High school track: Achievements abound before Highland-Wadsworth meet rained out

WADSWORTH — Mother Nature got the last laugh in a non-league track and field dual between Wadsworth and Highland on Wednesday. Thunder and lightning caused a short delay between the 4x100-meter dashes in the Medina County clash. Rain came in, and coaches decided to postpone the meet. Full results were hand-timed and not made available prior to The Gazette's E-Edition deadline. Among the available results, returning Suburban League National Conference champion and Wadsworth sophomore Brooke Haude, a returning All-Gazette selection, outpaced Highland's Celia Pylypiak, an honorable mention All-Gazette choice, in the 100 hurdles with a season-best time of 15.45 seconds. Pylypiak is the reigning SL American champion in the 300 hurdles and runner-up in the 100 hurdles. "I know that Highland has really good hurdlers," Haude said. "I know (Pylypiak) personally from middle school and track camp. I was a little worried that she was going to beat me, because I haven't raced her in a while and didn't know what to predict. "I was happy to see her, and it was a good race. I think it gave me that competitive drive because I know how good their hurdlers are." On the boys side, Wadsworth junior Alex Valentine won the 100 in a personal-best 10.98 despite the wind from the incoming storm blowing in his face. Valentine was the SL National champion and a regional qualifier in the pole vault last season, but the sprints are leading the way for him so far this spring. Valentine took the lead for the Grizzlies' sprinters with returning SL National 100 champion Calix Lemp out after having his wisdom teeth pulled. "I was feeling good," Valentine said. "The headwinds were not the best conditions for this, but I still got a nice P.R. and broke 11 (seconds) for the first time." In one of the closest races, Hornets sophomore Charlie Charvat held off Wadsworth's Lucas McDermitt on the anchor leg to win the 4x200 relay. "I was a little scared, because I haven't seen these kids run before," Charvat said. "I can run a good curve, but my straight is pretty bad. I like that I held my lead and didn't let him pass me. "I looked back, which I normally don't do, so that's something to work on." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com.