Regional track: Cloverleaf girls send pole vaulter, two relay teams to state

AUSTINTOWN — Cloverleaf senior Sarah Kelly was understandably all smiles Saturday afternoon, as she anchored a pair of relays to Division II state berths out of the Austintown Fitch Regional. Kelly first teamed with Brooklyn Cavey, Kayla Shook and Taylor Munchick for a third-place finish out of four qualifiers in the 4x200-meter relay with a time of 1:46.10, finishing behind Beachwood (1:42.62) and Firelands (1:44.06). Forty minutes, later Kelly anchored the 4x1 that included Kierston Campbell, Shook and Munchick to another third-place finish (50.14) behind Beachwood (49.15) and Marlington (49.66). "It's very exciting," Kelly said. "We knew we had a chance, but we didn't think that we were going to execute that well, so it's a super cool experience. We were a little intimidated, but we didn't let that stop us too much. We just did what we knew and here we are." Cloverleaf was seeded only sixth in the 4x2 (1:46.64) after the prelims Thursday. The Colts' chances were aided when the anchor of co-leader Buchtel tripped and stumbled to the track right before the finish line. "I just tried to remind everyone to just run for the place and not to worry about time," Kelly said. "We've run in the wind, the rain and the cold all year, so this is just another day for us. I think that we run best in this weather. When we saw the weather we were kind of excited, because we know best. This is what we run best in. We're extremely excited." The Cloverleaf 4x2 advanced to state for the second straight year, which included Kelly and Shook in 2024. Last season, Cloverleaf was in D-I. "Last year our 400 relay missed the regional finals by one place, so it's very cool to be here right now," Kelly said. "I'm so excited for all of us," Shook said. "We all did so well. We just need to keep practicing hard so that we can do well at state, too. We've all been working super hard. We all are a team. "We've all have been taking our recovery very seriously. We've had to deal with some shin issues this year, but our coaches have done a very good putting those people with the shin issues in the right place and getting us the right training for us to be here today." Cloverleaf also advanced Payten Shetterly in the pole vault after she finished fourth with a mark of 10 feet. She's the Colts' first qualifier in the event since Jennifer Foster was the 2011 D-I runner-up to Medina's Alex Wasik. "It feels incredible," Shetterly said. "I think it went very well. I just had to do what I know and power through it. The wind today was a mix between a tail wind and a crosswind." Coach Garth Gucker was very pleased with his team's efforts. "I'm super proud of them," he said. "The 800 relay was seeded No. 6, and they were outstanding. Their handoffs were fantastic. They just really competed, especially in adverse conditions. They haven't complained once about the weather. We were able to work through a bad exchange (Munchick to Kelly) on the third exchange and recover. They kept their cool and they recovered. "There was such a melee of teams coming through for that last handoff for the 400 relay, and they were outstanding. All of the handoffs were clean. I'm super proud of them for that. It takes a lot of work, week in and week out just to make sure that those are right." The Cloverleaf 4x4 of Katie Wershing, Samantha Porter, Shook and Cavey came up one place shy of qualification, placing fifth (4:06.03). "I'm so proud of those kids," Gucker said. "They were right there until the end. They competed very hard. It just didn't happen for them." The lone point for the Cloverleaf boys Saturday came from the eighth-place 4x4 of Ethan Gray, Reed Kilgore, Isaac Smith and Ben Myers (3:29.85). Contact Paul Heyse at sports@medina-gazette.com. Results BOYS Standings: 1. Glenville 60.5, 2. Orrville 41, 3. Perry 36, 4. CVCA 35, 5. Woodridge 34, 6. Field 31, 7. Firelands 30, 8. Orange 28, 9. Gilmour Academy 25, 9. Marlington 25, 11. Norwayne 24, 12. Elyria Catholic 23, 12. Villa Angela-St. Joseph 23, 14. Keystone 22, 15. Ravenna 20, 16. Bay 19, 16. Northwest 19, 18. Streetsboro 16, 19. Chagrin Falls 15, 20. Girard 14, 20. Crestwood 14, 20. Youngstown Ursuline 14, 23. Salem 13, 24. Canfield South Range 8, 24. Waynedale 8, 26. Buchtel 6, 26. Brookside 6, 26. Liberty 6, 26. Manchester 6, 30. Ashtabula Edgewood 5.5, 31. Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin 5, 32. Beachwood 4, 32. West Geauga 4, 32. Pymatuning Valley 4, 32. Cortland Lakeview 4, 36. Coventry 3, 37. Cloverleaf 2, 37. Triway 2, 37. Hubbard 2, 37. Mentor Lake Catholic 2. 100 — 1. Josiah Hunter (Gir) 11.21. 200 — 1. Jay'Vier Kerr (Glen) 22.26. 400 — 1. Kerr (Glen) 48.14. 800 — 1. Isaac Solomon (CVCA) 1:56.97. 1,600 — 1. Owen Lacey (Orr) 4:19.94. 3,200 — 1. Michael Hanselman (Bay) 9:31.78. 110 hurdles — 1. Naashon Calliens (Ora) 14.83. 300 hurdles — 1. Collins (Ora) 39.43. 4x100 — 1. Villa Angela-St. Joseph 42.53. 4x200 — 1. Glenville 1:29.42. 4x400 — 1. Glenville 3:20.41, 8. Cloverleaf (Ethan Gray, Reed Kilgore, Isaac Smith, Ben Myers) 3:29.85. 4x800 — 1. Woodridge 7:55.35. High jump — 1. Armani Chiappone (Perr) 6-4. Long jump — 1. Connor Petrus (EC) 22-9.25. Pole vault — 1. Traxton Richards (Perr) 15-3. Shot put — 1. Talon Beichler (Orr) 60-4.5. Discus — 1. Beichler (Orr) 182-5, 8. Clay Combs (Clo) 148-7. GIRLS Standings: 1. Norwayne 56, 2. Beachwood 52, 3. Firelands 48, 4. Marlington 46, 5. Salem 45, 6. Woodridge 40.25, 7. CVCA 31, 8. Perry 24, 9. Cloverleaf 23, 9. Crestwood 23, 9. Chagrin Falls 23, 9. Cleveland Central Catholic 23, 13. Gilmour Academy 22, 13. Streetsboro 22, 15. West Geauga 21, 16. Buchtel 20, 17. Conneaut 15, 18. Ravenna Southeast 13, 19. Brookside 12, 19. Northwestern, 21. Elyria Catholic 11, 21. Hawken 11, 23. Girard 10, 24. Ashtabula Edgewood 9, 25. Field 8, 26. Warrensville Heights 7, 27. Ursuline 6, 27. Orange 6, 28. Ravenna 5.25, 30. Northwest 4, 30. Norton 4, 32. Tuslaw 2, 32. Warren Champion 2, 34. Berkshire 1, 35. Canton South 0.25, 35. Keystone 0.25. 100 — 1. K'Yanna Penn (CCC) 12.51. 200 — 1. Penn (CCC) 25.62. 400 — 1. Meena Abdul-Basser (Beach) 56.56. 800 — 1. Marissa Boone (Wood) 2:14.26. 1,600 — 1. Boone (Wood) 5:02.88. 3,200 — 1. Irelyn Johnson (Mar) 10:55.15. 100 hurdles — 1. Ariannah Floyd (Brooks) 15.46. 300 hurdles — 1. Floyd (Brooks) 43.3. 4x100 — 1. Beachwood 49.15, 3. Cloverleaf (Kierston Campbell, Kayla Shook, Taylor Munchick, Sarah Kelly) 50.14. 4x200 — 1. Beachwood 1:42.62, 3. Cloverleaf (Brooklyn Cavey, Shook, Munchick, Kelly) 1:46.1. 4x400 — 1. Gilmour Academy 4:02.22, 5. Cloverleaf (Katie Wershing, Samantha Porter, Kayla Shook, Brooklyn Cavey) 4:06.03. 4x800 — 1. Woodridge 9:35.69. High jump — 1. Kara Deister (WG) 5-5. Long jump — 1. Kylee Zamecnik (CVCA) 16-10.25. Pole vault — 1. Natalie Zalud (CF) 11-1, 4. Payten Shetterly (Clo) 10-0. Shot put — 1. Emily Mechenbier (Perr) 45-10.5, 7. Presly McConnell (Clo) 37-10. Discus — 1. Hannah Froelich (Nor) 134-8.