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Maplewood’s 4×800 relays both advanced

Tribune Chronicle / John Vargo Maplewood’s Abigail Nay, left, prepares to hand off to Marissa Ventura in Wednesday’s Division III Cuyahoga Heights District girls 4x800-meter relay. The Rockets took third and advance to regionals, despite running about 18 seconds slower than their personal best this season.

CUYAHOGA HEIGHTS — Dave Deeter was surrounded by four of his distance runners. The Maplewood distance coach was angered by his team’s performance. The girls 4×800-meter relay consisting of three freshmen and a sophomore knew it, nodding in agreement with their coach.

Each of their two times around the track wasn’t even close to what this team can perform. They ran a 10:18.82. Most teams would be ecstatic about running that time, placing third in the district meet and heading to the regional.

This Rockets distance relay team expected more. They should since running 10:00.73 to place second to McDonald at this year’s Trumbull County Meet.

Maplewood’s team of sophomore Kylee Sheely and freshmen Emily Butler, Abigail Nay and Marissa Ventura are far from intimated by their competition. Those four ran 4:23.45 two years ago to set the 4×400 Trumbull County Junior High meet record.

They aren’t intimidated, they just need to run smarter.

Tribune Chronicle / John Vargo The Maplewood boys 4x800 relay includes, from left, Ryan Dancison, John Crouch, Hunter Omerzo, and Ethan Faatz.

“We need to be patient,” Deeter said. “That’s the biggest thing that didn’t show. My front two girls didn’t show any patience. Gun went off, boom took off hard after the people they were trying to compete with. Second girl right away got the baton, went right up and just wasn’t patient. That’s a freshman mistake. Beyond that, we got out of the race.”

It’s an expectation at Maplewood, having top-notch distance runners.

Senior Ethan Faatz knows full well what it means to be a Rockets runner. The team of Faatz, sophomores John Crouch and Ryan Dancison, along with junior Hunter Omerzo ran 8:33.93, a personal best for the quartet as they finished second in Wednesday’s 4×800 boys district final.

State championships and numerous state appearances in this race and at state cross country have set Maplewood apart from other schools. It’s a message Faatz gives to Omerzo, Crouch and other younger Rocket runners. Faatz and Dancison both ran the 4×800 at state last season.

“I try to remind them we run with Maplewood on our chest,” Faatz said. “That means a lot to people. Everyone here knows Maplewood is known for going places in this race, especially. I hope it gives them a little extra motivation.”

Deeter said this 4×800 team made the most of their efforts on Wednesday as the middle two legs held their own, not being pushed until the anchor leg.

“This is the time of the year where everything matters,” Deeter said. “It doesn’t matter what you did up until this point. It matters the next couple of weeks.”

Next week, running with McDonald, puts the Maplewood girls in more of a comfort zone. They know what to expect and can pace off of each Blue Devil runner.

“They’ll be able to push us a little more,” Ventura said. “We weren’t ready, I guess. I think we’ll be ready for next week and we’ll push ourselves more with them.”

There’s a couple more years ahead for this girls 4×800 team, but the future is now for this Maplewood team. The expectations are certainly there.

“They have the potential there,” Deeter said. “They have to correct some things. If you’re going to have it happen, district is perfect. They’ll go in next week focused.

“I didn’t think they were completely focused today and that happens.”

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