No matter how the final week of the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II track and field season turns out, Crestwood Red Devils’ sophomore Liv Martini has already achieved a historic season. The Red Devils’ sprinter earned three state berths, qualifying in the 100-meter, 200-meter and 400-meter dash last Saturday at the OHSAA Division II regional meet at Austintown-Fitch High School in Youngstown.
“I think it is great the fact she is able to go and I think it is even better that she experiences it as not the only athlete either,” said girls’ Coach Maria Conant. “It is nice and hopefully next year she will have some more kids down there.”
Martini will become Crestwood’s first running athlete to compete in the OHSAA Division II State Meet since 2015grad Karlie Lieberth and will compete in the sprinting preliminaries on June 6 at The Ohio State University’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on Friday in Columbus.
“I think she has a goal that she wants to medal in all three but I think she is also realizing that as long as she medals in one or two, that is an accomplishment as it is,” noted the second-year coach. “Like I told her, making it to state in the sprinting events is a great accomplishment because it is hard to do.”
Not only is Martini Crestwood’s first running athlete to make it to the state meet since 2015, but she is also the first one to individually qualify in three events since Red Devils’ great Bridget Franek accomplished that feat in 2006.
Like last year, Martini netted a regional berth in all three individual sprinting events but only advanced to the finals in the 100 and 400-meter dash but her season ended when she finished in eighth and seventh place respectively.
According to the second-year coach, Martini’s season ending early certainly resonated with her.
“It was nice that she had the experience from last year because it got her ready for this year and we had her do the events a lot more this year back-to-back,” Conant noted. “There is not much time so we had her do the 100, 200 and 400-meter dash a lot more this season together so that she could be ready for tomorrow and the fact that she made it in all three is great.”
On Thursday, Martini advanced to the final round of each sprinting event by recording one of the eight fastest times in the preliminaries. On Saturday, Martini broke through the wall to capture three state berths.
Martini took third in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.82 seconds, earned fourth in the 400-meter dash by clocking 58.64 second and netted third in the 200-meter dash at 26.11 seconds.
Conant said that Martini had quite the comeback in the 400-meter dash.
“She was going out slower than what she normally does, and I asked her after the race,’did Did you go out slower so that you more left at the end?’ and she goes ‘I didn’t think the girls would go out that fast’,” she added. “So it was fun to watch her run that.”
In addition to Martini earning three state berth, the Crestwood boys’ also advanced two athletes to the OHSAA Division II state meet when senior James Durham snagged a state qualification in the 110-meter hurdles and senior Augie Schweickert captured a state bid in the 800-meter run.
“It was a prideful moment for Crestwood,” said boy’s Coach Jack Blasiole. “We have not had a running athlete make state for a couple of years now but for both of those guys to make state, it was an exciting day for us.”
For Durham, his season of redemption continued off the heels of an early end to his junior season last year when he did not advance out of the regional preliminaries.
Blasiole acknowledged that the Red Devils’ senior set a high bar in the preliminaries on Thursday, when he finished in fifth place, setting a new school record of 14.84 seconds.
On Saturday, Durham built off his dominant performance in the preliminaries by wrapping up third place with a time of 15.17 seconds to achieve his first career state bid.
“He a ran a great race, he did what he needed to do and had a great start and then he was just flawless over the hurdles,” said the second-year coach. “That is James Durham.”
Now he has one more job to do when he heads to the OHSAA Division II state meet.
“The times are there, and I don’t put anything past James,” Blasiole said. “He steps up to every obstacle that he has come through this year, and he has done well so I am not putting anything past James.”
Joining Durham will be Schweickert, who also avenged an early end to his junior year when he placed seventh in the 800-meter run.
Unlike Durham, who needed to run two races to earn his state stripes, there was no preliminary in the 800-meet run for Schweickert. He only had one chance and made the most of it by securing runner-up with a personal record of 1:57.44.
“Augie was really tactical,” said Blasiole. “He knew what he had to do and stayed with the pack and just in the last turn, he just kicked it into Augie-style.”
Schweickert will now attempt to end his season as an all-Ohioan.
“Augie still knows what he has to do,” Blasiole remarked. “He has to get his body ready this week through a couple of little small workouts and just get mentally prepared and he will do what he has to do on Saturday to make the podium.”
