Track and field: Avon continues winning ways, sweeps SWC meet

AMHERST — Avon put on a show once again Friday as it ran away with team titles at the 90th boys and 52nd girls Southwestern Conference Track and Field Championships.It was the sixth straight SWC title for the Avon boys and fourth straight for the Avon girls.The Avon boys outdistanced second-place Berea-Midpark 174-124. The Avon girls scored 188 points, with Berea-Midpark second with 90.Senior Jacob Abfall for the Avon boys and sophomore Ally Brediger and junior Paige Justice for the girls were the driving forces.Abfall broke a 10-minute-old meet record for shot put held by teammate Maximus Hauck. Brediger and Justice contributed four wins each.Abfall passed Hauck on the sixth and final throw of the competition with a toss of 60 feet, 7.5 inches. Hauck broke the 2000 meet record of 60-2 held by Avon Lake's Mike D'Andrea in the fourth round with a throw of 60-2.25. Abfall's previous best was 57-11 and Hauck's was 58-5."We work so hard," said Abfall. "I knew it was coming. I knew in the weeks of training we both had throws that were well over 58 and they were easy. Max isn't particularly happy because he landed in some bad positions. We can't be mad with one breaking the meet record and both being over 60. Shoutout to Mike D'Andrea. I love what he's doing with TP3, but at the end of the day we're Avon. He's Lake. You can't let the Lake people have the records.""To come in here and to be able to hit 60 feet with my teammate, to share the special moment, it's just amazing that we both did it at the same time," said Hauck. "The postseason is only just starting. We're getting close to where we can be. We're peaking at the right time of the season. We just have to keep it going from here."Amazingly, Abfall and Hauck came up just short of Luke Hamilton's 2024 school record of 60-7.75. Abfall won last year's SWC shot put title at 57-6.25. It was the first time in meet history two throwers eclipsed 60 feet.The Avon boys also got wins from sophomore Bishop Weatherspoon in the 200 (22.26), senior Jose Alvelo in the 1,600 (4:24.58) and the 400 relay of Weatherspoon, Sam Ulery, Graham Rowlison and Jairel Fenton (42.33). Hauck won discus (167-8) and senior Jackson Hughes won long jump (22-10.75) in the first day of meet action Wednesday."All week we really knew that for SWC that we really want to show out for everyone at Avon, especially because we're at Amherst and Amherst is our biggest competition in the conference," said Fenton. "We really just want to push ourselves to be great each and every week and just keep progressing every week."Our goal for the 400 relay is to break the 42-flat mark. After that our goal is the school record (41.53 from 2023). All of us are getting faster. As the weather keeps getting better we're going to get faster."The Avon boys had a total of six first-place awards, six seconds and six thirds."The guys across the board, field events, distance, relays, sprints, we were able to put it all together," said Avon coach Scott Lanham. "It worked out again this year. These guys are hard workers. Their hard work paid off. Now we got the postseason. We have to keep working hard and have some fine-tuning to do. We're on a good path but we have a lot of work to do."Brediger defended her meet titles in the 100 (11.91) and 200 (24.27), as did Justice in the 100 hurdles (14.65) and the 300 hurdles (43.63).Brediger is one of only three athletes in the 52-year history of the SWC girls meet to win the 100 and 200 in back-to-back years. Olmsted Falls' Abby Jaroscak did it three times, from 1996-98, as did Midpark's Kaila Barber (2008, '10-11).Justice is the first SWC girl to win both hurdle events in back-to-back years."I'm definitely excited," said Justice. "I'm happy with how I ran in both my hurdle races." The highlight on the Avon girls side was the meet and county record set in the 800 relay. Brediger and Justice combined efforts with juniors Jayla Antrum and Molley Kennedy for a time of 1:40.60. It broke the 2016 meet record of 1:43.30 held by Amherst, the 2025 county record of 1:41.25 held by Oberlin and the school record of 1:41.91 set by the same four on May 1 at the Reynolds Invitational."We're very proud of our 800 relay," said Justice. "We finally had a good handoff day. We had a good time. We're very, very excited for that. We've really been trying to get better for that relay. I feel very accomplished with that. We've been around the 1:41 mark all season and we finally hit 1:40."The Avon girls capped the day in style. Brediger and Justice, along with Antrum and senior Kaitlyn Reese, teamed up to win the 1,600 relay (3:58.81). The victory gave the Eagles four relay wins out of five tries for the second year in a row. The Avon girls won 11 of 12 running events for the second year in a row."I feel like that this is the first day that we had pretty good weather," said Brediger, defending Division I state runner-up for the 100 and 200. "Our team took advantage of that. I feel like this is where we need to be for this time of the season. There definitely is more work that we need to do before the state meet, but I feel like we're right on track."With the 800 relay we finally put it all together. We've all been working on it. There had been a lot of missing pieces. We know it's now time to get that right for the state meet. We found all of our strong pieces and put that together."The Avon girls also got wins from Antrum in the 400 (56.86), senior Jessica Pendleton in the 800 (2:14.75), junior Molly Pomfrey in the 1,600 (5:24.54) and Reese in the 3,200 (10:54.12, contested Wednesday)."I was hoping for a mid-1:41 for the 800 relay," said Avon girls coach Sam Ulery, Sam Ulery's dad. "That time ranks pretty high in the state, too, so now we've got some research to do to figure what we want to do for the next couple of weeks."The Avon girls head to North Royalton on Tuesday for Division I super regional prelims (running events only)."It's a little different," said Ulery. "Field events don't compete until the week after that. We have a lot of time to fill, practice to have and things to figure out." Senior Ben Thompson became the first Amherst sprinter to win back-to-back 400 titles since Gianna Catalano in 2005 and '06 as he came from behind in the final 5 meters to edge Olmsted Falls' Drew Minor 49.36 to 49.44.Thompson also anchored ta pair of relay wins. He teamed with Carter Boone, Julius Donald and Gaige Patton in the 800 relay (1:27.43) for the second year in a row. He later teamed with Donald, Boone and Ethan Wilhelms to win the 1,600 relay (3:24.15) over defending event champ Olmsted Falls (3:24.78)."The 800 relay went fantastic. That's exactly what we wanted," said Thompson. "We were 0.03 off our personal best. I felt like we really gave that our all despite Gaige coming off winning the 100. The last exchange was a little iffy down there but the baton didn't slow down. I just took that to the finish line."For the 400 I just had to catch that guy (Minor). As I was coming down the homestretch I had to find that second wind. That's what I did. I got it done, passed with 5 meters to go. That worked out perfectly. I was challenged. I needed somebody to run with. I need someone in front of me and Drew was that guy. I had to chase him and I had to get in front of him."We brought a different energy today. We're going to do some things for districts, regionals and state that we don't even know we're capable of yet. I just know that of this team. We just have to get after it."Contact Paul Heyse at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.BOYSTEAM SCORES1. Avon, 174; 2. Berea-Midpark, 124; 3. Amherst, 95; 4. Avon Lake, 75.5; 5. North Ridgeville, 72; 6. Olmsted Falls, 69.5; 7. Elyria, 25; 8. Midview, 20100 METERS: 1. Gaige Patton (Amherst), 10.92; 2. Sam Ulery (Avon), 10.97; 3. Michael Colburn (Avon), 11.00; 4. John Donahue (Avon Lake), 11.15200: 1. Bishop Weatherspoon (Avon), 22.26; 2. Patton (Amherst), 22.29; 3. Jairel Fenton (Avon), 22.45; 4. Javon Harris (North Ridgeville), 22.74400: 1. Ben Thompson (Amherst), 49.36; 2. Drew Minor (Olmsted Falls), 49.44; 3. Aidan O'Malley (Olmsted Falls), 50.51; 4. Collin Gallagher (Berea-Midpark), 50.51800: 1. Niko Koutouras (Avon Lake), 1:56.41; 2. Jared Keressi (Avon), 1:56.48; 3. Liam Kuri (Olmsted Falls), 1:57.44; 4. Jose Alvelo (Avon), 1:57.951,600: 1. Alvelo (Avon), 4:24.58; 2. Matthew Lochbihler (Avon), 4:28.54; 3. Lucas Roberts (Berea-Midpark), 4:29.28; 4. Johnny Habre (Berea-Midpark), 4:34.073,200: 1. Liam Fritz (Avon Lake), 9:56.42; 2. Habre (Berea-Midpark), 9:56.17; 3. Roberts (Berea-Midpark), 10:09.13; 4. Lochbihler (Avon), 10:14.04110 HURDLES: 1. Allan McDowell (Berea-Midpark), 14.69; 2. Rafael Rodgers (Olmsted Falls), 14.75; 3. Gus Dutta (North Ridgeville), 15.71; 4. Johnny Cao (Avon), 16.05 300 HURDLES: 1. McDowell (Berea-Midpark), 39.59; 2. Rodgers (Olmsted Falls), 40.59; 3. Anthony Danicki (Avon), 40.98; 4. Dutta (North Ridgeville), 41.84400 RELAY: 1. Avon (Weatherspoon, Ulery, Graham Rowlison, Fenton), 42.33; 2. Amherst, 43.01; 3. North Ridgeville, 43.22; 4. Elyria, 43.33800 RELAY: 1. Amherst (Carter Boone, Julius Donald, Patton, Thompson), 1:27.43; 2. Avon, 1:27.94; 3. North Ridgeville, 1:29.17; 3. Berea-Midpark, 1:30.761,600 RELAY: 1. Amherst (Donald, Boone, Ethan Wilhelms, Thompson), 3:24.15; 2. Olmsted Falls, 3:24.78; 3. North Ridgeville, 3:31.53; 4. Avon Lake, 3:32.57SHOT PUT: 1. Jacob Abfall (Avon), 60-7.5 (MEET RECORD, old record 60-2.25 set by Avon's Maximus Hauck in earlier round); 2. Hauck (Avon), 60-2.25; 3. Harry Riley (Avon Lake), 52-6.5; 4. Jeff Wirth (Midview), 48-9HIGH JUMP: 1. Riley Jones (Berea-Midpark), 7-0 (MEET RECORD, old record 6-10 set in 2000 by Olmsted Falls' Dean Coticchia); 2. Dontrelle Bailey (Berea-Midpark), 6-6; 3. Jackson Hughes (Avon), 6-4; 4. Aidan O'Malley (Olmsted Falls), 5-10GIRLSTEAM SCORES1. Avon, 188; 2. Berea-Midpark, 90; 3. Olmsted Falls, 89; 4. Avon Lake, 73; 5. Amherst, 68; 6. North Ridgeville, 61; 7. Elyria, 50; 8. Midview, 42100: 1. Ally Brediger (Avon), 11.91; 2. Mady Frazier (Olmsted Falls), 12.45; 3. MaRiyah Holloway (Elyria), 12.65; 4. Mariam Othman (North Ridgeville), 12.73200: 1. Brediger (Avon), 24.27; 2. Frazier (Olmsted Falls), 25.47; 3. Cora Vance (Midview), 25.63; 4. Kaylin Whatley (Avon Lake), 25.71400: 1. Jayla Antrum (Avon), 56.86; 2. Vance (Midview), 57.77; 3. Kaitlyn Warner (Avon Lake), 58.88; 4. Halle Edge (North Ridgeville), 59.01800: 1. Jessica Pendleton (Avon), 2:14.75; 2. Molly Suter (Avon), 2:21.64; 3. Emi Gornik (Olmsted Falls), 2:28.74; 4. Emma Arnold (Berea-Midpark), 2:29.181,600: 1. Molly Pomfrey (Avon), 5:24.54; 2. Olivia Pajak (Avon), 5:29.79; 3. Sophie Fada (Elyria), 5:36.02; 4. Abby Thompson (Olmsted Falls), 5:37.773,200: 1. Kaitlyn Reese (Avon), 10:54.12; 2. Lauren Kershaw (Avon), 11:59.79; 3. Samantha Falbo (Amherst), 12:03.92; 4. Lila Woskobunik (Amherst), 12:25.94100 HURDLES: 1. Paige Justice (Avon), 14.65; 2. Anyje Peacock (Amherst), 15,.83; 3. Mia Wirks (Avon), 15.87; 4. Camryn Koski (Avon Lake), 16.87300 HURDLES: 1. Justice (Avon), 43.63; 2. Marisa Weiler (Avon), 48.02; 3. Peacock (Amherst), 48.34; 4. Amira McIver (Berea-Midpark), 48.83400 RELAY: 1. North Ridgeville (Madelyn Kuhn, Hayleigh Cass, Gabi Betonte, Othman), 50.01; 2. Elyria, 50.42; 3. Olmsted Falls, 50.51; 4. Midview, 51.20800 RELAY: 1. Avon (Molley Kennedy, Brediger, Antrum, Justice), 1:40.60 (MEET RECORD, old record 1:43.30 set in 2016 by Amherst); 2. North Ridgeville, 1:44.96; 3. Berea-Midpark, 1:46.09; 4. Elyria, 1:48.171,600 RELAY: 1. Avon (Antrum, Reese, Justice, Brediger), 3:58.81; 2. Olmsted Falls, 4:12.04; 3. Avon Lake, 4:15.00; 4. Berea-Midpark, 4:19.04DISCUS: 1. Rileigh Scarvelli (Avon Lake), 135-3; 2. Kenzie Kiesel (Avon), 124-0; 3. Isabel Geyer (Midview), 112-5; 4. Torri Garr (Berea-Midpark), 107-1LONG JUMP: 1. Gisele Chandhok (Berea-Midpark), 18-3.25; 2. Whatley (Avon Lake), 17-5.5; 3. Maya Harris (North Ridgeville), 17-4; 4. Clara Walsh (Avon), 17-0.75POLE VAULT: 1. Isabella Santori (Berea-Midpark), 12-0; 2. Alex Sixbey (Amherst), 11-6; 3. Brooklyn Kovatch (Berea-Midpark), 9-0; 4. Samantha Zemla (Olmsted Falls), 8-6