High school track: Buckeye boys, girls come in second at Midview Shipwreck Invite

EATON TWP. — The Buckeye track and field teams came in second Friday at the seventh annual Midview Shipwreck Invitational.Both battled to the very end, only to come up a little short. The girls fell to Valley Forge 102-96 in a 12-team field, while the defending champion boys came in second to 2024 winner Keystone 141-125.5.The Buckeye girls managed only one first, by junior Leah Bengough in pole vault (10 feet), but still gave Valley Forge a fight. The Patriots amassed four first-place medals, including three from senior Neveah Hall, the meet MVP who won the 100-meter dash (12.31), 200 (25.85) and long jump (16-6).Buckeye had four seconds: freshman Blakely Herman in the 100 hurdles (17.43), senior Sophia Regiec in the 800 (2:35.48), freshman Erin Salazar in the 300 hurdles (52.76) and senior Emma Bostic in the long jump (15-6.75).Senior Brady Salazar had a hand in three of the four first-place awards by the Buckeye boys. Salazar won the 800 in a meet-record 2:00.75 after teaming with juniors Lucas Balaban, Eddie Hondroudakis and Cael Miller to win the 4x2 (1:36.30).Salazar capped the evening by anchoring the winning 4x4 that included juniors Dimitry Pshonyak, Miller and Gavin Weibel (3:35.86)."I came in with the mindset that it was going to be cold for everybody. You just have to persevere through the weather," Salazar said. "You just have to have the willpower to beat them out. I've grown up my whole life. This is my third season of high school track. This meet has always been cold, so you just have to come prepared."Buckeye also had four second-place awards and three thirds. However, that couldn't offset Keystone after the Wildcats lost to Buckeye 137-135 last season.Keystone had seven firsts, one second and three thirds."I played baseball my freshman year. That was a mistake," Salazar said. "The 800 meters really developed my love for track, especially for indoor going to New Balance Nationals. I wish we could have gotten a few more points in field events, but the weather conditions made things rough. We did what we can. We fought hard. You have to appreciate that."The Buckeye boys' other win came from senior Lucas Vasel in pole vault (11-0)."We had some kids try some new things today they hadn't really done," Buckeye coach Mike Flerchinger said. "They pushed themselves in this bad weather and had some success. I have some young kids that are stepping up and kind of starting to figure out which is nice. We're starting to hit our 'A' game and just starting to hit our stride. There's a lot of potential moving forward."We've had two invitationals and a dual meet so far prior to today, but Wednesday was the first time that we really have a full squad for a dual meet against Rocky River."Contact Paul Heyse at sports@medina-gazette.com.ResultsBOYSStandings: 1. Keystone 141, 2. Buckeye 125.5, 3. Vermilion 118, 4. Midview 65, 5. Coventry 43, 6. North Olmsted 40.5, 7. Lutheran West 38, 8. Valley Forge 36, 9. Padua Franciscan 29, 10. Lake Ridge Academy 15, 11. Oberlin 9, 12. Open Door Christian 2.100 — 1. Fedor (K) 11.08, 3. Brayden Bonnett (Buc) 11.22. 200 — 1. Parker (V) 22.80, 2. Bonnett (Buc) 23.19. 400 — 1. Coteat (Cov) 52.38. 800 — 1. Brady Salazar (Buc) 2:00.75, 2. Dimitry Pshonyak (Buc) 2:01.65. 1,600 — 1. E. McConoughey (K) 4:34.36, 4. Nolan Rieth (Buc) 5:03.08. 3,200 — 1. Yuronich (K) 9:54.76, 4. Brant Anderson (Buc) 11:09.47. 110 hurdles — 1. Linden (K) 17.48. 300 hurdles — 1. Novak (VF) 45.95. 4x100 — 1. Vermilion 45.20, 3. Buckeye (Lucas Balaban, Eddie Hondroudakis, Brayden Sopko, Bonnett) 46.46. 4x200 — 1. Buckeye (Balaban, Hondroudakis, Cael Miller, Salazar) 1:36.30. 4x400 — 1. Buckeye (Pshonyak, Miller, Gavin Waibel, Salazar) 3:35.86. 4x800 — 1. Keystone 8:18.85, 2. Buckeye (Joseph Stahl, Nolan Rieth, Paul Abbott, Waibel) 8:41.01. High jump — 1. Goran (K) 6-0, 4. Andy Kost (Buc) 5-3. Long jump — 1. Fedor (K) 19-6, 2. Bonnett (Buc) 18-11.25. Pole vault — 1. Lucas Vasel (Buc) 11-0. Shot put — 1. Wirth (Mid) 57-4.5, 3. Denis Shevchenko (Buc) 42-11.5. Discus — 1. Wirth (Mid) 151-3.GIRLSStandings: 1. Valley Forge 102, 2. Buckeye 96, 3. Padua Franciscan 90, 4. North Olmsted 83, 5. Vermilion 73, 6. Midview 68, 7. Oberlin 40, 8. Keystone 32.5, 9. Lutheran West 30, 10. Lake Ridge 14, 11. Open Door Christian 14, 12. Coventry 7.5.100 — 1. Hall (VF) 12.31. 200 — 1. Hall (VF) 25.85. 400 — 1. Hudson (O) 59.72. 800 — 1. Krayzel (Pad) 2:27.23, 2. Sophia Regiec (Buc) 2:35.48. 1,600 — 1. Bunn (V) 5:57.71. 3,200 — 1. Panteck (Pad) 13:16.64. 100 hurdles — 1. Jones (VF) 17.21, 2. Blakely Herman (Buc) 17.43, 4. Aubrey Keenan (Buc) 18.49. 300 hurdles — 1. Awad (NO) 51.80, 2. Erin Salazar (Buc) 52.76.4x100 — 1. Vermilion 53.13, 4. Buckeye (Salazar, Avery Lewandowski Emma Bostic, Kylee Kash) 54.15. 4x200 — 1. Oberlin 1:47.75, 4. Buckeye (Nico Anzevino, Julia King, Salazar, Herman) 1:55.49. 4x400 — 1. Padua 4:30.86, 3. Buckeye (Bostic, Anzevino, King, S. Regiec) 4:40.63. 4x800 — 1. Midview 11:03.79, 4. Buckeye (Maycie Bodak, Hayleigh Kreeger, Ruby Joy, Lily Regiec) 11:24.96. High jump — 1. Kercher (V) 5-0. Long jump — 1. Hall (VF) 16-6, 2. Bostic (Buc) 15-6.75. Pole vault — 1. Leah Bengough (Buc) 10-0. Shot put — 1. Geyer (Mid) 37-7. Discus — 1. Geyer (Mid) 100-6.