By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

The Streetsboro boys track and field team’s 800 relay team achieved three milestones with its remarkable performance in capturing the Division III state title last weekend at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium at Ohio State University.

Seniors Jayron Chester, Braden Hodge and Ethan Laryea were joined by sophomore Isaiah Henderson in turning in a time of 1:26.69.

That time is not only a season best and a school record, it is the fastest in the history of Portage County.

“We knew that if we could get off on our pop with Jayron, get that lead, hit perfect sticks and then give it to Ethan at the anchor, we could pull it off,” Streetsboro head coach Robb Kidd said. “I think we ran pretty much a flawless race. To see three seniors go out in the last race of their careers with a state championship that was not even really contested, I couldn’t be happier. I was so proud of those kids. They had a lot of obstacles that day with the rain delays. To run that under the lights at Jesse O was just magical. I think it’s a moment those kids will never forget.”

The previous Portage-County best time was also set by the Rockets, but back in 2015.

The quartet of Myron Jones, Dakari Cater, Prince Franklin and KeShun Jones ran a time of 1:27.65.

AURORA

Had Luke McGovern been competing in the Division-I classification, his 200 dash time of 21.06 would have won him a state championship.

Because Aurora is Division II, the junior had to “settle” for runner-up.

McGovern, who qualified for the state meet last year in the 200 and as part of the fifth-place 400 relay, may not have won a state title, but he did set a school record.

“Luke just ran an incredible race,” Aurora head coach Chris Radtke said. “It’s a school record that’s going to stand for a really long time unless he breaks it because that is an incredible time. Luke is already thinking about next year.”

McGovern also finished fifth in the 100 with a time of 10.66.

“Luke has been working on that 100 all year long,” said Radtke. “He’s been very, very consistent under 11 seconds. His last any number of races have been in the 10.6es. He really made it a priority this year, really loves that race. He was going for the school record but came up just a little bit short. That’s definitely a goal for him next year.”

Senior Johnny Trivisonno finished third in the long jump with a leap of 22-9.

Nathan Eminian, his classmate, placed eighth in the 3,200 with a personal-best time of 9:20.63.

“Johnny has only run track for two years,” said the coach. “He had a really good first jump, which he tends to do. His first jump oftentimes is his best jump. He fouled in his second and third jumps, but that first jump was enough to get him in the finals. In the finals, he was able to improve just enough that it was able to bump him into third place.

“Nathan’s weekend couldn’t have been better. We’ve been calling him ‘Beast’ for four years. He’s been the pride of our distance crew. At various times in the race, he was 12 th , even 13th, but he knew where he needed to get in that last lap in order to get on the podium. He ran about a 60-second final lap so he could get on the podium, score the team some points and earn himself a medal. We always kid Nathan that there’s a reason they call him ‘Beast,’ and that was exactly why with what he did.”

Team-wise, the Greenmen’s seventh-place finish out of 71 teams with 19 points, prompted Radtke and his coaching staff to do a little digging in the record book.

“We wanted to see the last time we did that well, and we’re not 100 percent sure we ever have,” Radtke said. “To go down to Columbus in four events and each of those events landing on the podium is a pretty big deal. To be putting all these medals around these guys’ necks was really special.

Weather delays caused what typically are daytime events to be changed to the evening with the lights on, transforming the atmosphere into what felt like a Buckeyes primetime football game.

“It was a really cool setting, kind of a different experience for the state meet because you never see that,” Radtke said. “We’re really, really pleased with how the guys performed under really, really difficult conditions with the rain and heat.”

MOGADORE

Jason Garvin’s experience at last year’s Division III state meet was far from what he thought it would be. The Mogadore junior fouled on his first three long jumps in the prelims and was disqualified.

Garvin returned to states this season, his last, but this time in Division V.

Guess what happened on his first prelim jump?

He fouled.

“It was way off, a whole step or two,” head coach Ann Murphy said. “He didn’t even come close to the board. We were all kind of panicking.”

Jimmy Woods, a Mogadore assistant and also the team’s long jump coach, had a serious one-on-one conversation with Garvin.

And it worked.

Garvin didn’t foul the rest of the competition and wound up having a great weekend.

He leapt a personal best 22 feet, 2 inches and placed fifth overall to earn All-Ohio status.

“Going in, we hoped Jason would just get on the podium,” said Murphy of her competitor, who will continue his long-jump prowess at Malone University in Canton.

“He did very well. He was very excited, and we were all proud of him.”

RAVENNA

Mason Scott not only set a personal record, he also broke Ravenna’s school record in the Division III 300 hurdles with his time of 39.03, which gave him sixth place.

The senior Raven, who qualified for states last year as a member of the 800 relay, was well aware that he needed to break 40 to make it to the finals.

And he did.

“Mason did not run well at regionals,” said head coach Ceon Kelly, “so he was an at- large bid at state and came in with the 18 th seed, the slowest qualifying time. “I thought he had a good shot of getting on the podium, though. He did what we knew he was going to do.”

GARFIELD

Garfield’s Conner Hunt won three state championships in the seated division — the 100 in

a time of 16.35, the 400 in a time of 53.69 and the 800 in a time of 1:54.85.

The senior G-Man’s exploits last weekend are not the big news, however.

The fact that Hunt finished his high-school career with 12 — that’s right, a dozen (!) — state titles is.

KENT ROOSEVELT

Kent Roosevelt senior Kyle McQueen finished runner-up in the Division II 110 hurdles.