ROCKY RIVER, Ohio -- The Rocky River community returned to an annual tradition after a one-year hiatus, as the 45th Bell Track & Field Invitational was held Friday.
One of the top high school meets in Northeast Ohio was dormant last spring after the COVID-19 pandemic forced spring sports cancellations. The time-honored eight-team meet was back in its early-May slot when student-athletes from Aurora, Avon Lake, Bay, Elyria, Lakewood, Midview, Westlake, and Rocky River, jumped, ran, threw, and vaulted their way around the oval at Rocky River Stadium. The host Pirates placed fourth in a field of eight teams in the boys' competition; River filed a fifth-place finish on the girls' side. [
results]
The Pirate boys carded 90.2 points. They were buoyed along the way by second- and third-place performances and by raking in three point-scoring performances in multiple events. Senior Luke Kishna had a big last ring in the Bell, earning a third-place finish in the 3,200-meter run with a time (9:39.91) that ranks as seventh-best in school history. The 3,200 was a remarkable race won by Bay's Will Warren, who edged Aurora's Andrew Ploskunak and Kishna by a second-and-a-half spread.
Chase DeClerck logged an eight-point finish (second-place) in the 1,600-meter run, leading a contingent of River scorers which also included Luke Dorenkott (fourth) and Seth Williams (fifth). DeClerck filed a six-pointer (third) in the 800-meter run. Majid Abuaun and Dorenkott scored Pirate points in that race. Kishna, DeClerck, and Dorenkott were also in on a third-place River relay (4x800).
Other notable Pirate point producers included Edward Opris (third in the 100), Ethan Hazra (third in the 400), and the pole-vault trio of Alex Wojnowski, Griffin Sawyer, and Alan Ritvo, which took second, fifth, and eighth, respectively, in an event that beat the rain on a day that turned soggy late.
On the girls' side, Rocky River posted a team score of 78.5. The Pirates got a big lift from junior Sam Coleman, who earned gold twice over. Coleman clocked a win in the 800, with her 2:24.4 time edging runner-up teammate Keira Vesy by one second, and she earned a second victory in the 1,600, a race that saw her prevail by a slim margin over Westlake's Sarah Peer. Coleman and Vesy also marked two legs of a runner-up Pirate relay in the 4x8.
Freshman Brianna Chaves took fourth in a youth-dominated 3,200-meter run. Freshmen runners took first, fourth, and fifth in the 3,200. Sarah Mazzei registered a fifth in the 200, Amelia Stalzer took fifth in the high jump. Rocky River took fifth, sixth, and seventh (Morgyn Cruz, Ellie Harkins, Ava Meredith) in the 100-meter hurdles.
Bell titles were claimed by Aurora (152.4 points) on the boys' side and Westlake (118) on the girls'. The girls' competition was close at the top, with Westlake squeaking by Avon Lake (112) and Bay (100). Westlake won the combined-points crown.
Over the combined boys' and girls' meets, 1,323 points were tallied by the eight teams combined. And after the two-year wait for such tremendous track & Field action, the final score felt more like Bell Invitational-1,323, COVID-19.
by Skip Snow