Athletes took advantage of great weather to set more than a dozen meet records!  Chardon athletes were responsible for more than half of those new records.

• Stephanie Ferrante led the assault with 4 of those records.  She ran 12.13 in the 100m, destroying the old record of 12.81.  In the 400m she ran 56.77 to crush her own record of 59.07.  The 200m saw her obliterate her old record of 26.06 with an astounding 24.42 in finals, after an amazing 25.18 in the prelims.  Not all times from around the state this weekend have been posted online, but her 100 is currently 2nd in the state.  He 200 time is more than a second faster than 2nd place.  Her 400 time is almost 1.3 seconds better than 2nd place in the state.  She anchored our 4x400 (Rachel Banks, Rachel Lannon, and Mikaylie Park) with a split of 55.2 and enabled the team to run 4:07.18, faster than the previous meet record of 4:08.09.  Unfortunately, Geneva beat them to the punch with a time of 4:04.44.

• Nick Elswick had a day very similar to Ferrante's.  He anchored the DMR with a 1600m leg of 4:20.  The other members of the DMR were Josh Sopchak, Jacob Krebs, and Steven Zombory.  They ran 10:31.98 to wipeout the old record of 10:52.0  He returned in the 3200m to run 9:18.77 and take down the old record of 9:31.4  Only a few minutes later, he help the 4x400 team that included Josh Sopchak, Steven Zombory, and Grant Mlack reset the meet record to 3:31.67 by running 52.8

• Grant Mlack had a very good, if possibly unsatisfying day.  In the 110 Hurdles, he ran 15.30 for 2nd place to his training partner from West Geauga, Paedyn Gomes who ran the 3rd fastest time in the state.  In the 300 hurdles, Grant lost his #1 ranking in the state as Paedyn ran 38.97 to sneak under Grant's 39.04 from last week.  Grant hit a couple hurdles that slowed him enough (39.78) that he took 3rd behind Paedyn and Matt Ludwig (39.27).  He followed that up a short time later with a PR in the 200m (23.09) and anchored our 4x400 to a meet record with a 50.3 split.

• Meet records were also set by athletes from other schools in boys shot put (52-6), Boy 100m (10.98), Boys PV (15-0), Girls PV (11-7), and Boys 110m Hurdles (14.45).

• The middle distance events (800, 1600, & 3200) were swept by the girls and boys of Chardon.  Rachel Banks won both the 800 (2:21.82, a PR) and the 1600 (5:19.17, a PR).  Mikaylie was 2nd in the 1600 behind Rachel, and then came back to win a tactical 3200 (12:23.33).  On the boys side, Steven Zombory won the 1600 (4:40.60, an FAT PR), Josh Sopchak won the 800 (2:01.20, an FAT PR), and Nick Elswick won the 3200.

In addition to the kids, we had nearly 30 parents volunteer to help with the actual events, concessions, and a hospitality area for officials, coaches, and volunteers.  A invitational track meet like the Hilltopper provides the opportunity for the community of parents, coaches, officials, and kids to truly work together to create a special experience for all.  I am amazed every year in how many ways the parents support our program and am extremely grateful.  Thank-you!

A huge thank-you also goes out to Achilles Running Shop that sponsors the shirts that go to every event winner.

Precision Orthopedics and the Maple Leaf Track Club also made financial commitments that allowed us to synch our timing display with the Finishlynx timing system of Lightingtiming.com.  Very few high school invitationals have this capability.

The Hilltopper is certainly an example of the Chardon community coming together to accomplish something very special for our kids.