Columbus -- Halfway through the final race of Saturday's Division II girls track meet, a train whistle sounded in the distance at Ohio State's Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. The Collinwood girls were too busy finishing second in their 4x400 relay to listen, but retiring Railroaders coach Lou Slapnik heard it and understood the meaning. His Lady Railroaders -- who...
Collinwood senior Erin Busbee hits the sand during the Division II long jump in Columbus. Busbee won, helping the Railroaders win the team crown as well.
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(John Kuntz / The Plain Dealer)
Columbus -- Halfway through the final race of Saturday's Division II girls track meet, a train whistle sounded in the distance at Ohio State's Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
The Collinwood girls were too busy finishing second in their 4x400 relay to listen, but retiring Railroaders coach Lou Slapnik heard it and understood the meaning. His Lady Railroaders -- who dropped to Division II this season -- were wrapping up their ninth state title in 17 years and the retiring coach could finally let himself celebrate a bit.
"That is awesome" shouted Slapnik, getting some hugs from a small party of Collinwood friends.
Yeah, it was.
Using six girls in nine events, Collinwood put up 77 points to hold off Columbus Bishop Hartley with 71, the most points ever in boys or girls divisions for a runner-up. Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy was third with 57 points.
On the boys side, Pemberville Eastwood had the edge with 38 points as Woodridge was second with 32 points and Buchtel, paced by two sprint wins from sophomore Nathaniel Harris, took third with 30.
Collinwood started its day with a win by senior Erin Busbee in the long jump at 19-3 3/4. There was a bit of disappointment as senior and fellow Michigan recruit Amber Smith settled for fourth, expecting to snare second.
"You have to take each event separately," said Smith. "If I had let that get to me, I wouldn't have got second in the 100 [hurdles]. You can't have any regrets. It worked for us."
Defending 100 hurdles champ JeRica Sanders from Lake Catholic edged Smith in her signature event.
But in two stirring efforts, Smith broke her own Division II record in the 300 hurdles (42.83) and anchored another Division II record in the 4x200 (1:39.76), with teammates Brittini Brown, Amirah Harbour and Jasmine Lett. It tied the mark Hartley set in Friday's qualifying.
Hartley senior Chesna Sykes won the 100 (Busbee second) and 200 (Busbee third), with junior Aisha Cavin winning the 400. The Hawks won the 4x100 and 4x400, Collinwood second in both. But they got hurt early when junior Chelsea Scott was disqualified in the 100 hurdles on a false start.
"We needed a break because they came down with a little more than us," said Slapnik. "Everyone had given Bishop Hartley the title a month ago.
"The first [title in 1997] is the best and more memorable, but this is 1A. I've had more talented teams that dominated. But I've never had a team that stepped up like this. They knew all week what they needed to do."
The Lady Railroaders had the title locked up going into the final event as long they did not finish worse than sixth. While Hartley won it in a division record 3:49.94, breaking last year's Warrensville Heights' mark, the Lady Railroaders had the enjoyment of securing the title with a safe second-place finish.
"We talked it over during the week," said Harbour, a stalwart on all three relays and an Akron recruit. "We had the same ideas and just relaxed. We came in as a team and we're leaving as a team."
Pemberville Eastwood benefited from wins by senior Justin Welch in the shot put and discus, with senior Cody Seifert finishing second in the 100 and third in the 200.
Woodridge's lone win came Friday in the 4x800. Its best efforts after that were third places by senior Justin Fawley in the high jump and junior Vibushan Sivakumar in the 800.
Senior Marty Coolidge from Elyria Catholic won the 3,200 in a stadium record 9:03.11, with Bay junior Michael Brajdic second in 9:08.41.
On the girls side, CVCA junior Christina Blair won the 1,600 in 5:00.25 and finished third in the 3,200. Senior Sarah Rasnick was second in the pole vault, junior Irene Frangos fourth in the 3,200 and the Royals were fourth in three relays.