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Brookfield’s Bailey wins in 3 regional events

Tribune Chronicle / John Vargo Brookfield's Xavier Bailey celebrates after winning the 200-meter dash Friday in the Division III regional meet at Massillon Perry.

MASSILLON — Xavier Bailey took the baton in last place at the start of the final leg of the boys 4×200-meter relay. His thought was singular, but soon became plural.

The Brookfield senior powered past the rest of the field and finished first for the Warriors Friday in the Division III regional at Perry High School.

It was one of three first-place finishes for Bailey. His relay teammates, Nicholas Varga, Dionte Colwell and Alex Bell, get to the state meet in Columbus as well. The top four in each event advance to the state meet, June 2-3 in Columbus.

“I came here for one reason and one reason only,” Bailey said. “Three of my guys on my relay team are all younger. I wanted to get them to state so they get the experience.

“I’ve been there. I want to get them there with me.”

Bailey’s day wasn’t over. He won the 100- and 200-meter dashes as well.

John F. Kennedy’s Jacob Coates finished second in the 100 and third in the 200. Coates won the 200 state title his sophomore year, but a season-ending hamstring injury prevented him getting past last year’s district meet.

“I came second in the prelims in the 200,” Bailey said. “I knew I had to bust my butt because Jake’s always pushing me to do my hardest.”

Mathews’ Kenny Wallace distanced himself from the pack for a win in the 1,600-meter run.

“I was going in ranked third,” he said. “Six guys ran faster than me. I knew I had the best personal record out of anybody. I wanted to stay on (Smithville’s Justin) McKeal the whole time. We went out real slow.

“I closed in a 59 or 60 (seconds) my last lap.”

Bailey watched what his friend, Wallace, did. The two have been training together for the past couple of years.

“I admire everything Kenny does,” Bailey said. “You don’t see other people out here doing that. He blew everyone away in the one mile.

“It’s always crazy to watch him run.”

The Mathews senior knows his sprinting day are best left for practice.

“I’m maxing about 24, 25 (seconds) in 200s in practice,” Wallace said. “That’s a jog for him.”

Nonetheless, it was a great day for the Brookfield senior.

“He killed it today,” Wallace said. “He was bugging me the whole day. I said, ‘I’m not matching you, X.’ “

They would like to match each other next weekend in one aspect — winning state titles.

“It would be great if we could both take something home, really cool,” Wallace said.

RECORD-SETTING DAY: McDonald freshman Anna Guerra won the girls 3,200 in a regional record time of 11:03.58. Badger’s Miranda Stanhope and Malina Mitchell took the second and third spots, respectively.

Guerra took off in the two-mile, but had enough left to joke around during a picture with the other two local state qualifiers, sticking her tongue out and smiling.

“I have a lot of fun,” Guerra giggled. “I like being fun, being weird with my teammates.”

MILLER’S TIME: Mineral Ridge junior Jarred Miller fell over the line and finished first in the boys 400. It was a grueling race for the Rams quarter-miler.

“I felt really good honestly,” he said. “I started to run on the second curve and it hurt a little bit. I knew I had to tough it out and push through.”

He’s looking forward to facing McDonald’s Hayden Sloan, who was third, next week.

“I told him before, ‘We know what we’ve got to do to get down there,'” Miller said. “‘Let’s qualify and make it down to Columbus.”

OTHER AREA STATE QUALIFERS: GIRLS – 100 hurdles – Pymatuning Valley’s Mackenzie Inman; 4×200 relay – McDonald; 1,600 – McDonald’s Mitchell; 800 – Maplewood’s Charlotte Crouch, McDonald’s Bella Wolford; 300 hurdles – Jackson-Milton’s Michaelina Terranova; 4×400 relay – McDonald; Long jump – Valley Christian’s India Snyder. BOYS – Shot put – Newton Falls’ Ben Simpson, Western Reserve’s Mathew Henry; 1,600 – Maplewood’s Ethan Sparks; 800 – Maplewood’s Jake Hall; 4×400 relay – Maplewood.

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