East Palestine Relays 2014

Final Team Standings

Rootstown                  90

WRA                  63.5

Ursuline                      52

Mineral Ridge             49

East Palestine             37

Beaver Local              29

David Anderson         24

MLK, Jr.                    24

Wellsville                    22.5

Lordstown                  19

Discus             150’ 7”   5^th    Shot                44’ 2 ½”  4^th   

Causey               70’ 11”            Causey                        26’                              

Clark-Bruno       79’ 8”              Gallegos          28’ 2 ½”

Long Jump    26’ 9 ¾”   3^rd

Carter             16’   Best jump of meet                     

Henkelmann    10’ 9 ¾”                     

4 x 1600          25: 42.60   2^nd                                   

Kopyeva          87/93/ 96/ 94                 6:10.0           

Hulver             96/ 102.7/ 103/ 93.8      6:35.5                       

Ballard            95.7/ 101.8/ 102/ 91.1   6:30.6           

Wyman            88/ 97/ 102/ 112.8         6:29.8           

4 x 100            55.9     5^th

Cunningham    13.9    

Dockery          14.7

Cremer            14.2

Kamara            12.8    

Shuttles           1:15.1   3^rd                             DMR                          15:10.3   3^rd

Sovich             18.7                                         800 – Kopyeva            40/ 43/ 43.8/ 46.4          2:53.2

Arzberger        19.0                                         400 – Arzberger          33.7/ 38.9                      1:12.6           

Henkelmann    19.4                                         1200-Wyman              87.1/ 95/ 91.6                4:33.7

Carter              17.7                                        1600-Tekelenburg       87.6/ 101.7/ 105/ 96.5   6:30.8

4 x 200            1:56.8   4^th                              4 x 800           11:40.89    2^nd

Cunningham    29.9                                          Ballard            41.3/ 46.8/ 48.2/ 43     2:59.3

Cremer           29.7                                          Nichols             39.4/ 44/ 44.2/ 48.1     2:55.7

Carter              29.4                                         Arzberger        37/ 42.6/ 44.5/ 45.4     2:49.5

Kamara            26.6                                         Wyman           41/ 44/ 45.3/ 45           2:55.3

Sprint Medley            2:09.3   7^th                  4 x 400            4:30.48   1^st

100 – Dockery            15.2                             Carter              30.5/ 37.7        1:08.2

100 - Sullinger             15.1                             Arzberger        32.6/ 36.4        1:09.0

200 – Sovich               30.1                             Cremer            31.6/ 36.1        1:07.7

400 – Saucier              30.6/ 38.1   1:08.7       Kamara            28.6/ 36.1        1:04.7  

East Palestine Relays

This past Friday, Girls’ Track & Field competed in the East Palestine Relays, where we came away with 2^nd place out of 10 teams.  We scored in all of the events contested, finishing with 63.5 points and the following highlights:

The girls earned 3^rd place in the long jump, shuttle hurdles, and the distance medley.

2^nd place honors went to our 4 x 1600 team of Irina, Molly, Anna, and Abby and the 4 x 800 group of Anna, the two Sophies and Abby.  The 4 x 400 quartet of Annie, Sophie, Emily and Wade-Watta closed out the meet with a 1^st place finish.

The Iron Ladies of the meet were Sophie A and Annie, both of whom quadrupled in the meet.

Nicely done,  Ladies. 

Our next meet is this coming Saturday at the Cuyahoga Relays.

Laurel Open - April 22

Laurel Open

22/April

Shot                                        Discus                                                            

Causey            24’ 6”              Causey            69’ 11”                                                           

Clark-Bruno  25’ 6”              Clark-Bruno  79’ 6”                                     

Gallegos          26’ 3”              Gallegos          68’ 10”                       

Knothe           18’ 10”            Hearin                        47’ 7”                                                 

                                                Knothe           60’ 11”                       

                                                                                               

Long Jump                                                    High Jump

Carter             16’ 11” PR                             Arzberger      4’ 6”

Henkelmann  12’ 9 ¼”                                  Berry              4’ 6”

McCuskey      12’ 7 ½”                                  Gallegos          NH

Platt                11’ 10”                                    Nazarova        4’ 0”

100m

Babbin            16.25               Platt    15.49

Henkelmann  15.26               Suh     15.95

McCuskey      14.7                

                                                                                                                                                                       

4 x 200m___2:01.9                      4 x 100m                57.11

Dockery          31.8                      Dockery                15.0

Saucier           30.1                      Henkelmann         14.7

Sovich             29.9                      Sullinger                14.3

Cremer           29.1                      Cremer                  13.1

400m                                                                            300mLH                               

Arzberger      34.3/ 33.7        68.02                            Sovich                 53.2           

Nazarova        36.5/ 42.1        78.6                                                    

Saucier           35.5/ 35.6        71.1                

800m                                                                                      

Nichols            39/ 42/ 41/ 51.4           2:52.4             

Rhodes           43/ 44/ 48/ 48.8           3:03.8

Yang               44/ 45/ 47/ 51.4           3:07.4

Perry Relays

This past Saturday, the girls traveled to Perry High School to compete in the Perry Relays, where we finished in 4th place overall. While we scored in 13 of the 14 events and had over a dozen Season Best performances, these were our highlights:

Earning 3rd place finishes were the 4 x 1600 team of Irina, Sophie N., Molly and Abby; the Shuttles foursome of Halle, Sophie A., Jelly, and Annie; the 4 x 200 relay of Erin, Emily, Catherine and Wade-Watta; and finally the 4 x Iron ladies  with Ainsley, Victoria, Madison and Maya.

The high jump duo of Sophie and Catherine were second, with Sophie tying for the best jump in our division.  In fact, her 5 – foot clearance was the highest jump of a WRA girl in 7 years. Finally, our 4 x 400 quartet of Catherine, Emily, Annie and Wade-Watta capped off the meet for us with a 1st place finish.

Congratulations, Ladies!

Nordonia Relays

The Western Reserve Academy track and field teams competed at the Nordonia Relays April 12 in Macedonia.

The girls finished 10th out of 12 teams with 17 points. Mentor won with 100 points and Stow-Munroe Falls (82) and Brunswick (78) took second and third, respectively.

Highlights from Nordonia!

2014 Longstreth Relays - Team Results

Blue Skies!

Anthony Boerio '79 and Gene Thomas '68 enjoying the Longstreth Relays!

Longstreth Relays Recap

On Saturday, the Girls (also) hosted our Longstreth Relays, finishing in 7^th place out of the 13 teams that that competed.  We scored points in 7 of the total 13 events, with the following highlights:

Finishing in 6^th, was the pole vault relay of Lisie, Daniela and Ana. We had four 4^th places with the 4 x 100, the shuttle hurdles, the 4 x 200, and the 4 x 400.

The high jump trio of Sophie, Catherine and Annie captured 3^rd, while the sprint medley quartet of Dockery, Cremer, Halle and Wade-Watta were 2^nd.

Special recognition goes to Sophie Arzberger, Anna Ballard, Emily Cremer, Erin Dockery, Wade-Watta Kamara, Meredith McCuskey, and Kristina Nazarova, all of whom had impressive debuts in the meet.

The Iron Ladies of the meet were Tricia, Sophie Arzberger, and Abby, who tripled, and Catherine,  Annie, and Wade-Watta who quadrupled.

         

Nicely done, Ladies!!!  And Thanks to all of those who came out to support both boys' and girls' teams.

22 Year Old Record Broken

On March 22, the Roanoke Maroons Distance Medley Relay team broke a 22 year old record at the Roanoke Track and Field Invitational with a time of 13:15.96. 

Congratulations WRA T&F Alum and former Iron Lady, Margot Warner '13! 

Preseason Pool Workout

Local members of the team getting in a pool workout - Longstreth Relay's is not far off!

PreSeason includes a clinic for shot and discus

Last Saturday, sophomore Madison Clark-Bruno (extreme left in photo) accompanied Coach Khalila and Geno to a clinic for throws (shot and discus) held at Licking Valley High School, some two hours away.  The clinic, which lasted from 9:00 am until 4:30 pm, was attended by some 40 throwers and 8 coaches from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and New York focused on the glide shot put and the rotational discus. Though long and a lot of work, "it was a lot of fun," commented Madison on the ride back to Hudson.

Pre-Season meet at KSU

Nina, Tricia, Sophie, Wade-Watta, and Geno at the KSU indoor meet

Indoor High School meet hosted by KSU

This past Sunday, four members of the WRA Girls' Track & Field team did something that no other girls' track group had done before: they competed in the Indoor High School meet hosted by Kent State University. Hoping to test the training they have endured with Geno since just before the holiday Break in December and simply to get some competition under their belts before our competitive season begins, these girls -- co-captain Tricia Cunningham in the 200m, Wade-Watta Kamara in the 400m, Nina Tekelenburg in the mile (a completely new distance for her), and Sophie Arzberger in the high jump -- joined for a 7:45 team breakfast before their 8:15 departure to brave the elements en route to the KSU Field House. It was the last of three such meets and it turned out to be the final opportunity for most of the high schoolers competing there to notch a performance that might qualify them for the State Indoor Championships, which occur next weekend. As a result, there were literally hundreds of entries in numerous events -- 60m dash; 60m hurdles; 200m; 400m. Just counting the girls' events, there were 18 heats of the 60m dash; 20 heats of the hurdles, 21 of the 200m and 14 of the 400m. This made for an incredibly long wait for each of their events. Thankfully, each girl was entered in an event that did not require prelims or semi-finals; otherwise, this story would actually encompass an even longer day. In fact, this meet in previous years was a two-day affair; however, since KSU had to host the MAC indoor championship meet on this same weekend this year, the high school meet was condensed to a single very long day. What is more, with so many heats – that were not known until just before the event, it was quite difficult to execute a proper warm-up strategy with regard to the progression of the finals in each event.

Despite it all, it was a tremendous experience for the Lady Pioneers, and for all except Wade-Watta, it was their first indoor meet ever; for all, it would be the first time running on such an odd-sized track -- 292 meters instead of the usual 200m ovals that predominate the indoor facilities around the country. Incidentally, there are even several 300 meter indoor tracks; however, 292 meters is an odd configuration, indeed. And while that made it all the more interesting, it also rendered a coach's task of getting interval split times that were anywhere near accurate nearly impossible. Let that fact serve as a quasi-disclaimer for the "guesstimated" splits for Nina's mile.

Sophie actually got it all started for us with her performance in the high jump, which began over an hour later than the program had originally indicated. Entering at 4' 7" (instead of 4' 3", where the competition began), she cleared the first two heights (4' 7" and 4' 9") cleanly on her first attempts. As the bar moved up to 4' 11", she needed all three jumps to make the clearance. And though she had three close attempts at 5' 1", she had to bow out at that height, finishing in 10^th place among 25 jumpers (actually in a 6-way tie for 5^th). Interestingly enough, Sophie had a goal to clear 5' today, and given the nice clearances she had at the previous heights and the closeness of her attempts at 5' 1", it is almost safe to assume that she might have made 5', had the bar been placed there after 4' 11". Nonetheless, her jump of 4'11" is the highest jump we have had among the girls in well over 7 years, and signs are that she will jump even higher once our outdoor season is underway.

Next was Nina in the third of 5 heats in the mile.  Let’s bear in mind that this is Nina’s first foray into track itself, and although she has worked with the mile before in cross country (the mile is not an event in the track season for us), she, too, had never dealt with a 292 meter oval. At any rate, she handled the novelty (all aspects of it) of the race quite well. In fact, her time of 6:07.2 at a distance that is a bit longer than the 1600m was three seconds faster than the time trial she had posted in the 1600 a week ago. This was a revealing performance for her, to say the least, especially as it points toward even faster times this spring.

Wade-Watta, after multiple warm-ups and sessions of stretching, finally lined up for her heat of the 400. I actually do not recall which heat or how many heats there were in total; there were over 100 participants in all with a max of 6 per heat. Starting in a weird spot on the track (to account for the 292m oval), she powered away to a strong 1^st 200m and held on to post a finishing time of 62.3, which was 1.5 seconds faster than her time trial last week. This, too, is promising, for once we return to the standard 400m track where she will be able to execute the different phases of the run, Wade-Watta will be looking at this time through her rear-view mirror.

Lastly, our co-captain Tricia, who had the longest time to wait for the shortest race, took to the track at well after 5pm in heat 10 of 21 in the 200 meter dash. Suffering through the same warm-up frustrations as Wade-Watta, Tricia was actually ecstatic to run and have at it.  In fact, I would venture a wager that her relief at finally being at the start line far exceeded the nervousness that accompanies most sprinters, especially when they have had to watch and hear the blistering times of so many others in the previous nine heats. Fortunately, the 200m is a race that involves very simple strategy:  run fast; then keep on running fast until you have to stop. Being out in the last lane, however, is a bit daunting for even the elite runners in our sport.  You are the target for everyone else, while you, on the other hand, have no one to use as a gauge of where you are in the race. That aside, Tricia pushed herself around what was an inordinately long turn to finish in 30.1, slightly faster than her opening 200 in our season opener (Longstreth) last year.  Once again, her performance affords an optimistic lens through which to prepare for the competitive outdoor season this year.

In sum, I could not be prouder of these ladies – surely for the great sacrifice of time and the eagerness to enter this meet, but most importantly for their overall sacrifice of time this winter to put in the sweat and work in hopes of entering our season with a sharper edge. Their results at this meet give ample validation to their hard work, and I hope that it fills them with as much excitement and optimism for our season that it does me.  They, in particular, and we, as a team, are all the better for their efforts; and for that, they deserve a very hearty Thank-you from all of us.

Vaulters!

Pole Vaulting Squad

Juniors Daniela Sullinger and Ana White hope to bring to their debut with the track team all the new knowledge and experience they earned at the recent Slippery Rock University camp for beginning vaulters.  They were joined by senior Alex Balli, new vault coach, Mr. Adam Yankay, and WRA alum, Anthony Boerio.

Speedsters

What a quartet! 4-by-fast! 4 x 100; 4 x 200; 4 x 400, with new records in 4 x 100 (50.9) and 4 x 200 (1:48.0). Look out next year!

Rock and his two girls, daughter and advisee

Seniors form bedrock of team this year

10th Annual Jason Manse Relays

10^th Annual Jason Manse Relays

Canton Central Catholic High School

18/May/2013

In their last outing of the season, seven girls [co-captains Margot and Christine, fellow seniors Daisy and Lucy, juniors Trish and Annie, and sophomore Cat] traveled to Canton Central Catholic High School to participate in the 10^th Annual Jason Manse Relays.  While the initial intention was to compete in only the pole vault, the 1500m run, and the three relays (4 x 100m, 4 x 200m, and 4 x 400m), two quick developments changed those plans. First, Captain Margot Warner was truly under the weather and not feeling well at all; hence, a joint decision that she not run the 1500.  At about the same time, we heard that the officials were wondering if WRA was entering the high jump relay.  Two of our sprinters, Cat and Daisy (who, incidentally, had been playing around at the high jump pit after a workout only a few days earlier) decided that they would like to enter as a relay just for fun.  And fun it was!! Without warm-up or practice, they entered the competition and, as a two-person relay, captured 2^nd place, with Cat clearing 4’ 6” (barely missing 4’ 8”) and Daisy clearing 4’ 10” (with very close attempts at 5’).

In the interim, Lucy had equaled her own school record of 8’ 6” in the pole vault and had a couple of close attempts at 9 feet.

And that was the start of a very exciting day for the Lady Pioneers.  The foursome of Trish, Cat, Annie and Daisy, stepped onto the track, knowing that in order to break the record that they were chasing in the 4 x 200m (1:48.8, set in 1986), they would have to do everything just right. They had come close two meets earlier with a time of 1:49.3; so, they knew that it was in them. The gun sounded; off they went.  As I watched the passes (where I thought those extra tenths of a second might get shaved), I was worried, as they were not as crisp and fast as they had been in practice the day before.  But, then I glanced at the first split from Trish, and she was under the time that we knew she needed if that record was going to fall. This scenario played itself out with each successive pass; not the best passes, but Wow, did they run in between!! Each girl was hitting the split that would bring them closer to that record.  At the end, upon glancing at the final time, I held my excitement, knowing that the official time would rule the day.  Then, the official word came: Western Reserve Academy, 3^rd, with a time of 1:48.0, precisely the time that I had captured.  Screams of joy!!!

Next, Chris stepped onto the track for her run at the 200m hurdles, a strange event, indeed. Two developments:  one – she and I had been practicing with an extra hurdle, 6 instead of the 5 with which she was presented today.  Well, she negotiated that surprise reasonably well enough to capture 4^th place with a time of 32.6 (6-tenths of a second faster than she had run in that event last year).  But wait; they discover that one of the hurdlers had one fewer hurdle than the rest of the group.  This glitch meant that they would need to re-run the event.  The decision was to have the “do-over” after the final scheduled event, the 4 x 400m.  That would mean that Chris would need to gear up to run it again in less than 20 minutes.  The second running occurs and Chris not only runs the same time (now on legs a bit more tired) as in the first running, she also moved up a place, snagging 3^rd in the final of the 200m hurdles.

Between the two episodes of the 200m hurdles, the sprint relay foursome have to head back to the track to attempt another run at one of those old records. This time, it was the 4 x 100m, a mark that had been standing since 1985.  Once again, the thinking was that everything had to be right if they were to dip under the 28-year old time of 51.1.  Again, they had brushed against the record two meets earlier with a time of 51.8.  So, where would we shave off those 8-tenths of a second? And once more, we looked to the passes and possibly some extra push from each girl.  Well, the gun exploded and Trish had us on the way.  This time that first pass was a bit crisper, then, the second pass happens, and I see that they are right on track.  In fact, there was visible determination in the way they were running at this point.  That third pass goes lightning fast and here comes Daisy down the home stretch.  She crosses the line in fourth, but that was hardly the aspect that interested me then.  Again, I had to restrain myself, hoping that the girls would not look up and ask me if they had done it.  My stopwatch had a nicely frozen final time that excited me, but I had to go down to the official for confirmation.  Before I could reach the finish line, that confirmation came; my time of 50.88, rounded as it should be to 50.9, was enough to re-write the record.  And screams of joy once AGAIN pierce the air.

During that second celebration, we realized that Trish really was hurting, and the decision to forego the 4 x 400m was made with little hesitation, which actually came from Trish herself, wanting to push through the 400 so that Daisy would have a fitting close to her high school track career with another chance at breaking 60 in the 400.  Graciously and unselfishly, Daisy would have none of it; we were not going to run the 4 x 400m, and that was more than fine by all of us. 

Can you believe it? – With only six competitors, we entered only 5 of the 16 events AND we did not finish last.  This sextet scored well enough to finish 7^th overall in the meet.

This day had been even more joyous than had we tried to script it.  And although we were not sure if it counts as the type of result that merits ringing the victory bell, we did it anyway.  And it sounded great!!!!

Congratulations, ladies.

Papa G

East Canton Hornet Relays

On Saturday, May 11, the Girls’ Track & Field team concluded its season at the East Canton Hornet Relays, where we earned the 2^nd place trophy.  It was a nice close to a great season.  The girls turned in numerous personal best performances and a couple of season best performances.  On top of it all, we set two meet records.  The highlights were the following:

Earning 3^rd place honors were the high jump and discus trios.

In 2^nd place, we had the Distance Medley and the Shuttle Hurdles.

And capturing 1^st place were the long jump trio, the 4 x 200, and the 4 x 100 quartet of Tricia, Cat, Annie and Daisy not only came in first, they also set a meet record of 51.8. 

That same foursome came back a few minutes later to duplicate their earlier efforts with not only a win in the 4 x 400, but also a meet record of 4:14.8, which was also a Season Best time for the group.

Congratulations to all the girls!!!!  It has been a great season!! 

Cuyahoga Heights Relays

On Saturday, May 4, the Girls traveled to Cuyahoga Heights to participate in the Cuyahoga Relays, where we finished in fourth place.  Despite our overall final place in the meet, we had a good number of Season Best performances and Personal Records.

Some of the highlights were:

• The DMR had a Season Best in its 4^th place finish, while the 4 x 800, in 3^rd place also ran a Season Best
• 2^nd place for the pole vault relay, where Lucy tied her own school record, and both Lisie and Charley had PRs.
• Also capturing 2^nd place and running a Season Best time was the 4 x 1600
• The 4 x 400 ended the meet with another exciting race, running a Season Best and coming in at 2^nd.
• The Shuttle team captured our only 1^st place medals.

Congratulations to the hurdlers and 
ALL of the girls for a great job!!!