Track and Field: Firelands sweeps Nelson Howe Invitational, defends titles

HENRIETTA TWP. — The Firelands boys and girls swept Thursday at the 38th Nelson Howe Track and Field Invitational.The Firelands girls made if four straight titles at the home invite. The boys won their second straight.Both teams for the most part sealed the verdict prior to the final event — the 1,600-meter relay. The Firelands girls held off Bay 115-109. The Firelands boys defeated Keystone for the second time in five days, this time 139-129.Depth carried the Firelands girls. Bay had twice as many wins (6-3), but the Falcons had five seconds and six thirds. The Rockets had only two seconds.Junior Teaghan Jasinski had a hand in two of the three Falcons wins. She defended her title in high jump (5-foot-2) and teamed with Stella Frederick, Ava Huston and London Marsinick in the 400 relay (51.84)."My team did very good," said Jasinski, a 2025 Division II state qualifier in the high jump. "A lot of people had come from trips (spring break), but we still covered the events very well. Even though my high jump mark wasn't my best, it feels good to be back at it again."Junior Andrew Pawlak was a major catalyst for the Firelands boys, who were without two of their top three sprinter/hurdlers in seniors Colton Clough (strained hamstring) and James Berry (torn anterior cruciate ligament). Clough and Berry were state qualifiers, Clough as a member of the All-Ohio 1,600 relay and Berry in the 110 hurdles.Pawlak won the 100 (11.40) and 200 (22.86), defeating Keystone senior Emory Fedor (11.51 and 23.49) in both.Pawlak's other win came when he combined talents with Dane Vanderpool, Aiden Simms and Ayden Fortner in the 1,600 relay (3:33.70) over Keystone (3:38.98)."It felt great to come out here and to win both sprints," said Pawlak, a member of the All-Ohio 1,600 relay. "(Keystone) is a great competitor. They're always able to push us. We just go head-to-head. I had a great indoor season. It's helping me for outdoors. This is just an opener. We just plan on getting better every day."Nelson Howe was a legend here (Firelands' first track coach from 1957-62). We didn't know much about him until this year. That's why we come back every year and try to dominate."To cover 12 running and five field events is never easy. Sophomore Brett Beury gave Firelands a nice shot in the arm for field events. He broke Zac Ball's 2010 school discus record of 170-0 twice with marks of 170-5 and 170-11. His previous best was 166-2 Saturday at the Cloverleaf Early Bird Relays. Beury finished second in shot put (44-4.5)."Over the winter I've been putting in a lot of work," said Beury, whose best discus mark last year was 156. "I'm glad it's finally starting to come together now here at the start (of the season). Hopefully better things come towards the end."Depth also helped the Falcons boys. They amassed seven firsts, six seconds and a third. Keystone answered with seven firsts, two seconds and a third."I'm most proud of our kids because they compete," Firelands coach Steve Lias said. "Sometimes we're not with our No. 1s and we have our No. 2s, but it doesn't matter who we put in there. We needed help with our girls 1,600 relay at the end of the meet. Diem Vanderpool and Jordyn Copley rose up. Diem is a freshman that previously only ran the 400 once. Jordyn has been hurt for the last 10-11 days, but she did what she had to do."It doesn't matter what, whether you are a senior or a freshman. You step up and do what you have to do. I think they've done a great job."The Keystone boys excelled in the distance events on the backs of many of the runners from the first state-qualifying cross country team in the fall.Sophomore Jamie Yuronich won the 3,200 (9:55.32). Senior Eli McConoughey won the 1,600 by over 22 seconds with a time of 4:46.20. Sophomore Sam McConoughey, Eli's brother, barely won the 800 over Bay's Mikey Taylor, 2:04.12 to 2:04.16.The McConoughey brothers, Yuronich and senior Craig Stroud earlier won the 3,200 relay (8:25.63). The Wildcats' other win on the track came from sophomore Colton Cowling in the 400 (51.47). Keystone's two wins in the field came from Fedor in long jump (21-5.5) and sophomore Liam Goran in high jump (6-0)."We have a good group of kids but we have some holes," said Keystone coach Jeff Holzhauer. "Firelands has a lot coming back. With today's format (one entry per event per team) I thought if we had the two baseball kids who weren't here that we'd be right there. I was happy that we were as close as we were."Seniors Avery Davis of Brookside and Jayla Antrum of Avon had good meets.The 2024 Division II state champ in the 300 hurdles, Davis won her specialty in 47.26. She earlier won the 100 hurdles (16.13), an event in which she advanced to state in each of the last two years.Last season was rough for Davis. She missed the first three or four weeks of the season due to illness. It set her training schedule way behind. The 2025 state meet was tough as she fell in the 100 hurdle prelims and finished 18th (17.83). "There's enough in the back of my mind to push me," she said. "That's 100 percent my motivation. I don't beat myself up over it. It was things out of my control. It's definitely fuel, that's for sure."I'm happy with today. I wasn't too happy with my 100 hurdle time. I just really was focused on my start because for indoor track that was my biggest thing was not having a good start. I was happy with that. The 300s I just focused on a good start, having a control race and not let fatigue get to me."A 2025 Division I state qualifier in the 400 and as a member of the 1,600 relay, Antrum won the 400 (59.16) and 200 (26.43) after taking second in the 100 (13.54)."I felt pretty good, but there's a lot that I still need to work on," Antrum said. "The headwind was crazy here, but I'm feeling great. I'm glad to be back. I finished the indoor season very strong. I'm ready to keep working."My team here is amazing so I'm not the only one working hard. I'm happy that they keep me motivated and keep me to be pushed."Contact Paul Heyse at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.BoysTeam scores1. Firelands, 139; 2. Keystone, 129; 3. Tie – Brookside and Bay, 80; 5. Avon, 76; 6. Fairview, 64; 7. North Olmsted, 51; 8. Olmsted Falls, 31100: 1. Pawlak (Firelands), 11.40; 2. Fedor (Keystone), 11.51; 3. Casey (Brookside), 11.75; 4. Kamm (Bay), 11.90200: 1. Pawlak (Firelands), 22.86; 2. Fedor (Keystone), 23.49; 3. Curran (Bay), 23.87; 4. Roberts (Brookside), 23.97400: 1. Cowling (Keystone), 51.47; 2. Born (Firelands), 54.36; 3. Jager (Bay), 55.14; 4. Juchnik (Brookside), 55.78800: 1. S. McConoughey (Keystone), 2:04.12; 2. Taylor (Bay), 2:04.16; 3. Hill (North Olmsted), 2:07.32; 4. Puza (Firelands), 2:08.921,600: 1. E. McConoughey (Keystone), 4:46.20 2; Ray (Bay), 5:09.62; 3. Malasi (Fairview), 5:15.33; 4. Bratton (Avon), 5:15.38 3,200: 1. Yuronich (Keystone), 9:55.32; 2. Ries (Fairview), 10:22.19; 3. Woods (Firelands), 10:35.65; 4. English (Bay), 10:41.62110 hurdles: 1. Rodriguez (Brookside), 15.91; 2. Duke (Firelands), 16.83; 3. Linden (Keystone), 18.10; 4. Downing (Bay), 18.25300 hurdles: 1. Duke (Firelands), 41.52; 2. Rodriguez (Brookside), 42.06; 3. Danicki (Avon), 42.47; 4. Fischer (Bay), 44.62400 relay: 1. Firelands (Grote, Becker, Pruitt, Brown), 45.31; 2. Avon, 46.01; 3. North Olmsted, 46.22; 4. Fairview, 46.49800 relay: 1. Bay, 1:32.18; 2. Firelands (Simms, Becker, Brown, Fortner), 1:33.73; 3. Brookside, 1:34.23; 4. Avon, 1:35.651,600 relay: 1. Firelands (Pawlak, Vanderpool, Simms, Fortner), 3:33.70; 2. Keystone, 3:38.98; 3. Brookside, 3:41.12; 4. Avon, 3:41.813,200 relay: 1. Keystone (S. McConoughey, Stroud, Yuronich, E. McConoughey), 8:25.63; 2. Firelands, 8:45.62; 3. Fairview, 8:55.71; 4. Avon, 8:58.28Shot put: 1. Grasso (Avon), 44-11; 2. Beury (Firelands), 44-4.5; 3. Egan (Bay), 43-11.5; 4. Lockyer (Keystone), 39-1Discus: 1. Beury (Firelands), 170-11; 2. Weise (Fairview), 128-7; 3. Marn (Brookside), 117-6; 4. Norris (Keystone), 105-6Long jump: 1. Fedor (Keystone), 21-5.5; 2. Duke (Firelands), 20-2.75; 3. Ferreira (Avon), 19-7.75; 4. Roberts (Brookside), 19-6.75High jump: 1. Goran (Keystone), 6-0; 2. Brown (Firelands), 5-10; 3. Bahr (Avon), 5-8; 4. Fratini (North Olmsted), 5-8Pole vault: 1. Grisez (Firelands), 13-7; 2. Holzhauer (Keystone), 11-6; 3. Bigrigg (Bay), 11-0; 4. McIlver (Brookside), 10-6GirlsTeam scores1. Firelands, 115; 2. Bay, 109; 3. Fairview, 92; 4. Avon, 91; 5. North Olmsted, 81; 6. Brookside, 52; 7. Keystone, 51; 8. Olmsted Falls, 45100: 1. Willmitch (Bay), 13.35; 2. Antrum (Avon), 13.54; 3. Marsinick (Firelands), 13.57; 4. Eckert (Fairview), 13.94200: 1. Antrum (Avon), 26.43; 2. Willmitch (Bay), 26.75; 3. Smith (Firelands), 26.83; 4. Accavello (Keystone), 28.50400: 1. Antrum (Avon), 59.16; 2. Koczur (Fairview), 1:02.47; 3. Accavello (Keystone), 1:05.47; 4. Mason (Bay), 1:06.18800: 1. Dahler (Fairview), 2:35.97; 2. Schwanger (Avon), 2:41.20; 3. Allen (North Olmsted), 2:43.04; 4. Ripley (Bay), 2:43.681,600: 1. Gonzalez (Bay), 5:10.50; 2. A. Wilson (Keystone), 6:16.81; 3. D. Copley (Firelands), 6:17.22; 4. D'Alessandro (North Olmsted), 6:17.553,200: 1. Edelman (Bay), 12:48.80; 2. Dahler (Fairview), 13:03.04; 3. Bartish (Firelands), 15:54.25100 hurdles: 1. Davis (Brookside), 16.13; 2. Schrader (Firelands), 16.78; 3. Weiler (Avon), 17.59; 4. Awad (North Olmsted), 17.97300 hurdles: 1. Davis (Brookside), 47.26; 2. Zidar (Firelands), 48.85; 3. Awad (North Olmsted), 50.98; 4. Walsh (Avon), 53.39400 relay: 1. Firelands (Jasinski, Frederick, Huston, Marsinick), 51.84; 2. North Olmsted, 52.33; 3. Bay, 54.05; 4. Avon, 54.30800 relay: 1. Firelands (Zidar, J. Copley, Schrader, Smith), 1:49.23; 2. Bay, 1:49.63; 3. Fairview, 1:50.93; 4. Avon, 1:54.891,600 relay: 1. Fairview, 4:17.87; 2. Firelands (Schrader, Frederick, Vanderpool, D. Copley), 4:21.47; 3. Bay, 4:32.21; 4. North Olmsted, 4:35.103,200 relay: 1. Bay, 10:27.15; 2. North Olmsted, 11:04.29; 3. Firelands (Vanderpool, Camera. D. Copley, Vaughn), 11:05.91; 4. Fairview, 11:08.40Shot put: 1. Mitchell (Bay), 34-2.5; 2. Flowers (Olmsted Falls), 31-6; 3. Yost (Firelands), 29-6.5; 4. Schueszler (North Olmsted), 28-4sDiscus: 1. Mitchell (Bay), 107-4; 2. Hricovec (Avon), 101-11; 3. Schueszler (North Olmsted), 93-10; 4. E. Wilson (Keystone), 91-10Long jump: 1. Eckert (Fairview), 15-11.5; 2. Zidar (Firelands), 15-9.75; 3. Walsh (Avon), 14-11.5; 4. Goran (Keystone), 14-0High jump: 1. Jasinski (Firelands), 5-2; 2. Thach (Olmsted Falls), 4-8; 3. Goran (Keystone), 4-6; 4. Rufener (North Olmsted), 4-6Pole vault: 1. Diaz (Brookside), 8-6; 2. Parker (Firelands), 8-0; 3. Boddy (North Olmsted), 7-0; 4. Benabdallah (Fairview), 7-0