We have had some gorgeous weather this spring, unfortunately except for our first meet it hasn't occurred during an invitational.  At Eastlake North for the Ranger Relays the team was treated to a steady diet of cool air, cloudy skies, with a steady northerly wind for most of the meet.  This kind of weather puts a premium on preparation - the athletes need to come prepared with appropriate gear to stay warm while waiting for hours for their event to begin and then to warm-up up properly immediately prior to their events.

This was also the team's largest invitational so far this season.  With 17 (mostly Div I) teams in attendance the talent was relatively deep in most events.  Despite strong overall performances (2nd of 18 for the girls and 3rd of 18 for the boys) event winners were relatively rare for the Hilltoppers.  Among the girls:

• Deanna Ogrinc won the 300m Hurdles by an impressive margin of nearly 4 seconds.
• Lily Baker and Emily Phillips won the Pole Vault relay by each jumping 10-0 and finishing 1-2 individually as well.

Among the guys:

• Josh Metzung, Brian Horton, Brad Knez, and Nate Kawalec won the Distance Medley Relay.
• In the 4x100 relay, Tommy Benanati, Ben Baierl, Spencer Stiffler, and Joey Dinko ran the fastest time of the day but due to errors by the timing company were awarded 2nd place behind the team that ran the 4th fastest time of the day.

Other scorers included:

• Girls DMR (2nd) - Molly Greene, Maria Peters, Mila Stropkay, Denali Selent
• Girls 100 Hurdles (3rd) - Deanna Ogrinc (only .04 sec from school record she set last week)
• Boys 110 Hurdles (2nd) - Dom Ricci (lifetime PR of 16.24)
• Girls 100 (3rd) - Haley Frank (best time of this season 12.66)
• Boys 100 (3rd & 4th) - Joey Dinko (11.11) and Ben Baierl (11.12) narrowly miss the school record (Nake Kooy's 11.03)
• Girls 4x800 (6th) - Mila Stropkay, Molly Greene, Loganne Foster, Maria Peters
• Boys 4x800 (5th) - Ryan Connolly, Aidan Macaskill, Tucker Keeney, Kyle Stropkay
• Girls 1600 (4th) - Denali Selent
• Boys 1600 (6th & 8th) - Mitch Keeney, Brian Horton
• Girls 4x100 (3rd) - Lily Baker, Cassidy Robinson, Kaitlin Kobuszewski, Haley Frank
• Boys 300H (5th) - Jon Adams (43.99 - first time under 44!)
• Girls 800 (2nd & 6th) - Denali Selent and Maria Peters
• Boys 800 (3rd & 7th) - Nate Kawalec and Ryan Connolly
• Boys 3200 (2nd & 6th) - Josh Metzung and Brad Knez
• Girls 4x400 (2nd) - Cassidy Robinson, Denali Selent, Maria Peters, Deanna Ogrinc
• Boys 4x400 (3rd) - Joe Pearce, Josh Metzung, Brian Horton, Jon Mcknight
• ?Girls High Jump (3rd) - Jessica Leichty and Deanna Ogrinc
• Girls Long Jump (2nd) - Lily Baker and Kaitlin Kobuszewski
• Girls Discus (7th) - Brice Karl and Danielle McCartney
• Girls Shot Put (6th) - Brice Karl and Danielle McCartney

Complete meet results

Our next meet is back at Eastlake North on Wednesday for a dual meet.  Next Saturday we will be at the Poland Invitational, which is just the other side of Boardman, OH.

Note:  Some of you at the meet might have been aware that Lily Baker was taken to the hospital as a precaution after bouncing off of the Pole Vault pits onto the ground.  We are happy to say that she is fine.