverines finished fourth with 73 points.
In the boys' competition, the Lions nearly swept the sprint events, taking first place in the four-by-100, four-by-200 and four-by-400-meter relays. The only sprint event they didn't win was the sprint medley.
The four-by-100 team of Josh Harris, Colton Kaufman, Matt Clinkscale and Matt Jones finished in 44.13. The four-by-200 team of Cameron Grays, Will Carter, Clinkscale and Jones finished with a time of 1:30.76. The four-by-400 team of Grays, Reni Solaru, Clinkscale and Jones finished with a 3:34.37.
Orange head coach Nghia Harvey said he was happy with the sprint performances, but he has a lot of work to do with his distance guys.
"Our other sports are kind of pulling them away. So we have small numbers for our distance runners," he said. "We have to do a lot of relying on our freshman and sophomores. For distance runners, you have to have many years of experience and a base of conditioning to actually do well in it, and the freshman and sophomores just aren't at that level yet."
Orange also won the special sprint event of the day, the four-by-100 weight relay, which is made up of athletes who usually stick to the throwing events. Orange's team of Nate Terhune, Harrison Zucker, Marshall and Andrew Bergschneider finished with a 51.41 for the win.
"It's one of those races of the season that we just have a lot of fun watching them doing something that they enjoy doing, and when they work together and do the relay as a team, they have a lot of fun," Harvey said. "It's fun seeing that much weight in a person move that fast on the track. It just seems unnatural, and it is kind of fun to see."
The Lions' only non-sprint triumph of the day was in the long jump, where Carter and T. Abdoul-Razaq combined for 40-foot-1.
"Will Carter is my sophomore, and he's one of the emerging talents on the team," Harvey said. "Abdoul is my senior, and he's kind of like a discovery we had this year. He didn't go out for track last year, and he just came out this year. So he's still trying to learn long jump and doing pretty well trying to learn it. Both of those guys have good opportunities to place really well at districts."
In the ladies' events, the victors were more evenly distributed among the eight schools, with Kenston and Orange winning two events each and West Geauga winning one during the 12-event contest.
Kenston's Kim Gallavan and LaJoy Williams combined for 70-foot-3 in the shot put for first place, while Tam Surtees, Lindsay Clasen, Allie Molnar and Alexis Taylor finished first in the four-by-800 relay with a time of 10:17.31.
Orange's team of Adah Zhang, Joy Wilson, Ayana Cheston and Amber Young won the four-by-100 shuttle hurdles relay with a 1:07.00. The Lions' team of Briana Johnson, Cheston, Young and Rachael Garson combined in the 100-100-200-400 sprint medley and won with a 1:56.2.
The Lady Wolverines' triumph of the day came in the pole vault, where Denise Volcensek and Audrey Rabe combined for 16-foot-2.
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