A concept typically rooted in fairy tale was on display March 31 during Harvey’s Red Raider Relays.
The calendar said it was March — and yet an outdoor meet took place without issue.
Beyond a stiff wind, Mother Nature was forgiving for once — and the Geneva girls and Perry boys were happy to capitalize on her good graces.
The Eagles and Pirates captured the team titles, Geneva with seven firsts and 104 points to easily outdistance Cuyahoga Falls and Perry with five event wins and 84 points to reign going away as well.
Geneva has the ritual down pat by now. Once the team standings were announced, the trophy was collected, a quick team picture in the north end zone was taken and the Eagles jumped on the bus back to Ashtabula County.
“It’s an opportunity for more of our girls who don’t get as much of a chance to run to really enjoy it,” Eagles senior Taylor Wilms said of an all-relay format. “And it really makes track seem like a team sport.”
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Wilms was on Geneva’s winning shuttle hurdles, 4x200 and sprint medley — a monotony breaker to be sure, especially an event such as shuttles. The Eagles won that with a time of 1 minutes, 9.08 seconds.
“Oh, I love the shuttles,” Wilms said. “They’re the best relays. They’re the best event of the relays.”
Wilms also loves being able to contribute early in the spring. As a junior, she was a Division I Austintown-Fitch Regional qualifier in 300 hurdles, high jump and pole vault, one of only two area girls athletes to qualify for regional competition in three individual events in 2017. But she was sidelined for the first half of her outdoor campaign, relegated to a walking boot.
“I tried to run too much, and eventually, the support of my shoes wasn’t enough,” Wilms said. “So there were small tears at the bottom of my feet. So I was in a boot for like two weeks and I didn’t get to run any events.
“Although I am a sprinter, I’m also middle distance. When the distance team goes on road runs, I like to run with them sometimes, but my body can’t always handle it. It’s kind of hard, but you get used to it.”
Geneva also captured 4x1, DMR and pole vault, with area record holder Deidra Marrison clearing 11-0 in the latter.
Riverside took 4x4 with a first-class last 50 reel-in by senior Abby Baker to win with a 4:21.63.
On the boys side, Perry was diverse in its scoring across the facility, dominant in field events with wins in shot put, discus, pole vault and high jump sprinkled with a first in 4x1.
“It’s obviously always the goal to win, but we just came out and did what we had to do to win,” Pirates’ multi-sport standout Cameron Rogers said.
“We haven’t had many practices, so I wasn’t coming in that confident (in pole vault). The fact that I was the last one up was a big confidence booster. It was nice.”
Rogers recorded the best individual pole vault (11-6) as Perry took that relay and ran a leg on the Pirates’ 4x1 that went 46.14. The junior was also on the Perry boys 4x1 that made it to state for the first time in school history in the event a year ago and was a D-II regional qualifier in pole vault.
March wasn’t overly kind as far as outdoor chances, but came through before the calendar turned.
“The last time we honestly practiced (pole vault) was indoor meets — those were our practices,” Rogers said. “So yeah, we kind of messed around out here and got first place.”
Justin Haywood led the Pirates’ throws sweep with the top individual throws in shot (47-9 1/4) and discus (133-6).
The host Red Raiders had the other area relay win in boys long jump with a combined 55-8, paced by Duane Grimes’ 19-4.