TONTOGANY — Eastwood boys track continued its dominance of league meets, winning its second straight Northern Buckeye Conference championship at Otsego High School Saturday.
The Eagles scored 143 points to outdistance second place Otsego (127). However, Eastwood’s dominance of league track championships goes back a lot further than two years.
Two years ago, Genoa upset the apple cart, defeating the Eagles 139-132 in 2021. Before that, Eastwood had won 19 straight league track titles and 22 of 23 dating back to its days in the former Suburban Lakes League.
This year, it was the Eagles’ depth and willingness by top athletes to compete in four events that kept Eastwood’s tradition alive.
“We had some kids do multiple events that I asked them to,” Eastwood coach Brian Sabo said. “There weren’t too many who stood out because they all did what they were supposed to do and then some.
“They just came out swinging and fighting. The first five events, 90% of our kids had already PR’d (hit personal records),” Sabo continued.
“I had multiple guys do three or four events that they typically would not have done, but it was a giant team effort. We talked about that, we talked about running for somebody, and it was the team spirit and the effort. They just fought.”
Eastwood sophomore Andre Lewis won the 110 hurdles and sophomore Jesse Poiry won the 300 hurdles, but it is usually the other way around.
In the 110, Lewis finished first in 15.77 and Poiry was second in 15.89, while in the 300, Poiry won in 41.86, Genoa sophomore R.J. Adkins was runner-up in 41.9 and Lewis was third in 42.1. Poiry says its unusual for him to be the top distance hurdler.
“I guess I am today,” Poiry said. “I am so lucky to have an amazing teammate like Andre. He pushes me to be a better athlete, and not even just an athlete, but a better person.”
Poiry says both have been striving to beat each other all season, whether it is in practice or in a meet.
“It’s been going on all season,” Poirty said. “Usually, I’m the 110 guy and he’s the 300 guy but we’ve been switching up every once in a while.”
Since the two are classmates, Andre Lewis says their rivalry, a friendly one, goes back much further than high school.
“We’ve been practicing together since middle school.” Andre Lewis said. “We really have since our seventh-grade year, so we know we work for each other through our sophomore year, just making each other better.
“Coming in here, we all have the PR mindset, so we came in here, ran our hearts out, told each other, ‘Let’s go,’ and we know we had to win, and we got it done.”
Sabo said the Eastwood hurdlers showed up when they were asked to, and it was not just for hurdles events.
“I asked those guys to do two more events, so they both did four, and they both PR’d huge,” Sabo said. “In the 300, they just fought. They were fantastic. I also asked the sprinters to do four events, which meant six races (including semifinals and finals in the 100 and 200).”
Eastwood got its first individual title when senior Bryce DeFalco and sophomore Kevin Lewis finished one-two in the long jump.
DeFalco reached 21 feet, three inches, Lewis leaped 20-7, but for DeFalco it did not look good in the early going.
“It was a little bit of a rough start,” DeFalco said. “I only popped off 18 (feet) in the prelims, the very first one, but got up to 20 in the finals.
“Then in our second to last jump Kevin popped off a 20-feet, seven, which put him in the lead and that really got me going, and then I popped off a 21-3. There was a lot of energy right there.”
DeFalco, who plans to walk-on to play football for Bowling Green State University next year, says the long jump will be in good hands when he leaves Eastwood.
“Kevin and I hang out a lot and being around each other is always a good time,” DeFalco said. “I’ve really bonded with Kevin since he has been in high school.
“I’m excited to where I am leaving the (long jump) jersey after this year because I couldn’t be prouder of who will wear it next year.”
There was a three-way race that went to the wire in the pole vault, with Eastwood senior Dalton Hesselbart clearing 13-4 to finish second to Otsego senior Dakota Keifer (14-4). Otsego senior Carson Lathrup was third at 13 feet.
Sabo said winning a team championship is one thing, but giving the best effort is another.
“I love our guys,” Sabo said. “I told them, ‘I don’t care where we finish. I just want to see a great effort and a PR mindset.’”
