Although the field of competitors may have been deeper, the Garfield G-Men girls’ track and field team still demonstrated their versatility. The G-Men girls earned fifth place by scoring 56 points at the OHSAA Division III district meet last Friday at Cuyahoga Heights High School.
“It was just a proud moment,” Coach Matt Pfleger said. “To see them all go out and compete and just perform as well as they did was awesome to see. Nobody gave up on any race. Everybody was there cheering on their teammates.”
The top four finishers in each event earned a regional berth to the OHSAA Division III district meet at North Royalton High School on Wednesday and Friday. Should any of the G-Men girls earn state berths, they will compete in the OHSAA Division III state meet on June 6 at The Ohio State University’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus.
“Obviously anything can happen, I think with that group of girls, they have trained all year-round, they go up and throw and they lift together. That group of girls, they are special and I think we are going to see them game up next weekend and see where everything falls,” said the four-year coach.
Garfield advanced five regional qualifiers across four events, including crowning a district champion in the discus throw.
Freshman Olivia Kuchenbecker captured her first regional berth by taking third place in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 17.37 seconds, followed by senior Hannah Kernig who placed fifth by clocking 18.33 seconds.
“Olivia throws, she jumps, she runs, she does everything. She was like this in middle school, she is just a great competitor,” noted Pfleger. “She games up every time there is good competition and to see her come out as a freshman where it is either compete or go home and her going out and making the regional meet was just great to see.”
Junior Kathlene McMayon snagged eighth place in the 1600-meter run with a time of 6:15.50.
Juniors Emily Seni and Mandy Cardinal teamed up with Kernig and Kuchenbecker to place sixth in the 4×100 relay, clocking a time of 53.96 seconds.
Senior Kylee Neer wrapped up a regional bid by placing fourth in the 300-meter hurdles by clocking 51.07 seconds, followed by Kuchenbecker who earned sixth place with a time of 52.90 seconds.
“That was really strong,” Pfleger said. “Her technique going over the hurdles and then her burst in between the hurdles was just awesome to watch. To see her overtake a few of the other competitors and do as well as she did all year, it has just been fun to watch.”
The team of sophomore Abigail Kolar, freshman Payton Powers, Cardinal and Neer netted fifth place in the 4×400 relay with a time of 4:30.34
Junior Riley Grace earned second place in the shot put, with a distance of 35 feet, 9½ inches.
“We were worried that Riley was so sick going into the competition and she had a head cold,” said Pfleger. “When you have a head cold, it is easy to lose your footing and your technique if you can’t focus as much and she went out and just gamed up and that was just awesome to see.”
Junior Elise Edwards won the discus throw, hurling a distance of 123 feet, 8 inches, followed by sophomore Hannah Timmons, who earned third place by throwing 113 feet, 7 inches.
On the boys’ side, the Garfield G-Men qualified one relay team, the 4×400, at the OHSAA Division II meet at Salem High School last Saturday.
If the G-Men boys’ 4×400 relay earns a state bid at the OHSAA Division II regional meet at Austintown Fitch High School in Youngstown on Saturday, it will compete in the OHSAA Division II state meet on June 6.
Seniors Preston Gedeon, junior Will Simon, sophomores Oliver Walker and Cole Porter formed the “A” squad in the 4×400 relay, taking home a regional bid by placing fourth with a time of 3:30.90
“That was a great race to watch,” said Pfleger. “The guys all stepped up, they had their fastest time this year by two or three seconds, they were less than a second off of third place there, so I thought they did an amazing job.”
