The-News-Leader.com - Knights shine at regional track

by Devan Matthews

Correspondent

Although Nordonia High School track and field standouts Andrew Davis and John Spooney are headed to the state meet for their performance at regionals, a number of Knights performed well at Austintown Fitch May 28 and 30, but fell just short of qualifying for Columbus.

The Knights boys' 400-meter relay team set a new school record.

That unit, comprised of Ryan Clark, Spooney, Brian Vollmer and John Hamilton, produced a time of 42.71 second. Not only did that effort break the school record, it also garnered the group a sixth-place finish.

Alex Davis turned in a career-best effort in the 110 high hurdles at regionals. His time of 14.95 earned him an eighth-place finish.

Alex Davis also competed in the 300 intermediate hurdles. Although he didn't make it to the finals, he posted a time of 40.52.

Brian Vollmer tied a personal-best effort in the high jump, as well. He failed to make the finals of the event, but his leap of 6-2 tied his PR.

Clark competed in the 100, as well. His time in that event was 11.67.

Also competing at the regional meet was the Knights' 800-meter relay contingent of Spooney, Vollmer, Clark and Andrew Davis. That unit finished with a time of 1:30.78.

On the girls' side, there was one individual and two relay teams that competed at the regional meet. Unfortunately, neither of them was able to reach the finals.

The girls' 400 relay squad ran its best time of the season (50.0). The members of that group were Jenna Gura, Cara Boliantz, Cally Rahal and Kaitlin Mabin.

The same four girls ran in the 800 relay. Their effort in that event was 1:46.44.

And if that wasn't enough for Boliantz, she also competed in the 400, producing a time of 1:01.74.

"She was a little spent by the time she got to the 400," said Nordonia head coach Ron Gura. "But she did a good job, as did all the kids we took to Fitch."

Wardrobe disfunction

Andrew Davis' disqualification in the 400 at the district meet stemmed from the fact that he was wearing two different colored pair of compression shorts.

According to coach Gura, the disqualification was frustrating on multiple levels.

First, Davis had been wearing the same clothing for the entire dual meet season, and was never cautioned about it by an official.

Second, he wore them in the semifinals of the 400, but nobody said anything about them then.

Third, he wore them in both the long jump and high jump at regionals, qualifying for the State Meet in both events. No mention was made at that time, either.

"I filed an appeal with the [Ohio High School Athletic Association]," said coach Gura. "It's unfortunate, because Andrew could be competing in three events at the state meet instead of two."

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