District track: Cloverleaf girls relay team dominates once again

PENINSULA — Another Saturday, another dominating performance for the Cloverleaf girls 4x400-meter relay of Adriana Akers, Samantha Porter, Lily Dluzynski and Kayla Shook. After winning by nearly nine seconds at the Metro Athletic Conference Meet the week prior, the foursome starred again at the Woodridge Division III District, winning by more than six seconds in a season-best time of 4:02.78. "It's definitely really exciting," Shook said. "I'm really proud of our team for getting there, and 4:02 is no joke. I'm excited for us to continue doing well." That time was 4.62 seconds faster than the MAC Meet on the same track. The Colts spent the week working on a way to get faster. "It's really our handoffs that we worked over the past week," Dluzynski said. "Just stretching each other just that extra little bit to really get some seconds down, and it's working, so that's good." That puts Cloverleaf into the Austintown Fitch Regional, with the preliminaries Thursday and finals Saturday. Running a blistering time at the districts will help once the Colts arrive at the regional site. "It gives us a better seed time so that we have a better lane in the prelims," Porter said. "Then hopefully be able to get far enough and get a good enough lane in the finals on Saturday." Akers made the decision to pull out of the 200, the event prior to the 4x4, to focus on giving the relay a better chance to win. "I feel like it was the right decision, and I am happy with it," Akers said. "I was able to save some energy for the relay and that really helped." The extra rest allowed Akers to get off to a fast start and give the Colts an early lead that grew with each leg. "Adriana's start was incredible," Shook said. "And I think we knew we were close to the school record (4:01.96), and I just think it's just a different kind of adrenaline when you're here at districts." The 4x4 was the final event of the meet and the third relay, with the 4x8 taking place Thursday. Cloverleaf qualified for regionals in all four relays, as the same 4x4 foursome finished fourth in the 4x1 (51.34), Kiersyn Berry, Julia Reusch, Akers and Porter were fourth in the 4x2 (1:50.28) and Dluzynski, Leah Monhemius, Elise Mion and Keegan Wittman were fourth in the 4x8 (10:34.51). Getting individual regional bids were Abby Reinhardt, who finished second in the high jump (5 feet), Payten Shetterly with a third-place pole vault (9-0), Reusch with a fourth-place 300 hurdles (51.23) and Shook with a fourth-place 400 (1:02.04). For Shook, her three regional bids this season move her to 10 in her career, keeping her as the active leader in Medina County. "I can't (believe it), but it's definitely exciting," she said. "I'm definitely proud of myself." Shetterly is returning to the regionals after making a trip to the state meet a season ago. "I'm definitely proud of it. I'm proud of myself and my teammates," she said. "I'm happy to be back (at regionals)." Akers, Porter and Dluzynski earned three regional berths after putting everything they had in that final relay, with Dluzynski falling to the ground after handing the baton to Shook. "I'm really tired, but it's all worth it in the end because I really gave it my all," Dluzynski said. "If I was not on the ground after that 4x4, I would have known that I did not give my all, but I know I did, because I was rolling around a little bit, but I'm just so excited." On the boys side, the 4x8 of Caleb Neville, Gavin Forbes, Noah Mion and Matthew Jenkins earn a regional spot with a third-place 8:09.06 Thursday. "We put ourselves in a really great spot," Forbes said. "We just ran a really good race. We haven't had great teams around our time, so it was really great to see those other teams push us, and Matthew pushed a great fourth leg to get us in that good spot." Contact Ryan Isley at sports@medina-gazette.com. Results BOYS Standings (top 10): 1. Woodridge 165, 2. Orrville 96, 3. Northwest 90, 4. Field 72, 5. CVCA 71, 6. Norton 45, 6. Buchtel 45, 8. Cloverleaf 37, 9. Canton South 17, 9. Coventry 17. 100 — 1. Kylar Wilson (Buchtel) 10.94. 200 — 1. Wilson (Buchtel) 22.63. 400 — 1. Christian Coteat (Coventry) 50.50, 7. Ethan Gray (Clo) 53.71. 800 — 1. Isaac Solomon (CVCA) 1:56.41, 6. Matthew Jenkins (Clo) 2:01.17. 1,600 — 1. Xavier Griffiths (Woodridge) 4:19.55, 6. Caleb Neville (Clo) 4:24.94, 7. Gavin Forbes (Clo) 4:27.06. 3,200 — 1. Griffiths (Woodridge) 9:21.36, 5. Neville (Clo) 9:29.91, 7. Forbes (Clo) 9:46.10. 110 hurdles — 1. Logan Border (Field) 13.89. 300 hurdles — 1. Jalen Berry (Woodridge) 38.34. 4x100 — 1. Woodridge 43.05, 8. Cloverleaf (Adam Gray, Josh Powers, Elliot Jordan, Clayton Sewalish) 47.47. 4x200 — 1. Woodridge 1:28.51, 5. Cloverleaf (E. Gray, Powers, Sewalish, Bryce Neill) 1:36.51. 4x400 — 1. CVCA 3:25.69, 5. Cloverleaf (E. Gray, Jenkins, Forbes, Neville) 3:34.77. 4x800 — 1. CVCA 8:06.97, 3. Cloverleaf (Neville, Forbes, Mion, Jenkins) 8:09.06. High jump — 1. Mark Lorson (Orrville) 6-8. Long jump — 1. Mark Lorson (Orrville) 21-6.75, 6. Grady Pamer (Clo) 19-10. Pole vault — 1. Caden Race (Orrville) 14-2, 6. Lincoln Baltic (Clo) 11-6. Shot put — 1. Alex Christensen (Woodridge) 53-0.75. Discus — 1. Connor Stephenson (Northwest) 161-5. GIRLS Standings: 1. CVCA 144, 2. Woodridge 131, 3. Buchtel 79, 4. Cloverleaf 70, 5. Field 64, 6. Orrville 50, 7. Northwest 45, 8. St. Vincent-St. Mary 38, 9. Norton 27, 10. East 6, 11. Springfield 4, 12. Coventry 1. 100 — 1. Amiyah Perry (Woodridge) 12.80. 200 — 1. Miniya Mitchell (Buchtel) 25.36, 7. Kayla Shook (Clo) 27.17. 400 — 1. Mitchell (Buchtel) 57.75, 4. Shook (Clo) 1:02.04. 800 — 1. Brielle Varney (CVCA) 2:22.49, 7. Lily Dluzynski (Clo) 2:30.60. 1,600 — 1. Lola Mullen (Woodridge) 5:14.37, 7. Leah Monhemius (Clo) 5:52.29, 8. Elise Mion (Clo) 5:52.56. 3,200 — 1. Mullen (Woodridge) 11:20.39, 6. Monhemius (Clo) 12:49.40, 7. Mion (Clo) 12:50.98. 100 hurdles — 1. Jada Davis (Buchtel) 15.79. 300 hurdles — 1. Joelle Cherry (CVCA) 47.10, 4. Julia Reusch (Clo) 51.23. 4x100 — 1. CVCA 50.70, 4. Cloverleaf (Adriana Akers, Samantha Porter, Lily Dluzynski, Shook) 51.34. 4x200 — 1. Buchtel 142.17, 4. Cloverleaf (Dluzynski, Monhemius, Mion, Keegan Wittman) 1:50.28. 4x400 — 1. Cloverleaf Akers, Porter, Dluzynski, Shook) 4:02.78. 4x800 — 1. CVCA 9:48.76, 4. Cloverleaf 10:34.51. High jump — 1. Aaryn Gamble (CVCA) 5-10, 2. Abby Reinhardt (Clo) 5-0. Long jump — 1. Raya Jones (CVCA) 16-1.25, 7. Reinhardt (Clo) 15-2.25. Pole vault — 1. Evelyn Helmick (Northwest) 9-8, 3. Payten Shetterly (Clo) 9-0. Shot put — 1. Ahneya Gamble (CVCA) 36-10, 5. Amelia Ryncarz (Clo) 33-1.25. Discus — 1. Josephione Mayer (Woodridge) 122-8, 8. Ryncarz (Clo) 91-4.