The Aurora distance medley relay team set a new school record last Friday in Berea. The record-setting runners included senior Nathan Eminian and juniors Austin Tong, Cooper Ertle and Carson Aardema.

By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Luke McGovern’s winning — and personal-best — time of 10.84 seconds in the 100-meter dash last Friday at the 69th Berea Kiwanis Titans Relay at Baldwin Wallace University was the eighth-fastest in the state in Division II this season.

And the Aurora junior wasn’t even the headliner for the Greenmen that night due to three school records biting the dust.

One was the distance medley relay 4,000 in which senior Nathan Eminian and juniors Austin Tong, Cooper Ertle and Carson Aardema combined to capture the championship with a time of 10:44.91, breaking the old mark by .09 seconds.

“We’ve got two real strong half-milers in Carson and Austin,” head coach Chris Radtke said. “Cooper is one of our sprinters who runs a real strong quarter-mile, and Nathan placed seventh in cross country at the state meet. What’s great about this event is that you’ve got sprinters, you’ve got half-milers, you’ve got this great miler. For them to come together and break the record is pretty special.”

McGovern was joined by seniors Dorian Gooden and Matt Felice and junior Aaron Choong in winning the sprint medley relay 800 with a time of 1:36.75, beating our Medina in a tiebreaker, and setting the school record.

“Matt, our anchor, showed a lot of guts to hold the guy off at the finish,” said Radtke. “It was literally a photo finish because they had to look at the picture to determine the winner. I couldn’t tell who won from where I was, and we had one of our coaches who was on the finish line, and even he said he couldn’t tell. It was that close. This is Matt’s first year running, and he’s already proving he’s pretty valuable to the team.”

School record No. 3 went up in smoke in the long jump relay. Although senior Johnny Trivisonno (21 feet, 8.5 inches), Gooden (19-3) and Choong (18-1.25) joined forces to place runner-up with a composite distance of 40-11.5, the school record recognizes only the top two distances — those of Trivisonno’s and Gooden’s for a combined length of 59-0.75.

As for McGovern’s performance in the 100 (one of three open events), he bested his previous-best time by .08 seconds.

“Luke has been working really hard,” said the coach. “Our school record is 10.70, and that’s the one he’s shooting for. It’s a pretty old record on our board that I know he’s been gunning for for a while. It’s something that he’s taken very seriously. He’s putting all his energy toward that.”

Overall, Aurora finished fifth out of 14 teams with 54 points.