By TODD REED
News Leader Sports Editor
McKenzie Richards placed first in the 800 in leading Malvern to a second-place finish at a triangular held at Ridgewood.
The Lady Generals finished first with 92 points. They were followed by Malvern (2-6) with 42 and Hiland with 26.
Richards finished the two laps in 2:49. She was also a member of three relay teams, which all finished second: the 4x800 (11:50) along with Nicole Wackerly, Christina Rine and Becky Neitzel; the 4x200 (2:03) consisting of Neitzel, Heather Casper and Erin Sellers; and the 4x400 (5:05) along with Wackerly, Rine and Neitzel.
Neitzel had the Lady Hornets only other first, winning the 400 in 1:05.
The 4x100 finished second in 1:00. Members are Casper, Alicia Sword, Amelia Mayle and Sellers.
Thirds went to Mayle in the 100 hurdles (20.8), Sellers in the 200 (30.7), Katie Palleschi in the discus (61'5), Casper in the 100 (14.5), Wackerly in the 400 (1:12), Walker in the 300 hurdles (1:10) and Tara Dickson in the 800 (4:03).
Placing fourth were Walker in the 100 hurdles (20.9), Sellers in the 100 (14.6), Casper in the 200 (39.8), Palleschi in the shot (24'9) and Rine in the discus (60'.5).
"The girls did very well at Ridgewood," stated Head Coach Mike Campbell. "It was cold and windy, but they ran through all of that. We are just a couple of girls short of competing with the other teams. We are scoring points in the events we need to be scoring in, but we give up too many points in the events we don't have participants.
"The girls are doing better and having fun and that is all that matters. Becky Neitzel had another good meet, along with Kenzie Richards and Nicole Wackerly. The relay teams competed well. They have all been pushing themselves. We are pretty proud of them."
The Lady Hornets competed in the Tusky Valley Invitational, scoring five points.
Neitzel finished fourth in the 400 with a time of 1:05 and the 4x800 consisting of Wackerly, Hupp, Richards and Neitzel placed sixth in 11:22.
"The girls did a great job Friday night," noted Coach Campbell. "We had a pretty good storm during the meet, but they ran in the rain and just kept at it. We knew we would probably not score much, but Renee (Barrino) and I just kept telling them to work on their times.
"Almost all of the events we ran, they bettered their times and did better in the field events. We were happy with how they ran."
Boys Track and Field
Clayton Brown and Steve Dishong accounted for two wins each in a triangular at Ridgewood.
The Generals placed first with 94 points. They were followed by Hiland with 48 and Malvern (3-5) with 35.
Dishong won the 400 in 57.5 and Brown captured the 800 in 2:11.
Both were members of the victorious 4x400 (3:52) along with Zach Johnson and Tyler Moody.
"This was one of those meets, that for the most part, you just forget and prepare for the next one," stated Head Coach Nick Mackle. "We did have a few bright spots.
"Steve had a strong finish in the 400. Clayton's finish on the winning 4x400 ended the day on a high note. Clayton was third when he got the baton, almost 40 meters behind first. He caught the leader with 80 meters to go and held on for the win."
Seconds went to Tom Andreski in the 1600 (5:10) and 3200 (11:25), Moody in the 200 (25.7) and the 4x800 (9:15) consisting of Andreski, Brown, Danny Grego and Moody.
Grego finished third in both the 1600 (5:20) and 3200 (11:43), while fourths went to Cameron Lewis in the 110 hurdles (19.6) and 300 hurdles (48.8).
The boys scored 17 points at the Tusky Valley Invitational.
Andreski placed second in the 3200 (10:24.28), Brown was third in the 800 (2:04.42), Ron Maksim was fifth in the 400 (53.36) and the 4x800 (9:18.11) consisting of Moody, Brown, Grego and Andreski was sixth.
"Ron ran for the first time in more than two weeks and had a good race," commented Coach Mackle. "He didn't have as strong a finish as he usually has. I expected that, since he has not been able to train to keep his endurance. If we can keep him healthy, I know he will be competitive at the end of the season.
"Clayton followed our race strategy and ran a personal best in the 800. We knew the field was a good one. So I told him to go out faster for the first lap and have confidence in his training that he would still be able to finish strong.
"Tom ran a smart race. He's been fighting a cold. So he ran a conservative first mile and kept himself in good position. His second mile was strong. Hopefully, he's at full strength now."
Malvern will compete in a triangular at Western Reserve with Canfield today (May 8), before competing in the Columbiana Invitational this Saturday, May 10.
treed@alliancelink.com