Fueled by their underclassmen, the Aurora Greenmen track team finished their regular season with a series of record-setting performances at the Suburban League American Conference championship. The girls were runners-up with 135 points and the boys finished in third place, scoring 110 points last Wednesday evening at Tallmadge High School.
“It was real close,” Greenmen girls’ Coach Greg Cicero said of his team finishing only 15.50 points behind champion Medina Highland. “Although they were a little disappointed that they did not win, they were also very happy that we moved up from the previous year and ended up in second place.”
The “A” team of senior Eva Logan, junior Sydney Langell, and sophomores Amelia Kilway and Elizabeth Phillips took fourth place in the 4×800 relay with a time of 9:59.89.
Senior Kassidy Fry finished as the runner-up in the 100-meter hurdles, clocking a time of 16.08 seconds, followed junior Gianna Previte who came in sixth place with a time of 17.25 seconds.
Sophomore Isabella Cicero placed fourth in the 100-meter dash with a personal record of 12.74 seconds.
Senior Hannah Salgado teamed up with sophomore Isabelle Leindecker, Fry, Phillips to capture fourth place in the 4×200 relay with a time of 1:48.54.
Langell snagged third place in the 1600-meter run with a personal record of 5:21.83, followed by Kilway who finished in seventh clocking 5:37.79.
Sophomore Brooke Pierce and senior Cali-Lynne Edgar formed the “A” team with Fry and Previte to take seventh place in the 4×100 relay with a time of 52.98 seconds.
Isabella won the 400-meter dash by setting a personal and meet record of 57.90 seconds, followed by Leindecker who finished as the runner-up with a personal best 59.40 seconds.
Previte took third in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 49.25 seconds, followed by sophomore Addyson Rumskey who placed fifth by clocking 51.62 seconds.
Isabella won the 200-meter dash, setting another personal and meet record of 25.56 seconds.
“Isabella was on a mission on Wednesday night,” the second-year coach noted. “I have never seen her so focused on a track meet and she got out and ran both races hard and it paid off very well for her. She destroyed the 400-meter record and set the 200-meter record by a couple of 1/10 seconds as well.”
Langell captured second place in the 3200-meter run with a personal record of 11:37.58.
The “A” team of Salgado, Logan, Leindecker and Isabella won the 4×400 relay, setting a meet record of 4:01.46.
Fry won the high jump with a jump of five feet, one inch.
Salgado snagged second in the pole vault with a personal record 10 feet, followed by junior Carolyn Jakosh who achieved a personal best nine feet.
Jakosh took fourth in the shot put, throwing a personal record 33 feet, 11 inches, followed by junior Felicite Williams who recorded 32 feet, 1 inch.
Williams came in fourth place in the discus throw at 99 feet, 9 inches.
The Greenmen boys finished in third place, only five points from the co-conference champions Tallmadge and Copley who each scored 115 points.
“We are always harping on the kids about those next places,” noted boys’ Coach Chris Radtke. “It does not do us any good if we get second place but then the next team gets a third and a fourth. We need more than just one place so we had any number of younger guys step up and sneak in either a point here or a point there by taking a sixth or an eighth place.”
Juniors Robert Will and Connor Flynn, sophomore Nathan Eminian and freshman Carson Aardema snagged sixth place in the 4×800 relay with a time of 8:33.81.
Senior Leo Sesuraj placed fourth in the 100-meter hurdles, clocking 16.90 seconds, followed by freshman Gui Goedert who took seventh place with a personal best 18.02 seconds.
Freshman Luke McGovern won the 100-meter dash with a personal record 11.05 seconds, followed by sophomore Quincy John who came in sixth with a time of 11.33 seconds.
Senior Andrew Snyder, juniors Isaan Shaik and Athan Salgado, and McGovern formed the “A” team in the 4×200 relay to finish in fourth place with a time of 1:33.23.
Eminian snagged eighth place in the 1600-meter run, setting a personal record 4:39.76.
The “A” quartet of sophomore Luke Geyer, McGovern, John, Shaik won the 4×100 relay, setting a school and meet record of 42.88 seconds.
“It was the third meet in a row that they broke the school record,” said the seven-year coach. “They just keep getting better and what a lot of people on the coaching staff have said to me is that usually in a sprint relay you can only get so far in terms of trimming time off of a record but they had done it three times now.”
Athan took fourth place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 53.61 seconds.
Sesuraj came in third in the 300-meter hurdles with a personal best 41.80 seconds.
Flynn placed fourth in the 800-meter run, clocking a personal record of 1:59.67.
John snagged third place in the 200-meter dash with a personal record of 22.86 seconds, followed by McGovern who came in fourth with a personal best 22.94 seconds.
Eminiam came in fourth place in the 3200-meter run, clocking a time of 9:56.56, followed by junior Zack Ploskunak who took eighth with a time of 10:20.91.
Sophomore Evan Radzanowski, Sesuraj, Flynn and Athan wrapped up fifth place in the 4×400 relay with a time of 3:32.08.
John took fifth in the high jump, setting a personal record height of six feet.
Snyder captured third in the pole vault, clearing the bar at 11 feet, 6 inches, followed by junior Colin Dockman who came in eighth place, recording a personal record of nine feet, six inches.
Sesuraj won the long jump with a personal record 21 feet, 2 inches.
Senior Jaxson Rhea finished as the runner-up in the shot put, throwing a personal record of 47 feet, 10½ inches.
Rhea then took fifth in the discus throw with a distance of 129 feet, 2 inches, followed by senior Alex Hanff who earned eighth place by throwing 116 feet, 10 inches.
Aurora’s postseason begins when it competes in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division I district meet at Austintown Greenwood Stadium in Youngstown beginning on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
