Highland girls finish runner-up in final American Conference meet

In their final track meet as members of the Suburban League American Conference, the Hornet girls finished as runners-up by a slim 2-point margin, 143-141, to Aurora. The boys came in fifth with 62 points. Aurora also won the boys title with 143 points. Highland next year will compete in the National Conference.

Winning for Highland’s girls was junior Celia Pylypiak in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles. Classmate Audrey Hartschuh was runner-up in the 100 hurdles. Junior Katie Schuler won the 3200-meter run. Sophomore Bria Riedy won the pole vault, while classmate Anna Coleman placed third. Senior Audrey Wendl had a strong meet with runner-up finishes in the discus and shot put.

The Hornet boys won the 4x800 relay. The all-underclassmen team featured juniors Colton Klein and Andrew Bossart and sophomores Andrew Welch and John Hildenbrand.

The Hornets were set to compete in the Tallmadge Division II district meet May 20 and 22. The top four finishers in each event advance to the North Royalton Regional on May 27 and 29.

Elsewhere in league track meets

Buckeye: The Bucks boys team had a solid showing in the Cleveland West Conference meet, placing third with 123.5 points behind Rocky River (147) and Bay (140). The Bucks girls scored 51 points to finish last in the standings. Bay won the girls title with 129 points.

Senior Brady Salazar won the 400-meter dash, while senior Caden Fike won the pole vault. The quartet of Salazar, juniors Dimitry Pshonyak and Nolan Rieth, and freshman Joseph Stahl won the 4x800 relay.

For the girls, junior Ellen Steppenbacker won the pole vault.

Buckeye will join Highland in the North Royalton Regional.

Cloverleaf: The Colts girls finished third and the boys fourth in the Metro Athletic Conference championships May 14 and 16. Woodridge won both team titles.

Senior Peyton Shetterly won the pole vault for the girls team, which also won the 4x400 relay with Adriana Akers, Samantha Porter, Lily Dluzynski and Kayla Shook.

Runner-up finishes went to senior Caleb Neville in the boys 3200-meter run, sophomore Lincoln Baltic in the boys pole vault, junior Abby Reinhart in the girls long jump, the girls 4x100 relay team of Kiersyn Berry, Shook, Akers and Porter, and the boys 4x800 relay team of Neville, Gavin Forbes, Noah Mion and Matthew Jenkins.

Softball

Some area softball teams began postseason play last week.

Division III: Highland’s postseason began and ended May 14 with an 11-10 loss to Westlake. The No. 28 Hornets were looking to upset the No. 15 Demons, who improved to 16-7 and were set to face No. 9 Boardman in a May 19 district semifinal.

Highland held leads of 4-0, 7-5 and 9-8, but each time the Hornets took the lead, the Demons answered. Highland followed the tournament loss with a 13-7 Suburban League victory over Kent Roosevelt.

Buckeye was set to begin postseason play May 19 against Parma Padua.

Division IV: Cloverleaf, seeded 17th, got off to a fast start, winning its sectional opener 13-3 in five innings over Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph. The win improved the Colts to 13-10 and advanced them to a May 19 district semifinal against No. 7 Alliance Marlington, which defeated No. 31 Ravenna 24-0 in five innings.

Freshman Pacey Crow led the way against VASJ with three hits, including two doubles, and three runs scored. Senior Madelyn Sweitzer also had three hits and scored three times. Freshman Cheyanne Bachtel added two hits, including a triple, drove in four runs and scored twice.

Junior Kennedy Bailey earned the win, pitching all five innings and allowing no earned runs while striking out five.

Middle school track

Competing in the Class A portion of the middle school state meet, Cloverleaf’s boys tied for fourth in the team standings with 24 points. Steubenville Harding led with 29 points.

Colts eighth grader Derek Young won the 110- and 200-meter hurdles and placed sixth in the long jump.

Buckeye eighth grader Bennett Knapp won the Class A state title in the pole vault with a top effort of 12 feet, 3 inches.

The quartet of seventh grader Gavin Comes and eighth graders Nicholas Sekerak, Deylan Lough and Cameron Wyman finished 13th.

For the girls, eighth grader Adeline Burchfield was state runner-up in the shot put with a throw of 41 feet, 9.5 inches. She also finished sixth in the discus with a throw of 99 feet. Eighth grader Evan Riegler placed 10th in the 1600-meter run. Eighth grader James Gray also qualified for state in the pole vault but did not clear a height.

The Highland quartet of eighth graders Parker Stracensky, Jackson Hildenbrand, Quinn Riedlinger and Samuel Thompson finished 11th in the state in the 4x800 relay.