Hawks, Lady Pirates go strong in advancing to track regionals
Garaway freshman Meghan Schwartz was not intimidated by her first time running at districts. Schwartz cruised to victory in the 800-meters to lead a bevy of youthful Lady Pirates into regionals.
The Hiland boys and Garaway girls had plenty of reason to celebrate at the Div. III district track and field meet in Newcomerstown, which took place Tuesday and Friday, May 18 and 21.
In the girls’ side of the ledger, Garaway placed third out of 21 teams while Hiland’s boys finished seventh out of 19 teams.
Garaway’s girls racked up 56.5 points, trailing only champion Steubenville Catholic Central’s 76 and runner-up Barnesville’s 74.5. The Hawks score of 47 was well off the winning pace of Tuscarawas Valley’s winning effort of 111.5, with runner-up honors going to Shadyside with 92.
However, more important than the team score was both team’s advancing a number of athletes into regional competition, along with Hiland’s Kelsey Swihart, who won the shot put.
Girls
Lady Pirate Megan Schwartz accumulated some massive points for the Lady P’s, taking the title in the 800-meters be reeling off a time of 2:27.33, a half-second ahead of runner-up Marah Bethel of Barnesville.
Garaway’s crew of Kenadi Yoder, Hailey Troyer, Grace Yoder and Schwartz ran to a regional berth in the 4-by-200 relay, finishing in 1:53.32, just getting nipped by second-place Shadyside.
The 4-by-400 relay team did one notch better, where Grace Yoder, Kenadi Yoder, Hailey Troyer and Hailey Schlabach roared to the runner-up spot in 4:20.81, behind only Steubenville Catholic Central’s winning time of 4:20.22.
The 4-by-800 relay team also slipped into regionals, taking fourth in 10:51.8. The members included Schwartz, Lauren Goehring, Arin Frey and Natalie Money.
In the 300-meter hurdles, Garaway’s Kenadi Yoder qualified fourth, but her finals time of 51:40, which was even faster than her qualifying time, saw her fall to sixth, just missing a regional berth by two-tenths of a second.
Garaway’s Hailey Troyer just missed qualifying for regionals, placing fifth in the 400-meters in 1:04.13, the event won by Malvern’s Paige Peshina in 1:02.48.
In the field events, Hiland’s Kelsey Swihart grabbed gold and won the shot put with a heave of 38-02.75, a throw she produced on her first throw of the day out of six attempts. Garaway’s Makayla Stitzler took third with a toss of 36-11, which she produced on her final attempt. Stitzler also advanced to regionals by taking second in the discus with a throw of 114-03, falling in line behind only champion Bellaire’s Katelyn Hart’s throw of 117-10.
“We earned a third with a ton of underclassmen,” Garaway head coach Zach Mottice said. “We had a lot of kids step up as the level of competition and the importance of the meet grew, and we are moving a lot of kids on to the next level, which is exactly what we wanted. We are very excited for the future and excited about next week because we have some young girls who are just learning who took some big steps.”
Boys
The 100-meter race was showcased by a trio of runners who were head-and-shoulders above the field. Beallsville’s Brandon Loudon ended up with the title in 11.35, just barely eking past Hiland’s Isaac Slabaugh, who finished second in 11.39. Third went to Chase Lenhoff of Tusky Valley in 11.42 in a fantastic race to the wire.
Miller and Slabaugh’s disappointment there was eased by their victory in the 4-by-100 relay, where they joined teammates Micah Kuhns and Faybryn Miller and raced to victory in 44.88, better than runner-up Tusky Valley’s time of 45.23.
Kuhns, Miller and Slabaugh joined Kendrick Wilson in the 4-by-200 relay and enjoyed an opportunity to duplicate their earlier success, romping to victory in 1:36.89, ahead of runner-up Hannibal’s time of 1:37.32.
The Hawks’ 4-by-400 relay team also advanced to regionals, where their time of 3:42.87 was good for third place. The team of Wilson, Ryan, Kuhns and Adam Miller trailed winner Steubenville Catholic Central’s winning time of 3:33.55 and runner-up Shadyside’s 3:34.58 effort.
While Tyler Stump of Tusky Valley won the 200-meters in 22.45, it was a heartbreak for a pair of Hawks. Jaywon Miller ended up fifth in 23.15, a mere .05 out of a qualifying fourth spot, while Slabaugh placed sixth in 23.71.
Adam Miller made the finals of the 800-meters but missed qualifying, placing 12th in 2:21.91. Corbin Miller ended up 10th in the 1600-meters in 5:07.5, and in the 3200-meters, Tuscarawas Central Catholic’s Jackson Triplett was the only participant to go sub-10:00, posting a time of 9:59.97 and winning the event by nearly one full minute.
In field events Jaywon Miller continued his fantastic day, capturing a victory in the long jump by soaring 18-06.5 on his final attempt out of six.