Familiarity pays off for athletes with local ties in earning All-America honors.
Norm Weber
Special to the Plain Dealer
BEREA, Ohio -- Nearly a cheese/buckeye final surfaced in the men' discus event in the NCAA Division III National Track and Field Championships Saturday at Baldwin-Wallace.
Four of the nine finalists came from an assortment of colleges in Wisconsin and four others came from Northeast Ohio schools. The ninth in the finals was a fellow from Augustana (Ill.) College.
Mount Union's Judd Lutz -- who finished second to Wisconsin-Stout's Sean Larson -- and Sean Denard threw well enough to join host Baldwin-Wallace's Kevin Phipps and Mitch Supan in the finals. All four young men attained All-American status by avoiding finishing ninth. On a day hot enough for any cheese brick to melt, the Wisconsin schools got only three in the top eight, leaving the Buckeye State as the more All-American of the two, at least as far as discuss throwing goes.
Phipps wound up finishing sixth, just a couple of days after he placed in the hammer throw, making him a double All-American on the weekend.
"Just as it was the other day; I wanted more but was still happy to have done as well as I did today," said Phipps. "I was also happy for Mitch, Judd and Sean. We have all been competing with and against one another all season and it was great for us all get up on the podium together."
Supan, who grew up in Medina and is a Walsh Jesuit alumnus, is brand new to the national level as a freshman for the Yellow Jackets.
"The Ohio Athletic Conference is very good for this event so it is not surprising that four of us from the league not only made it here but also into the finals," said Supan, who finished eighth. "I was rooting for Kevin and Judd and Sean, just as the Mount guys were for us. I am happy with getting this far on my first try. I did not tell too many of my friends from Medina or high school that I was doing this, but still I did get a lot of support from the stands."
Each time one of the four would step inyo the cage, a large roar came from the crowd of 300 people, larger than for any of the out-of-state competitors.
"It's not that hard to get up here from Mount, so we had quite a few friends from school make it to support us," said Denard, who took seventh. "We see B-W in a lot of events and have competed here so the familiarity sure helped."
Lutz also made it in the shot put, but failed to make it out of the semifinals.
"The discus is my better event," said Lutz, who was a finalist for the Gagliardi Trophy, which goes to the top football lineman in the country each year. "We were here for a meet earlier this year so we know the surface and the surroundings here. All my national team championships and qualifications make me feel more accomplished than the Gagliardi nomination, since that one is more individual."
This was Lutz's 10th time to the highest level nationally – four times to the Stagg Bowl with the football team, four times to nationals in outdoor track and twice in indoor track.
It certainly was a team effort for Mount, with Aubree Jones also qualifying in the discus but joining Broadview Heights native/Ohio Wesleyan senior Sharon Rymut in not reaching the finals.
"It helped that three of us from one school could all make it to the nationals like this," said Jones. "Sean and Judd have been like second and third coaches to me. They have helped me out a lot in all of my events. It was a good experience getting here despite not doing better than I did."
Cloverleaf High alumnus and Medina native Cory Beebe, who runs for Salisbury University, repeated as the national champion in the 400-meter hurdles and took sixth in the 110 hurdles. He left it all on the course in the 400, repeating his activity from Thursday's semis and throwing up five minutes after the race.
"I do it every time after I finish a 400," Beebe said. "My stomach just turns within a few minutes after the race. I've made all kinds of dietary changes but it still seems to happen. I wish I could be good at something else so I wouldn't have to go through this each time. It has gotten better. It only happens after the race and never during it."
Trinity High alumna Elise Johnson finished second in the women's 100 hurdles for Williams College.
"I am so excited to finish in second," said Johnson, who is the daughter of the late Eddie Johnson of the Cleveland Browns. "My middle school track coach, Mr. Davidson, was standing at the corner of the track when I came in this morning. I was so surprised to see him here. It brought back great memories from running on this track in seventh grade."
Johnson attended Ford Middle School in nearby Brook Park and spent a year at Midpark High before transferring to Trinity.
Chardon native Erin Hollinger finished 10th in the high jump for Case Western Reserve, while the Spartans' Elaine Simpson took 18th in the 5,000-meter run.