AUSTINTOWN - Nia Grant likes the breaks in between attempts, especially if she's coming off a made jump.
The Howland senior has a treat for every height she climbs in the high jump.
"After every jump, if I make it, I get a cookie," said Grant, who reached 5-feet-8 during Wednesday's Division I district track and field meet at Fitch Falcon Stadium. "That's my motivation to do it."
Unfortunately, her cookies crumbled after her personal best jump. Both her and Aurora junior Jessica Baker made 5-8. Then, the two went to a jump off where each had one attempt at every height.
Both missed at 5-8, and then at 5-7.
Grant got away from her technique of approaching the bar straight on - not coming in from angle. However, that's exactly what she did during the jump off.
"It was working, then I was exhausted," Grant said.
Warren G. Harding's Anita Brown was third and Austintown Fitch's Makayla Martin was fourth. Both jumped 5-2.
Grant missed her attempt at 5-6, then Baker made it to secure the district girls title.
"I wish I would've got first, but I did my best," Grant said, who was officially credited with a jump of 5-4. "That's all I could really ask for."
The top four in each final advance to next week's regional at Falcon Stadium.
Grant said she'd like to reach her personal best next week - having plenty of cookies. Is there any one in particular that she prefers?
"Any cookie," Grant said. "I'm not picky."
The meet resumes Friday with the remainder of the field and track events beginning at 4 p.m.
NOT LESS, MOORE: Warren G. Harding junior Jai-lyn Moore jumped a personal best 20-10.75 to take second in the long jump.
"I just attacked it more, be more aggressive," said Moore, who is in his second year of the long jump.
So what was it like on the second-place jump?
"I just ran, attacked it and exploded," Moore said. "(WGH coach Charles) Penny told me to attack it, be aggressive and don't foul."
What's even bigger is that the Harding boys earned eight points for Moore's placing.
"That's big," he said. "I'm trying to help any way I can in any event. Long jump is one and I'm going to keep on at it."
Boardman's Allen Starkey was fourth (20-3.25).
WGH UPDATE: The boys, which are mainly comprised of sophomores, advanced a host of runners to Friday's finals.
"This is the peak and we're excited," said Penny, whose girls team has 12 points and boys team that has eight.
As for the WGH girls, which have many honors this season, set a district record by .31 seconds in the 4x100-meter relay (48.81). The Raiders also qualified first in the 4x200 relay, 400 (Ja'Quana Threats) and 200 (Alexis Simpson).
"So far, everything is as planned out," Penny said. "We're working hard, were qualifying, we're moving on and we're not working hard. We're running fast times, we're qualifying our kids and we're not putting a lot of hard effort into it, which is good."
However, WGH's girls has loftier goals.
"There's a bigger prize we're looking at right now," Penny said. "To get there, you have run smart, qualify and move on."
PERSONAL BESTS: Fitch sophomore Billy Price knows the value of his discus and shot put. It's all about being light on your feet, which the 6-4, 270-pound Price said he got from playing basketball.
"The footwork has got better this year," said Price, who won the boys discus with a personal best 176-0.
Price also plays offensive and defensive line for the Falcons' football team.
"Using your hips, exploding through, getting your body in weird positions, it helps a lot," Price said of throwing the discus.
Price also found watching elite throwers like McDonald's Matthias Tayala helped him as well. Price faced Tayala at the Poland Invitational.
"He threw 195 and I thought my goal is to catch up to you," Price said, who said he wants to get into the top four next week and head down to his first state meet. "He's the discus champ. He's definitely somebody you want to model yourself after."
Finishing second behind Price was Howland's Dan Moody (164-8).
"He had a great series of throws," Howland coach Sean Borawiec said. "All of his throws were in the 150s or better. We're really excited about his throws. He's been getting better all year.
"He's been peaking at the right time."
HOWLAND UPDATE: Howland's Andrew Hamilton has the best qualifying time coming into Friday's 300-meter hurdles (39.80 seconds).
He's one of a handful of athletes making it to Friday's finals.
"We battled the injury epidemic all year long and got bit again tonight," Borawiec said. "We're trying to survive here. We're trying to get as many people out of districts as we can.
"It's going to be interesting."
WEATHER DELAY: The Fitch meet was delayed after thunder was heard around 6:15 p.m., around the time of the open 400.
According to Ohio High School Athletic Association rules, the meet must be delayed 30 minutes for each heard thunder or spotted lightning.
The meet didn't resume until around 7:30, Borawiec said.
ANOTHER TITLE: Austintown Fitch's Ali Tolich, who is the defending Division I shot put and discus state champion, won the shot put with a throw of 42-6.25.
WGH's Kourtney Williams was third with a throw of 38-9.25 and Howland's Kaylee Redon took fourth (37-8).
GOING THE DISTANCE: Fitch's 4x800 relay of freshmen Liz Mosier, Carissa Jenkins and Mikah Vaughn, along with sophomore Amanda Choma won by clocking a personal best time of 9 minutes, 45.51 seconds - ahead of Canfield's foursome of Jillian Smith, Nicole Tibero, Jen Love and Emma Lunne, which finished second 9:51.21.
Mosier ran 2:22, Vaughn went 2:29, Jenkins clocked 2:23 and Choma anchored her two laps in 2:29.
Choma was exhausted following her run, helped by her teammates off the track. One thing went through her mind.
"Not get caught," Choma said. "We were thinking it would be Canfield and Hudson. Hudson was not there at all."
These girls came into the outdoor season - finishing 15th out of 16 teams at the state indoor meet in Akron with a time of (10:12.98).
"We thought next year was the year we were going to be good," Choma said.
