H.S. Track: Avon Lake boys discus relay sets school, meet records

WESTLAKE — The last relay meet of the season. No tomorrows for the Avon Lake boys discus relay.
So seniors Jake Young and Eric Simecek and sophomore Max Seipel went for the gusto Saturday at the 47th annual Westlake Relays.
They got it.
The Shoremen relay broke the school record by 11 inches through two of three rounds, combining for 443 feet, 3 inches. It broke the 2002 school record of 442-4 held by Mike D’Andrea, Shane Seipel (Max’s brother) and Derek Fabry.
The school record was something Young, Simecek and Seipel talked about all season, but when they arrived Saturday they raised the bar.
They scanned the program for the meet record, and it was 462-10, set in 1974 by Brecksville’s Scott Genther (177-11), Keith Voll (144-10) and Les Linhart (140-1). It’s the oldest record standing at the Westlake Relays.
When it came to the final round, Max Seipel knew it was in his hands. He had only thrown 132-8 through the first two rounds, well below his best of 163-6. Young (161-4) was close to a career best (163-2) as was Simecek (149-3), whose best was 151-0.
Seipel rose to the occasion. With a throw of 154-1, Avon Lake broke Brecksville’s record by 22 inches with a combined distance of 464-8.
“It feels great,” said Seipel. “I needed to focus on popping my hips and getting more height on the discus. That really helped.
We knew we had the school record, so we just let loose. But I couldn’t have done it without my teammates.”
Toppling the meet record speaks volumes.
Genther, Voll and Linhart held the state relay record of 478-4 from 1974-2000. They set it a week earlier on April 27, 1974, at the Maple Heights Relays. It lasted until April 14, 2000, when Mentor’s Jason Caldwell, Rob Warren and Brian Godek combined for 513-11 at the Walsh Jesuit Warrior Relays.
The Avon Lake trio threw 438-5 on April 27 at the Berea Relays after combining for 436-10 on April 21 at the Comet Relays.
“We started getting our groove going,” said Seipel, who also split 52.6 for the third-place 1,600-meter relay. “We reinforce our goals with a lot of positive self-talk. We’ve been working hard, but we knew we needed to get it done. We perform well under pressure. It’s the greatest feeling.”
The Avon Lake boys won their fourth straight relay title for shot put with a season-best 155-3. Young led the way with 53-4½, followed by T.K. Burk (52-3½) and Collin Lucas (49-7).
Avon Lake also got wins from its distance medley of Nick Nix, Connor Musial, Francesco Maiorca and Trevor Norris (10:41.0), along with its pole vault relay of D.J. Murdoch, Nick Cruz and Tyler Smith (33-6).
The Avon Lake boys (80 points) finished second for the second straight year to Westlake (108).
Avon Lake junior Christine Bohan earned the Larry Nickel Outstanding Female Athlete Award. Bohan was a member of the winning shuttle hurdles (1:07.0) that broke the Shoregals’ 2003 school record (1:08.8). She was also on the winning high jump relay (13-11) and second-place pole vault relay (18-0). Individually, she had the meet’s best mark for high jump (5-0) and pole vault (10-0).
“Today was only the second time I’ve run shuttles, but things went well,” Bohan said. “I’ve run some open races, but I only ran shuttles one other time and that was freshman year.”
Senior Sarah Alflen (104-11) of Avon Lake had the meet’s best discus throw as she teamed with Katy Grosjean and Emily Nicholas to win the discus relay (244-9) for the third straight meet. The Shoregals also won titles at Berea and Avon.
“Both Katy and Emily had PRs today, so that was huge,” said Alflen. “I’m very proud of both of them.”
The Avon Lake girls finished third with 70 points, two behind second-place St. Joseph Academy (72). Westlake defended its title with 102 points.
The Elyria girls shot put relay of Akacia Taylor, Sierra White and Precious Boone triumphed with 86-3½.
“Today was far from my best,” Taylor said, “but both Sierra and Precious PRd today. I can’t wait for conference.”
Justine Cabbil, Shaunte Hopper and DeJane Jones of Elyria won the long jump relay (43-6) by less than 3 inches over Hathaway Brown (43-3½).
The Elyria boys triumphed in the long jump relay despite missing No. 1 jumper Devin Flowers. Jumarr Lewis, Zach Robinson and Adrian Smith combined for 55-0¼, beating out Westlake (53-11). Lewis (18-9½) led the Pioneers.
Contact Paul Heyse at 440-329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.