High school track: Brunswick continues rolling with sweep at Avon Lake meet

AVON LAKE — The Brunswick track and field teams won for the second weekend in a row by sweeping the 27th annual Avon Lake Invitational on Saturday. Both teams were coming off wins at the Strongsville Elite Meet in the season opener March 29. The boys held off Walsh Jesuit 94-89, while the girls outdistanced defending champion GlenOak 116-94.5. Both competed in 15-team fields. The victories were marked improvements over the last two years. Both finished seventh at Avon Lake a year ago, while the boys finished only ninth in 2023 and the girls eighth. It was the boys' second win at the Avon Lake (2012), while the girls won for the fourth time and first since 2018. On Saturday, the boys were propelled by a pair of first-place awards, two seconds and three thirds. The girls amassed two firsts, five seconds and four thirds. The Brunswick boys were led by junior Ryder Kern, who won the 100-meter dash over Bay junior Jayden Perrine, 11.12-11.19. Blue Devils senior Collin Kavulic was third (11.22). Kern and Kavulic later teamed with Hunter Kern and Noah Surovey for a meet-record 42.78 in the 4x100-meter relay, breaking the 2022 meet record of 43.44 set by Avon. Walsh Jesuit (43.42) and GlenOak (43.43) also broke the previous meet record. "It's a good day," said Ryder Kern, who missed last track season due to a torn ACL suffered during football. "We're all here competing. It's really good to start year off 2-0 winning two meets. We got the 400 relay meet record. It's just good to go sub-43 for the 400 relay this early in the season. We went 43.2 last week with it. We had a few things that we needed to refine and got 0.5 better. We've got a lot of talent and a lot of good times for us to build on." Second-place performances came from Kai Piskach in the 300 hurdles (41.83) and Jacob Meier in the discus (142 feet, 7 inches). Kavulic also contributed with a third in the 200 (23.09), while Grayson Hayest was third in pole vault (11-6). "This is probably the most complete team we've had since 2021," Brunswick coach Owen Coughlin said. "It's a great group of guys, and there's very little ego. They're doing everything the right way. This group is special in the sense that there's no stress. Everybody just wants to win. Everybody wants to do their best and support each other. "I'm very excited about this team. It feels different this year. Last I heard a quote from a coach. He said a track team is like trying to assemble an airplane while it's flying. You see it all coming together throughout the year. It's fun because at the beginning you don't know what the team is going to be. You have an idea. When you have something good you usually end up exceeding your expectations. That's what I'm seeing right now. They're already exceeding the high expectations that I had. We didn't have a dual on Wednesday, so a lot of our distance guys were running their off races. If we could win without even putting that together, that's just another testament to how great this team could be." The girls were led by wins from seniors Olivia Komperda in the 800 (2:21.72) and Autumn King in high jump (5-3). Komperda put the pedal down with 300 left and was never seriously threatened, as she defeated Rocky River's Jane Rathbun (2:25.85). In the 4x8, Komperda split 2:18 in the third leg as she teamed with Kylie Lockwood, Abigail Morgan and Maddie Kolman for second (10:01.15). Komperda and Lockwood also teamed with Maggie Romano and Mackenzie Soeder for third in the 4x4 (4:12.37) behind GlenOak's meet-record 4:08.60. "This year I'm focusing on confidence, because that's my missing key," Komperda said. "I know that I can run with the girls up there. I'm one of them. I've been with them but I haven't believed it. This year I'm believing it. It's really showing in my races. I'm not afraid to take it. I've been working hard all four years of high school. Why not run out in front. "I was a sprinter freshmen year, so with the 800 I have to believe that I'm faster than every single girl out there. I have the base and I'm faster, so just show it." King and junior Zaria Roberts teamed with Taylor Tully and Isabella Weinmann for a second in the 4x1 (50.79). King also helped out with a third in the 100 (13.08). The other third-place points came from Tully, Soeder, Mia Staab and Marissa Miller in the 4x2 (1:49.77). "Everything felt pretty good," Roberts said moments after the 4x1. "Our exchanges all seemed to go very well. The weather held up today, which was great. I'm not cold or anything." The Blue Devils also got second-place awards from sophomore Sophia Pomeroy in the 100 hurdles (17.48), Roberts in long jump (16-7.75) and senior Sophia Nigro in pole vault (9-0). Soeder chipped in with a third in long jump (15-10.75). "I'm thrilled with how we did today," coach Matt Sofranko said. "The kids came out did what they had to do. No matter what the weather is if jumping into a headwind or running into a headwind, everybody's got to do it so you just got to compete. Honestly and truthfully, the weather here today is better than what we've got here a lot of years, so I can't complain about it. We were all OK with it." The weather fluctuated a bit, but nothing too harsh. Temperatures started out in the mid-40s to low-50s and bumped up into the 60s before falling back down again into the upper-40s by the time the meet ended. Although there was a moderate sprinkle midway through the meet, the prediction of heavy rains held off. "The girls ran tough and jumped tough and threw hard," Sofranko said. "You do everything you have to do to do your best today. That's what they did. We had some nice pleasant surprises between Kya Swann in the shot breaking 38 (feet), Autumn going 5-3 in high jump, Liv Komperda and Kylie Lockwood both had a three-event day, that's three hard events. Going 2-3 in the long jump and double scoring (top eight) in the pole vault helps. "We didn't win every event but we went out scored well in every event and that's what you have to do. It was a good day, a good two weeks, two weeks in a row here is good. More teams here to compete with and a little bit stronger competition than last week." Contact Paul Heyse sports@medina-gazette.com. Results BOYSStandings: 1. Brunswick 94, 2. Walsh Jesuit 89, 3. GlenOak 80.5, 4. Olmsted Falls 69, 5. Euclid 68, 6. Bay 64, 7. Rocky River 47, 8. Gilmour Academy 28, 9. Avon Lake 26, 10. Avon 24.5, 11. Lakewood 24, 12. Westlake 22, 13. St. Edward 20, 14. Lorain 5, 15. Benedictine 2. 100 — 1. Ryder Kern (Bru) 11.12, 3. Collin Kavulic (Bru) 11.22. 200 — 1. Jayden Pierce (Bay) 22.53, 3. Kavulic (Bru) 23.09. 400 — 1. Lars Broberg (GA) 49.5, 7. Noah Surovey (Bru) 52.14. 800 — 1. Henry Lange (RR) 1:59.64. 1,600 — 1. Ryan Stirm (RR) 4:26.42, 4. Santino Diligente (Bru) 4:28.66. 3,200 — 1. Ryan Bridenthal (GO) 9:45.91, 5. Noah Jarold (Bru) 10:18.16. 110 hurdles — 1. Skylan King (GO) 15.53. 300 hurdles — 1. Nick Rossini (OF) 41.0, 2. Kai Pikasch (Bru) 41.83. 4x100 — 1. Brunswick 42.78. 4x200 — 1. GlenOak 1:30.18, 5. Brunswick 1:33.29. 4x400 — 1. Euclid 3:26.18, 6. Brunswick 3:39.28. 4x800 — 1. Euclid 8:07.22, 6. Brunswick 8:31.18. High jump — 1. Tre Greer (OF) 6-3. Long jump — 1. Jayden Perrine (Bay) 19-7, 7. Hunter Kern (Bru) 18-10.25. Pole vault — 1. Johny Jatsyshyn (W) 13-6, 3. Grayson Hayest (Bru) 11-6, 3. Caleb Sepesy (Bru) 11-6. Shot put — 1. Max Riley (AL) 54-2.5, 3. Eli Nichols (Bru) 48-1. Discus — 1. Ashton Douglas (Av) 143-8, 2. Jacob Meier (Bru) 142-7. GIRLS Standings: 1. Brunswick 116, 2. GlenOak 94.5, 3. Rocky River 72, 4. Avon 68.5, 5. Avon Lake 50, 6. Magnificat 39, 7. St. Joseph Academy 50, 8. Walsh Jesuit 35, 9. Gilmour Academy 30, 9. Lakewood 30, 11. Beaumont 24.5, 12. Bay 24, 13. Lorain 23, 14. Olmsted Falls 13, 15. Westlake 4. 100 — 1. Sydney Stepanovich (GO) 12.52, 3. Autumn King (Bru) 13.08, 7. Isabella Weinmann (Bru) 13.59. 200 — 1. Stepanovich (GO) 25.65. 400 — 1. Jayla Antrum (Av) 59.68, 5. Marissa Miller (Bru) 1:03.42. 800 — 1. Olivia Komperda (Bru) 2:21.72. 1,600 — 1. Grace Lavelle (RR) 5:21.87, 6. Amber Kemmann (Bru) 5:27.26. 3,200 — 1. Jane McCann (RR) 11:45.41. 100 hurdles — 1. Charieon Doxley (L) 16.43, 2. Sophia Pomeroy (Bru) 17.48, 4. Sasha-Grace Abi (Bru) 18.0. 300 hurdles — 1. Addison Hamm (GO) 47.89, 5. Maggie Romano (Bru) 50.48. 4x100 — 1. GlenOak 50.46, 2. Brunsiwck 50.79. 4x200 — 1. Gilmour Academy 1:45.77, 3. Brunswick 1:49.77. 4x400 — 1. GlenOak 4:08.6, 3. Brunswick 4:12.37. 4x800 — 1. Rocky River 9:41.1, 2. Brunswick 10:01.15. High jump — 1. Autumn King (Bru) 5-3, 4. Natalie Tracy (Bru) 4-10. Long jump — 1. Sofia Klue (WJ) 16-10.25, 2. Zaria Roberts B(ru) 16-7.75, 3. Mackenzie Soeder (bru) 15-10.75. Pole vault — 1. Emma Studer (GO) 11-6, 2. Sophia Nigro (Bru) 9-0, 7. Eleni Rahas (Bru) 8-0. Shot put — 1. Ava Luczak (AL) 40-9, 4. Kya Swann (Bru) 38-5.75. Discus — 1. Rania Brown (Av) 149-6, 7. Swann (Bru) 103-8.