Area athletes earn regional track berths

The track postseason kicked off in earnest this past week for high schools not in Division I, as Divisions II-V held traditional district meets. The top four finishers in each event in the smaller divisions earned regional berths.

The following is how Division II and III athletes in The Medina Weekly coverage area fared.

Division II

Highland’s boys and girls teams, along with Buckeye’s boys team, competed in the Tallmadge District. Qualifiers advanced to the North Royalton Regional, which began Wednesday and concludes May 29.

For Highland’s girls, junior Katie Schuler won the 1600-meter run and finished second in the 3200. Senior Audrey Wendl placed third in the discus and fourth in the shot put. Junior Celia Pylypiak finished second in the 300 hurdles and fourth in the 100 hurdles.

Sophomores Bria Riedy and Anna Coleman finished second and third in the pole vault to advance. Riedy cleared 11 feet to tie Green’s Ella Sifferlan for first place but finished second on attempts.

Pylypiak, senior Allison Gryskiewicz, and juniors Madison Forshey and Jordyn Caples placed third in the 4x400 relay. Schuler, Pylypiak, Forshey and freshman Olivia Keough placed fourth in the 4x800 relay.

For the Highland boys, sophomore John Hildenbrand won the 1600-meter run. Freshman Isaac Demming finished fourth in the 100 hurdles. Seniors Dylan Lazar and Christopher Metzer, junior Frankie Iannaggi and sophomore Charles Charvat placed fourth in the 4x100 relay.

Hildenbrand, juniors Andrew Bossart and Colton Klein, and sophomore Andrew Welch were runners-up in the 4x800 relay.

Highland’s girls finished second in the Tallmadge Division II District meet with 95 points, trailing only Wadsworth’s 116. Highland’s boys tied for eighth with 37 points. Buckeye placed fourth with 49 points, while Tallmadge won with 103.

For Buckeye’s boys, regional qualifiers included senior Brady Salazar, who won the 400; senior Brayden Bonnett, who finished fourth in both the 100 and 200; and freshman Joseph Stahl, who placed fourth in the 3200.

Senior Caden Fike finished runner-up in the pole vault. At 13-0, he tied Tallmadge’s Zack Peters for first place but lost on attempts.

Salazar, juniors Dimitry Pshonyak and Nolan Reith, and freshman Joseph Stahl placed fourth in the 4x800 relay. Sophomore Denis Shevchenko finished third in the discus.

Division III

At the Bay Village District, Buckeye’s girls placed fourth among 10 teams, sending a group to the Austintown Fitch Regional.

Junior Ellen Steppenbacker won the pole vault, while classmate Leah Bengough finished third. Freshman Blakely Herman was runner-up in both the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles. Freshman Ellen Salazar placed third in the long jump. Junior Madison Gillin was runner-up in the high jump, and junior Maddy Velick finished fourth in the discus.

Herman, Steppenbacker, senior Emma Bostic and freshman Erin Salazar teamed for a fourth-place finish in the 4x100 relay. Senior Sophia Regiec, sophomores Maycie Bodak and Lily Regiec, and freshman Hayliegh Kreeger finished fourth in the 4x800 relay.

At the Woodridge District, Cloverleaf’s girls placed fourth with 70 points. CVCA won the meet with 144 points.

Regional qualifiers for the Colts included senior Kayla Shook, who placed fourth in the 400; sophomore Julia Reusch, who finished fourth in the 300 hurdles; and junior Abby Reinhardt, who placed second in the long jump as part of a three-way tie at 5-0. Senior Payten Shetterly finished runner-up in the pole vault.

Cloverleaf also advanced in all four relays. Shook, juniors Samantha Porter and Kiersyn Berry, and freshman Adriana Akers placed fourth in the 4x100 relay. Berry, Akers, Porter and sophomore Julia Reusch finished second in the 4x200 relay.

Shook, Akers, Porter and freshman Lily Dluzynski won the 4x400 relay, while the all-freshman team of Dluzynski, Leah Monhemius, Elise Mion and Keegan Wittman finished fourth in the 4x800 relay.

At the Woodridge District, Cloverleaf’s boys finished eighth out of 10 teams with 37 points. Woodridge won the meet with 165.

For the Colts, the 4x800 relay team of seniors Caleb Neville and Gavin Forbes, and juniors Noah Mion and Matthew Jenkins advanced to the Austintown Fitch Regional with a third-place finish.

Softball

Things set up well for Buckeye, which played its way into the Division III, District 5 championship game at LaBrae High School in Leavittsburg on May 22, but the fourth-seeded Bucks were upset 7-0 by No. 18 Louisville.

Buckeye opened postseason play with a 7-4 win over No. 25 Parma Padua.

Cloverleaf advanced to the Division IV District 1 semifinals, but the No. 17 Colts were no match for No. 7 Marlington in a May 19 matchup, losing 10-0 to finish the season 13-11. Marlington later lost to No. 1 seed Elyria Catholic in the district final.

Lacrosse

Highland’s boys lacrosse team advanced to a regional semifinal with an 8-6 win over Avon Lake. The seventh-seeded Hornets improved to 12-6 and were scheduled to face No. 2 Walsh Jesuit on May 26.

Ryan Thompson and Beckett Mast each scored three goals for Highland.