by Colin Harris
Reporter
Mantua -- On one of the first pleasant afternoons of spring, eight area schools paid tribute to a local coaching legend at the second annual Don Faix Memorial Invitational track and field tournament, which took place April 5 at Crestwood High School in Mantua.
Joined by Stow-Munroe Falls, Akron Firestone and Aurora, six Portage Trail Conference programs -- Crestwood, Streetsboro, Waterloo, Ravenna, Rootstown and Kent Roosevelt -- commanded the track at Jack Lambert Stadium for the first major tournament of the young season.
The tournament is named for Crestwood's longtime track and field coach Don Faix, who passed away in 2001.
In both the boys and girls divisions, two programs stood out from the pack.
Among the boys, Aurora finished first with 143.5 points, followed by Crestwood (114.5). The Rockets finished third with 96.75 points.
Meanwhile, the Waterloo girls (136.5) claimed the top spot and Stow finished second (123). No other program scored more than 100 points. The Streetsboro girls placed eighth with 40 points.
The talented sprinters of Streetsboro's boys team took the top spots in the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
Senior Kasey Schwing's time of 10.88 seconds was good for first place in the 100 for the Rockets.
Junior Cory Lanterman placed second in the 200 (22.4) and Schwing finished third (23.3).
Michael Moore also won the long jump with a leap of 19 feet, 4.5 inches and Howard finished second in the 400 (52.5).
Streetsboro's other victory came from the 800 relay team of Howard, Schwing, Mario Valenti and Lanterman (1:32.02).
Other Rockets who finished in the top six were the following:
100: Howard, fifth, no time available
400 relay: Moore, Valenti, Brandon Richardson, Schwing, second, 45.43
1,600 relay: Howard, Lanterman, Valenti and Ryan Cook, second, 3:45.9
Long jump: Drew Kluchorowsky, fifth, 17-4
Shot put: Jason Tibbs, sixth
Discus: Jason Bennison, sixth
"We were one of the few teams that had a meet under our belts," said Streetsboro head coach Tom Fesemyer. "The weather was a lot better than [April 1]. I was very pleased with how we finished. Kasey just missed the school record in the 100. The 4x200 relay was very impressive. They're two seconds off the school record."
Tiara Bivins finished first in the 100 (13.0) for the Streetsboro girls. She also placed second in the 200 (27.4).
"Tiara ran a 12.9 prelim time in the 100 and it's not even warm yet," Fesemyer said. "She competed against Stow and Waterloo. Both teams are very talented."
Others who fared well for the Rockets were Kelsey Cianci in the 300 hurdles (fourth, 53.4) and the high jump (fifth, 4-11), Kellie Radic in the discus (fifth) and the 800 relay team of Cianci, Kaitlin Twigger, Dare Gleason and Ashley Lawson (sixth).
The Crestwood Red Devils fought through strong winds and rainfall April 1 to begin the 2008 season with a sweep of the defending Portage Trail Conference County Division champion.
Both the Red Devils' boys and girls squads earned solid victories over Streetsboro on their home track.
The Crestwood boys won 77-51, while the girls surged to an 86-42 win.
In the field portion of the boys event, Crestwood junior Bryan Wagner continued the form that earned him first-team All-Metro Division honors last season, taking both the shot (44-2) and discus (151-3) events in strong form. Streetsboro looked impressive in winning both jump competitions, including Moore's 18-foot-5 leap in the long jump.
Red Devils sprinter Brandan McGee took first place in both the 800 (2:13.7) and 1,600 (4:53) races.
Lanterman, the County Division's returning Athlete of the Year, was strong in helping the Rockets to first place in the 800 relay with a time of 1:35.8.
In addition, Lanterman took second in the 800.
"It was one of the worst meets I've ever been in," Fesemyer said. "There were extremely high winds, snow flurries, snow pellets and sleet. We didn't even run the last event.
"We were pretty competitive," he added. "We accomplished what we needed to do despite the weather."
Crestwood's female runners took first-place honors in 11-of-16 events -- including sprinter Nicole Cozzone, who took first in both the 400 (67.8) and 800 (2:46) races.
In the field events, Crestwood senior Kristina Block took first place in the high jump with a height of 5 feet, joined by junior Katie Clapp's 12-11 distance in the long jump that earned first.
Both Rocket teams were scheduled to compete in Ravenna for a tri-meet that also features County Division rival Waterloo April 8. Results were not available at press time. They are set to participate in the Cortland Lakeview Relays April 12 at 9 a.m.
E-mail: stowsports@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-686-3914