ROCKY RIVER, Ohio (May 6, 2024) -- The week of April 29 was a big one for Rocky River Track & Field. First the Pirates celebrated 38 members of the Class of 2024 on Senior Night, and then the Pirates swept their way to twin titles in the 49th Bell Invitational. We catch up with the Runnin' Raiders in the fourth edition of the Pirate Track Report ...

On May 1, Rocky River hosted the Buckeye Bucks at the Oval on Detroit Road. The Bucs and Bucks split with the Pirate boys falling 71-66 and the Double-R girls winning (score, details unavailable at the time of publication). On the boys' side, the meet as highlighted by Rocky River's 4x100-meter relay quartet of Cam Hom, Cam Bulkowski, Nick DiSalvo, and Ryan Ricketti posting a new school record. That quartet crossed the wire in a blazing 43.4 seconds. Long jumper Owen Walsh won his event with a leap of 21 feet-and-10 inches. That mark checks in as the fourth-best in program history. A large contingent of senior Pirates was honored after the meet (see list below).

On May 3, RRHS once again came through with hosting a splendid event, one of the best late-season invites in Northeast Ohio Track & Field. And the Pirates proved to be the hosts with the most: both teams scored 162.5 points and both prevailed in eight-team fields of talented performers.

The River boys won six events (4x800-meter relay, 110-meter hurdles-Owen Kleckner, 1600-meter run-Ruairi Zuercher, 800-meter run-Henry Lange, 4x400, long jump-Walsh). The Pirates had multiple top-4 finishes in the 1600, 800, 3200, and discus. In a thrilling 800, Lange edged teammate Grant Preto who logged runner-up points. Ryan Stirm finished eighth in that same race, clocking in with a new River record for freshmen. The Pirates' winning time in the 4x800 (7:55.5) was the third-fastest in school history.

The 162.5 points scored by the Double-R boys bested a strong Aurora team that took second with 134. Zuecher was tabbed for the meet's Pirate Award.

The Pirate girls won three events (4x800, 3200-meter run-Brianna Chaves, 800-Grace Lavelle) and came away with a whopping 21 top-5 finishes. The Maroon & White got standout contributions from Ellie Harkins (fifth place-100 hurdles, 2P-300 hurdles, meet record 2:16.06 in the 800) and Mary Sollars (2P-200-meter dash, 3P-100-meter dash, 2P-100 hurdles). Doris Kale was a runner-up in the shot put with a program-record toss of 41-6.5.

The girls' 162.5 points cleared runner-up Aurora (128) by more-than-30 points. Sollars got the nod for the Pirate Award; Harkins was the Bell Invitational MVP on the girls' side.

With the top combined score (325 points), Rocky River was the Bell Champion team.

The Friday signature meet certainly had the feel of postseason action. And River athletes should be well prepped heading into the May 7-9 Great Lakes Conference Championships. A year ago, Rocky River came within a couple points of sweeping the the circuit title meet. The Pirates won on the boys' side and lost (to Westlake) by a point-and-a-half on the girls'. The Maroon & White are six-time champs on the boys' side and five-time victors on the girls'.

In 2024, the rest of the GLC could well be at sixes and sevens in trying to fend of the hard-charging Buccaneers who went a combined 9-1 (boys 4-1, girls 5-0) in regular-season GLC dual action.

2024 seniors: boys -- Michael Allen, Caleb Bennett, Ilyas Bouchenafa, Benjamin Buerhle, Will Coleman, Grant Cottell, Guillaume Delgado, Nick DiSalvo, Jason Dubbs, Connor Kane, Zachary Kern, Owen Kleckner, Evan Mathewson, John Perry, Grant Preto, Ryan Ricketti, A.J. Ritvo, Peter Semaan, Abel Sereika, Colin Slomka, J.J. Weixel, and Ruairi Zuercher; girls -- Hazel Allen, Keira Arnold, Brianna Chaves, Kylie Crane, Morgan Cruz, Alison Gorius, Ellie Harkins, Katelyn Heavy, Doris Kale, Izzy Kovacs, Maggie Pfahl, Ellis Resar, Mary Sollars, Kaltra Tola, Katalina Varro, and Taylor Weston.

by Skip Snow

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