High school track: Cloverleaf girls relay dominates at MAC meet

PENINSULA — The Cloverleaf girls track and field team saved its best for last and finished the Metro Athletic Conference Meet in dominating fashion Saturday, winning the 4x400-meter relay by nearly nine seconds. Adriana Akers, Samantha Porter, Lily Dluzynski and Kayla Shook led from start to finish and won with a time of 4:07.30. Woodridge was second at 4:16.28. "I felt pretty strong starting it," said Akers, who ran in the 200 moments earlier. "After the 200, I felt the lactic acid a little bit, but I thought I got a pretty good start, and it felt like it felt great." Akers gave the baton to Porter, who extended the lead before handing off to Dluzynski. "If Adriana gets the lead, I feel like I just have to help maintain it and get a bigger lead so Lily can take it, and then Kayla can finish," Porter said. Shook finished without any resistance from the other six schools after her teammates had pulled away. It has been a theme to the season in the 4x4. "We're having a really good season as a team," Shook said. "We've had a lot of races where we've been in a lead, and the three girls in front of me have gotten me the baton in a good position, and I think we're working really hard." Shook and Porter have been a big help to Dluzynski, like Akers a freshman. "This is my first year running track, and with amazing upperclassmen like Kayla and Sam on the team, that is really helping personally me push through," Dluzynski said. "For us to be doing this at the end of the season with all four of us winning, it means like a lot, and I'm just so excited for what we can do for post season." Earlier in the day, Porter used her head to help the Colts to a second-place finish in the 4x1. After making up time early in the final leg, Porter and the Colts were still trailing Woodridge and Streetsboro in the final meters, but Porter was able to catch the Rockets' Olivia Johnson-Wilson by leaning forward for a 50.71, just 0.03 ahead of Streetsboro. "It was all in the head lean," Porter joked. "I got it right at the last second." The time was a season best for Kiersyn Berry, Shook, Akers and Porter. "I felt like it was pretty good," Porter said. "Our handoffs were clean, and we did drop time, so it just felt like we had pretty good race." Shook and Porters didn't have any time to reflect, as they were back on the track almost immediately for the 400, where Shook finished third in 1:01.55 and Porter was eighth. Running events so closely together isn't easy, but the Colts didn't make any excuses. "It's tough, but we have done it throughout the season," Shook said. "I have definitely gotten more used to it." As for the race itself, Shook came from behind early. The race was competed into the wind in the beginning and with the wind down the stretch. "The wind definitely hit me on that back stretch, and I was like 'All right, I've got to go. Everybody's driving through it,'" Shook said. "But I ran my own race, and I didn't want to come out too fast. I think I did good with that with the back stretch, even with the wind, and I just drove my arms." Shook came out after a nearly an hour delay for weather and finished third in the 200, with Akers close behind in fourth. In the field, the Colts took two of the top three spots in the pole vault, as Peyton Shetterly defended her title with a mark of 9 feet and Taylor Thur tied for third at 8-0. Abby Reinhardt was second in the long jump at 16-4 and tied for third in the high jump at 4-10. Finishing third for Cloverleaf were Julia Reusch in the 300 hurdles at 50.77 and Leah Monhemius in the 3,200 at 12:27.54. Caleb Neville took second in the 3,200 Thursday (9:42.07) and finished third Saturday in the 800 at 2:01.26 and 1,600 in 4:22.19. Neville took the meet as the perfect warmup for this week's Woodridge Division III District. "It means a lot having such good competition here," he said. "We're going to see them next week, so it means a lot to just run with them, see their strengths and weaknesses and work off of that." Neville teamed with Gavin Forbes, Noah Mion and Matthew Jenkins to take second in the 4x8 Thursday, while Lincoln Baltic was second in the pole vault at 11-0 and Forbes finished third in the 3,200 at 9:53.63. Woodridge won both team competitions with 191 points in boys and 182.5 in girls, while the Cloverleaf boys finished fourth with 74 points and the girls were third with 119.5. Contact Ryan Isley at sports@medina-gazette.com. Results BOYS Standings: 1. Woodridge 191, 2. Streetsboro 128, 3. Field 96, 4. Cloverleaf 74, 5. Ravenna 64, 6. Norton 62, 7. Coventry 25, 8. Springfield 10. 100 — 1. Ethan Laryea (Str) 10.84. 200 — 1. Ethan Laryea (Str) 21.95. 400 — 1. Caleb Martin (F) 50.85, 7. Ethan Gray (Clo) 53.58. 800 — 1. Xavier Griffiths (W) 4:17.92, 1:59.45, 3. Caleb Neville (Clo) 2:01.26, 6. Matthew Jenkins (Clo) 2:02.53. 1,600 — 1. Xavier Griffiths (W) 4:17.92, 3. Neville (Clo) 4:22.19, 4. Gavin Forbes (Clo) 4:33.53. 3,200 — 1. Remington Griffiths (W) 9:38.29, 2. Neville (Clo) 9:42.07, 3. Forbes (Clo) 9:53.63. 110 hurdles — 1. Logan Border (F) 13.97. 300 hurdles — 1. Jalen Berry (W) 37.98. 4x100 — 1. Streetsboro 42.76, 7. Cloverleaf (Adam Gray, Josh Powers, Bryce Neill, Grady Pamer) 46.95. 4x200 — 1. Streetsboro 1:28.37, 4. Cloverleaf (E. Gray, Powers, Neill, Clayton Sewalish) 1:36.77. 4x400 — 1. Streetsboro 3:25.41, 5. Cloverleaf (E. Gray, Jenkins, Neill, Forbes) 3:35.75. 4x800 — 1. Woodridge 8:02.53, 2. Cloverleaf 8:11.14, 2. Cloverleaf (Neville, Forbes, Noah Mion, Jenkins) 8:11.14. High jump — 1. Mason Scott (R) 6-2. Long jump — 1. Mason Scott (R) 20-10, 7. Pamer (Clo) 19-7. Pole vault — 1. Nathan Adams (W) 12-0, 2. Lincoln Baltic (Clo) 11-0, 4. Reilly Maloney (Clo) 8-0. Shot put — 1. Alex Christensen (W) 54-5, 7. Jake Schaefer (Clo) 40-6. Shot put (Wheelchair) — 1. Michael Mami (W) 11-6.75. Discus — 1. Brayden Pocek (Str) 141-5, 7. A. Gray (Clo) 114-1. GIRLS Standings: 1. Woodridge 182.5, 2. Streetsboro 176, 3. Cloverleaf 119.5, 4. Field 98, 5. Norton 36, 6. Ravenna 17, 7. Springfield 15, 8. Coventry 10. 100 — 1. C'Niyah Ivory (Str) 12.50, 4. Adriana Akers (Clo) 13.1. 200 — 1. C'Niyah Ivory (Str) 25.65, 3. Kayla Shook 26.21, 4. Akers (Clo) 26.52. 400 — 1. Amiyah Perry (W) 1:58.40, 3. Kayla Shook 1:01.55, 8. Samantha Porter (Clo) 1:04.78. 800 — 1. Lola Mullen (W) 2:24.27, 4. Lily Dluzynski (Clo) 2:33.33. 1,600 — 1. Lola Mullen (W) 5:32.08, 4. Leah Monhemius (Clo) 5:48.06, 8. Elise Mion (Clo) 5:58.74. 3,200 — 1. Lola Mullen (W) 11:35.62, 3. Monhemius (Clo) 12:27.54, 6. Mion (Clo) 13:00.38. 100 hurdles — 1. Olivia Johnson-Wilson (Str) 15.94, 4. Kiersyn Berry (Clo) 17.44. 300 hurdles — 1. Olivia Johnson-Wilson (Str) 49.50, 3. Julia Reusch (Clo) 50.77, 7. Berry (Clo) 54.42. 4x100 — 1. Woodridge 50.56, 2. Cloverleaf (Berry, Shook, Akers, Porter) 50.71. 4x200 — 1. Streetsboro 1:46.78, 4. Cloverleaf (Berry, Porter, Keegan Wittman, Dluzynski) 1:52.04. 4x400 — 1. Cloverleaf (Akers, Porter, Dluzynski, Shook) 4:07.30. 4x800 — 1. Woodridge 10:01.88, 4. Cloverleaf (Dluzynski, Monhemius, Kelsey Hall, Mion) 10:52.95. High jump — 1. Sara Koyan (Str) 5-1, 4. Abigail Reinhardt (Clo) 4-10. Long jump — 1. Carman Marcini (Str) 16-5, 2. Abby Reinhardt (Clo) 16-4. Pole vault — 1. Peyten Shetterly (Clo) 9-0, 3. Taylor Thur (Clo) 8-0. Shot put — 1. Mollie Mathews (F) 37-3, 4. Amelia Ryncarz (Clo) 34-7, 7. Berkeley Craddock (Clo) 31-5. Discus — 1. Makayla Norman (F) 124-0.