The second and final indoor regular season meet for the Track and Field Cats was on Saturday, February 20, at the Youngstown State High School Open Meet number four. As always, joining the top 24 in Division I in the state sends individual and relay teams to indoor state on March 6, and many Cats ran times inside this rank at this meet!
In the 60m, Eric Shyne repeated his 7.57 mark from last weekend for 29th overall. Nick Hille ran 7.64, Edwin Abiak 7.69, and Ryan Kennedy 7.89. Lots of young talent looked very impressive for the Cats.
Kennedy, Hille, and Abiakl also ran in the 4x200m heat one alongside Frankie Pike. In this heat, the current sixth and ninth fastest times were run in the overall state in 1:32.69 and 1:33.41. The Cats followed this elite field in 1:37.00 for fourth in the race, 32nd overall in the state, and 24th in Division I—currently ranked high enough to qualify for the indoor state meet! The other 4x200 team of Shyne, Shane Morrison, Michael Krebs, and David Fofana ran 1:38.19 in heat two, showing the great depth of this sprinting program.
The best race of the night for the distance Cats was the 4x800m relay. Shuffling up the team from last week, the senior squad of Aidan Monroe, Michael Mayer, Joseph Maloney, and Peter Fitzpatrick faced St. Xavier’s team, led by state cross-country runner up Nathan Mountain and fourth at states Conor Bohrer. Monroe led off in 2:01.2 and handed a significant lead to Mayer, who split 2:03.2. At 4:04 for 1600m, the Cats were on pace to crush their previous weeks of 8:25. Joseph Maloney got the baton in second and ran 2:05.2 before passing to Peter at third position. Peter Fitzpatrick and Nathan Mountain chased down first place, but St. Xavier finished in 8:07.85 to the Cat’s 8:10.65. The Saint Ignatius team is now sixth in the state, on the way to states, and slated for the fast heat at SPIRE Institue, a massive improvement from last year’s just-missed state-qualification from the 4x8.
In the open 800, Ben Showman led the Cats in 2:03.12, and Aidan Monroe ran 2:04.51 after his 4x8 split of 2:01. Wildcat runners told Monroe afterward to notify college coaches that he ran pretty well this weekend, going 2:01 for his first half mile and 2:04 for his second-half to maybe catch a college coach’s eye as a kid he thinks is running 4:05 for 1600m.
Sean Uhran finished in 2:06.57, Connor McAndrew nipped at Sean’s heels in 2:06.98, and Christian Wolke ran 2:17.82.
In the 3200m, Matt Kelly ran 9:49 and is currently 23rd in Division I in the state, hopeful that his time holds its spot for one more week.
There is no meeting scheduled for February 27-28 for the Cats, and those running at indoor states have two weeks to prepare for the final meet of indoor.