Streetsboro Rockets’ track Coach Robb Kidd said he is always amazed with how the program replaces the talent that they graduated the year before. The Rocket girls continued to match that standard when they finished as runners-up by scoring 85 points at the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II district meet last week at Lakeview High School in Cortland.
“The girls had an amazing turnout,” said the five-year coach. “We were getting points and high performances from girls in so many events. Just to see them walk away as the district runners-up was so encouraging and I felt so happy for them and they were so excited.”
Streetsboro will finish its week competing at the Division II regional meet at Austintown Greenwood Stadium on Saturday in Youngstown.
The top four finishers in each event earned a regional bid and the top eight finishers scored points for their respective teams.
The “A” team of seniors Cara Tiller, Madaleyn Hajec, Meredith Mattmuller, and sophomore Kendall Epple earned third place in the 4×800 relay with a time of 10:10.00
Sophomore Oliva Johnson-Wilson captured second place in the 100-meter hurdles, clocking a personal record of 15.90 seconds.
Freshman Carmen Marcini snagged sixth place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.03 seconds.
Seniors Samyra Smith, sophomore Sydney Sullivan, Tiller and Epple won the 4×200 relay, crossing the finish line at 1:48.52.
Freshmen Sunni Mckenzie, sophomore MacKenzie MacIntosh, Marcini and Smith placed third in the 4×100 relay, clocking 51.44 seconds.
Epple came in fourth place in the 400-meter dash with a personal record of 1:01.75, followed by Mckenzie who came in seventh with a time of 1:05.28.
Johnson-Wilson earned third place in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 48.23 seconds, followed by freshman Jenna Fall who captured fifth place with a time of 49.23 seconds.
Hajec took fifth in the 800-meter run, clocking a time of 2:29.63.
Sophomore Madi Campbell placed eighth in the 3200-meter run with a time of 13:39.08.
McKenzie, Hajec, Epple and Tiller formed the “A” team and finished in second place in the 4×400 relay by clocking 4:11.41.
Senior Kaleigh Lilly took fifth in the shot put, throwing a distance of 32 feet, 6½ inches.
Junior Sydney Abbuhl clinched sixth place in the high jump, clearing the bar at 4 feet, 6 inches.
Lilly finished in third place in the discus throw, recording a distance of 102 feet, 1 inch.
Marcini took third in the long jump with a personal record of 16 feet, 7¾ inches, followed by Fall who took seventh place with a distance of 15 feet, 1½ inches.
“Carmen is doing amazing,” said Kidd. “Her confidence has grown throughout the year and she went out there and PR’d on her very last attempt and was so excited. I still do not believe she has gotten her best jump in yet.”
The Streetsboro boys persevered to take fourth place with a team score of 75 points.
“I thought the boys had a great day,” Kidd said. “Garrett Tiller just continues to be on another level. The 4×200 and the 4×400 looked great and the 4×800 is in. We are taking seven out of eight relays to the regional meet so we are pretty excited.”
The “A” team of senior Eric Tiller, juniors Braden Hodge, Charles Ivory and sophomore Chris Daniels finished in third place in the 4×800 relay by clocking 8:20.99.
Senior Garrett Tiller won the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.87 seconds, followed by junior Devon White who placed seventh at 11.49 seconds.
Seniors Preston Hopperton and Kylan Rue joined Garrett and White on the “A” team in the 4×200 relay to take second place with a time of 1:29.39.
Junior Timothy Harkleroad finished in seventh place in the 1600-meter run by clocking 4:45.28.
Garrett, Rue, White and Hopperton placed fifth in the 4×100 relay by clocking a time of 43.40 seconds.
Ivory came in third place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.21 seconds, followed by Hodge who placed sixth by clocking 52.04 seconds.
“Charles has been dealing with a couple of cramps here and there recently so for him to come out and throw down the performance that he did, he is just a very talented athlete and has been running with real grit over the last couple of days,” noted Kidd.
Daniels captured eighth place in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:05.49.
Garrett won the 200-meter dash by setting a personal and district record of 21.69 seconds, eclipsing the previous record set by former Streetsboro sprinter KeShun Jones in 2017.
Harkleroad earned seventh place in the 3200-meter run with a time of 10:41.66.
The “A” quartet of sophomore Mario Puleo, Eric, Hodge and Ivory won the 4×400 relay with a time of 3:27.90.
Senior Job Gibson earned third place in high jump, clearing the bar at a personal record 5 feet, 11 inches, followed by junior Preston Laryea who tied with Gibson with a height of 5 feet, 11 inches but finished fourth because it took him two tries to clear the bar at that height while Gibson only needed one.
“The biggest surprise of the meet was Preston,” added Kidd. “For him to come out and clear the bar at 5-foot-11 and for him to advance to the regional meet was a very pleasant surprise.”
