Medina, Highland, Cloverleaf and Buckeye send athletes to state

Medina’s girls track and field team will be well represented at the state meet this weekend at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus. It’s not the Bees’ largest contingent ever, but it is still an impressive group coming out of a strong North Royalton Division I Super Regional.

Junior Mariana Cunningham and senior Brooke Diello finished second and fifth, respectively, in the 200-meter dash to earn trips to Columbus. The pair also finished among the top seven in the 100 but did not receive at-large berths.

Cunningham and Diello teamed with seniors Ruby Lloyd and Michaela Gwinn to place third in the 4x100 relay and qualify for state.

In a rare occurrence, Medina did not qualify an athlete in a distance event. Senior Alexis Warnement finished fifth in the 1,600-meter run, about five seconds shy of an automatic berth.

Despite the relatively small group of qualifiers, Medina finished eighth in the team standings with 27 points among 19 scoring teams. Avon won the regional title with 133 points.

Division II

At the North Royalton Regional, Highland’s girls placed 12th out of 42 scoring schools. Six Hornets qualified for the state meet in five events.

Junior Katie Schuler had a standout performance, advancing in both the 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs. She finished sixth in the 1,600 and third in the 3,200.

Junior Celia Pylypiak, who qualified for regionals in both hurdles events, did not start the 100 hurdles but advanced to state in the 300 hurdles with a sixth-place finish.

Schuler and Pylypiak also helped Highland qualify in the 4x800 relay. Joining them were junior Madison Forshey and freshman Olivia Keough. The quartet placed eighth.

The Hornets also advanced two pole vaulters, with sophomores Bria Riedy and Anna Coleman finishing fourth and eighth, respectively.

Division III

Cloverleaf and Buckeye competed at the Austintown Fitch Regional.

The Colts finished 13th out of 32 teams with 20.5 points. Salem won the regional title with 81.5 points. Buckeye placed 17th with 16 points.

Cloverleaf advanced four athletes to state in two events. Senior Kayla Shook qualified in both, earning an at-large berth with a fifth-place finish in the 400-meter dash.

Shook also anchored the winning 4x400 relay team that included junior Samantha Porter and freshmen Adriana Akers and Lily Dluzinski.

Buckeye junior Ellen Steppenbacker won the regional pole vault championship, clearing 10 feet, 8 inches to secure her trip to the state meet.