The Garfield G-Men track and field team announced itself in the first Ohio High School Athletic Association Division IV Berkshire district meet by having the girls finish as the runners-up with a team score of 98.0 points and the boys capturing third place with 80.0 points last week at Great Lakes Cheese Stadium in Burton.
Garfield athletes will compete for state berths at the OHSAA Division IV Austintown-Fitch regional meet in Youngstown beginning on Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 p.m.
The Garfield G-Men girls had regional qualifiers in nine events, winning four of them to finish only 16.5 points behind the district champion Beachwood. The top four finishers in each event netted an automatic bid to the regional meet.
Freshman Lina Kaufman paced Garfield in the distance races, winning all three events, taking first place in the 800-meter run with a personal record of 2:23.40, with junior Abigail Kolar placing fifth with a time of 2:35.84; won the 1600-meter run with a personal best of 5:14.36, followed by junior Rebecca Evans taking seventh place with a time of 6:05.77; and won the 3200-meter run with a personal best of 11:25.11, followed by Kolar earning sixth place with a personal best of 13;10.49.
Sophomore Olivia Kuchenbecker qualified in the hurdling events, earning a regional berth in each one as she took third place in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.51 seconds, followed by senior Kelleyn Bartlett who finished in eighth place with a time of 19.74 seconds; and finished as the runner-up in the 300-meter hurdles at 48.85 seconds.
The G-Men girls were once again dominant in the throwing events, as senior Elise Edwards won the discus throw with a distance of 131 feet, 4 inches, followed be junior Hannah Timmons who took second place with a throw of 117 feet, 5 inches; and senior Riley Grace netted first place in the shot put with a distance of 36 feet, 4¼ inches, followed by freshman Ava Dobay who earned fourth place by recording a distance of 30 feet, 8¾ inches.
Senior Kathleen McMayon joined forces with Kolar, Kaufman and Evans to place second in the 4×800 relay by logging a time of 10:31.21.
Senior Mandy Cardinal took seventh place in the 200-meter dash with a personal record 27.01 seconds.
Senior Emily Seni teamed up with Bartlett, Kuchenbecker and Cardinal to capture eighth place in the 4×200 relay, clocking a time of 1:51.41.
The Garfield boys earned regional berths in seven events, winning one relay and one individual event to place third, only two points away from overtaking Trinity as district runners-up.
Junior Collin McGranahan earned third place in the 110-meter hurdles with a personal record 16.13 seconds.
Junior Mac Haney placed third in the 400-meter dash, logging a personal best 51.81 seconds.
Junior Cole Porter won the 800-meter run with a personal record of 2:01.75, followed by junior Abraham Wohlever, who finished third with a personal best 2:04.11.
Senior Derek Blunk took fourth place in the 1600-meter run, clocking a personal record 4:44.59, then earned third place in the 3200-meter run by logging a personal best time of 10:42.98.
The quartet of senior Will Simon, junior Oliver Walker, Porter and Haney placed second in the 4×400 relay with a time of 3:31.44.
Sophomore Aaron Evans formed the winning combination with Blunk, Porter, and Wohlever to wrap up first place in the 4×800 relay with a time of 8:22.70.
Simon clinched seventh place in the 200-meter dash with a time of 27.58 seconds.
Junior Emery Simones finished in seventh place in the 300-meter hurdles with a personal record of 43.96 seconds.
Sophomore Ryder Cain took fifth place in the discus throw with a distance of 145 feet, 4 inches.
Sophomore Jack Timmons recorded fifth place in the shot put with a throw of 43 feet, 6¼ inches, followed by Cain who earned seventh place with a distance of 41 feet, 2¼ inches.
McGranahan netted eighth place in the long jump with a distance of 17 feet, 10½ inches.
Senior Devin Bates teamed up with Simon, McGranahan, and Walker to take eighth place in the 4×100 relay with a time of 46.57 seconds.
The quartet of freshman Marc Grub, Haney, Walker and Simon clinched fifth place in the 4×200 relay with a time of 1:34.29.
