Having only graduated one letter winner from last year, the Crestwood Red Devil girls’ track team had high hopes to hit the ground running. The Red Devils accomplished that feat by winning the fifth annual William E. Fisher Invitational title by scoring 99 points last Friday evening at Cardinal’s Richard Moss Stadium in Middlefield.
“It is a great start for us especially for the seniors because the seniors’ one goal at the beginning of the season was that they wanted to win as many trophies as they could this year,” said Coach Maria Conant.
Crestwood did not clinch first place until the last running event of the meet, the 4×400 relay. The Red Devils trailed Chagrin Valley Conference rival Madison by eight points needed to win the event. The Blue Streaks needed to finish in eighth place or higher to overtake them.
The quartet of senior Abby Guyette, sophomores Piper Seibold, Maddie Grace Gonczy and Myla Simpson captured first place by clocking a time of 4:22.59 to vault the Red Devils into first place.
“Being in the opposite heat was hard because you can’t be as competitive if you are not running against a team you have to beat but the girls went out and ran a 4:22.59,” noted the second-year coach. “We were kind of running that at the end of the season last year. The fact that they were doing that in the first invitational was great.”
Gonczy, Guyette, Seibold, and Simpson also won the 4×800 relay, finishing with a time of 10:13.17.
Simpson captured sixth place in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 19.23 seconds, followed by freshman Mia Davis who earned seventh by clocking a time of 19.86 seconds.
Seniors Hannah Ward and Audrey Fusci, junior Lorena Dehoff and Davis snagged sixth place in the 4×200 relay with a time of 2:02.52.
Seibold wrapped up third place in the 1600-meter run, clocking a time of 5:52.32 followed by senior Erin Halls taking fourth with a time of 5:54.53.
The quartet of Ward, Fusci, Dehoff and Davis finished fifth in the 4×100 relay, clocking out at 57.20 seconds.
Fusci earned seventh place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:08.41.
Simpson placed fourth in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 55.81 seconds, followed by sophomore Emily Doering who took sixth place with a time of 57.79 seconds.
Gonczy won the 800-meter run, clocking 2:30.04, followed by Guyette who finished as the runner-up with a time of 2:30.89.
Fusci earned sixth place in the 200-meter dash with a time of 29.13 seconds.
Sophomore Piper Freedline wrapped up second place in the 3200-meter run with a time of 12:42.43, followed by senior Kennedy Rhoades who took fourth place with a time of 13:30.09.
Junior Madison Sheridan captured fourth place in the discus throw with a distance of 93 feet, 3 inches, followed by sophomore Isabelle Brugmann who took sixth place by throwing 73 feet, 7 inches.
Sheridan also finished in fifth place in the shot put, throwing 30 feet, 5¾ inches.
On the boys’ side, the Garfield G-Men rallied to finish in third place with a team score of 102 points.
“We knew that it was a strong team,” said Coach Matt Pfleger. “We’ve been seeing it in practice. We had plenty of guys we knew were going to fill some of those voids left by seniors last year. They proved that they could handle it on Friday night.”
Juniors Derik Stanley, Derek Blunk and sophomores Abraham Wohlever and Cole Porter teamed up to take second place in the 4×800 relay with a time of 9:03.17.
Senior Nick Edic snagged third place in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 17.56 seconds, followed by sophomore Collin McGranahan who captured fourth by clocking 17.58 seconds.
Senior Preston Gedeon finished in fifth place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.85 seconds.
Senior Harper Troyer, junior Will Simon and sophomores Devin Bates and Oliver Walker finished as the runners-up in the 4×200 relay with a time of 1:38.50.
Freshman Ryder Cain, Gedeon, Bates and Simon took second place in the 4×100 relay, clocking a time of 46.51 seconds.
Walker took fourth place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 55.55 seconds, followed by freshman Macauley Haney who clinched fifth by clocking 55.67 seconds.
Edic wrapped up third place in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 46.41 seconds, followed by McGranahan who earned fifth place by clocking 46.66 seconds.
Porter placed fourth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:13.50, followed by Wohlever who snagged seventh place with 2:17.66.
Troyer captured fourth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.89 seconds.
Blunk snagged sixth place in the 3200-meter run with a time of 11:12.98, followed by sophomore Ryan Stonestreet who netted seventh with a time of 11:16.85.
Gedeon, Walker, Porter and Simon won the 4×400 relay with a time of 3:40.68.
“It is hard to say who is going to be on at the end but that first invite, that was an electric event watching them,” noted the fourth-year coach. “They sprinted the lap the whole time and there was really no give-up by any of them.”
Gedeon took sixth in the long jump with a distance of 17 feet, 7¾ inches, followed by McGranahan who earned seventh place by jumping 17 feet, 6¼ inches.
Freshman Jack Timmons finished in fifth place in the discus throw with a distance of 127 feet, 6 inches, followed by sophomore Gavin Barnard who captured seventh place by throwing 112 feet, 8 inches.
Junior Richie Shackelford netted fourth place in the shot put, throwing 43 feet, 1¼ inches, followed by junior Michael Huebner who placed eighth with a distance of 39 feet, 8¼ inches.
Following a home dual meet against Portage County rival Rootstown on Wednesday, the Red Devils will compete at the Don Faix Invitational on Saturday morning in Mantua at 9 a.m. Meanwhile, after a home dual meet against Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Grey Tier foe LaBrae on Thursday evening, the G-Men will also travel to Mantua for the Don Faix Invite.
