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LaBrae soph Ervin quietly succeeds

Tribune Chronicle / John Vargo LaBrae sophomore Dynesty Ervin won both the 100 and 200-meter dashes at a meet Tuesday at LaBrae.

LEAVITTSBURG — Tony Johnson looked at the soccer field, the little children running around, and didn’t like what he saw.

His 6-year-old daughter seemed out of place.

Dynesty Ervin was fast, there was no question. She routinely finished races well ahead of her cousins.

Johnson thought Ervin should take that talent where it would flourish — an all-weather track.

He introduced her to Jack Thornton, who runs the Warren Striders Track Club and is currently the John F. Kennedy track and field coach. Ervin began competitive running when she was 7 years old and made it to national competition that season.

Tribune Chronicle / John Vargo Makayla Trebella of Girard won the 800-meter run Tuesday in a quadrangular meet at LaBrae.

“Since then, it’s been her fate, her thing, her destiny,” Johnson said.

Several years later and Ervin is a sophomore on the LaBrae High School track team. She improved as last year’s freshman season progressed, becoming one of the better sprinters in the area. She made it to the state meet in the Division II 200-meter run, taking 11th place overall.

Tuesday, in a home meet with Girard, Liberty and Niles, Ervin ran a personal best of 24.9 seconds — beating the 25.38 mark she set last season.

Johnson, who is LaBrae’s indoor track coach and is an assistant in the outdoor campaign, said his daughter became faster — even finishing fourth in this year’s Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches indoor track and field state meet in Akron. Her 60-meter dash time of less than eight seconds showed Ervin was quick out of the blocks.

She began working on lifting dumbbells, doing lunges, squats and other kinds of leg work. Ervin started the outdoor season with 15-pound weights. She’s now up to 30 to 40 pounds. Johnson said it’s about the repetitions, rather than the amount of weight.

Ervin doesn’t mind the coaching from her father.

“I think I’m used to it because he’s been there since I’ve been 7 in track,” she said.

Being a father coaching your daughter, sometimes advice doesn’t have the meaning as it would coming from other coaches. Those are rare times.

“Sometimes the other coaches get on her, because your own kids won’t listen to you, but they’ll listen to somebody else,” Johnson said.

“I enjoy it, though. There’s more positives than negatives.”

Johnson said Ervin is quite reserved, leaving her action to speak for her on the track.

There are times she gets excited. She said when footsteps are audible behind her, she’ll start to speed up. But don’t expect the LaBrae sophomore sprinter to yell, even after an exciting finish

“Maybe in my head, but not out loud,” she said.

Johnson stresses the technical aspect with Ervin, pushing past the first set of triangles on the track and then running upright — being patient during the race.

She runs the 400 as well, to enhance the strength of weight training. It adds much needed stamina in the 100 and 200.

It’s something Ervin has heard before from Thornton.

“He tells me to stay low until a certain point,” she said. “Then once I get up, go. Get busy.”

It’s something the talented sprinter learned less than a decade ago.

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