The first day of Districts began on Wednesday, May 19, at Amherst Steele High School. The Wildcats continued their success on the track, currently sitting in second place with 32 points right behind the Avon Eagles on day two, beginning today around 2:30 p.m. The Track and Field Cats seek to take over first place at the end of day two at Districts.
Senior Eric Shyne opened his District Meet up with a fourth-place finish in the preliminaries of the Boys 100-Meter Dash as Shyne posted an impressive time of 11.31 seconds. Colin Kaufmann of Avon took first in the event with a time of 10.96.
As the preliminaries continued on day one, the next event was the Boys 800-Meter Run which saw senior Mike Mayer take first place with a time of 1:59.27, more than five seconds faster than the second-place finisher Jett Wieber from Avon. In the Boys 200-Meter Dash, senior Jack McCarthy would place fourth with a time of 23.05 seconds, and in the Boys 400-Meter Dash, sophomore Ben Showman placed third with a time of 51.49.
In the Boys 110-Meter Hurdles, Junior Daman Frabotta placed fourth in a neck and neck race with a time of 15.56 seconds. Daniel Park of Westlake took first with a time of 15.13 seconds. Frabotta competed in the Boys 300-Meter Hurdles as well, finishing in fourth place with a time of 42.30 seconds in the prelims.
The Wildcats have dominated the competition with their relay teams; that was evident a week ago when the Cats won the Euclid Relay Championship. In the preliminary round, the Wildcats continued their hot stretch with a first-place finish with 43.05 seconds in the Boys 4x100-Meter Relay that consisted of Anthony Santagata, Edwin Abiakl, McCarthy and Shyne.
The next relay team in the prelims consisted of Ryan Kennedy, Max Muresan, Joe Norris and Mike Glinatsis as they competed in the Boys 4x200-Meter Relay. These Cats would place second with a time of 1:32.17.
In the 4x400-Meter Relay, the Wildcats took first place with a time of 3:26.44 with the terrific running abilities of Showman, Abiakl, Muresan and McCarthy. In the Boys 4x800-Meter Relay finals, the Cats were poised to take home another first-place finish, and they did just that with a time of 7:56.10 with an impressive five-second cushion over second-place Avon. The relay team consisted of Aidan Monroe, Alex Paliga, Joe Maloney and Peter Fitzpatrick.
In the Boys Long Jump Finals, Shyne placed second place with an eight-meter long jump. Avon Lake’s Ryan Kemer placed first with a 10-meter long jump. In the Boys Discus Throw, senior Nick Velotta placed fifth, with Avon’s Evan Schakel placing first.
The Wildcats would wrap up day one of the District Meet with a second-place finish acquiring 32 points. They currently trail Avon, who has totaled 46 points after day one. Day two will begin around 2:30 p.m. at Amherst Steele as the Cats look to take possession of first place.