Staff photo / Joel Whetzel Springfield’s Emma Sanders competes during Saturday’s Mahoning County Championships at Austintown Fitch.

AUSTINTOWN — Emma Sanders was “a little iffy” entering Saturday’s Mahoning County Track and Field Championships.

The weather was suboptimal, prompting an hour-long rain delay at the beginning of the meet and sending Springfield’s star sprinter to the bus to wait.

Once Sanders got moving, though, she snapped into form.

Sanders took first place in the 200 and 400, was on Springfield’s first-place 4×200 team and also was on the second-place 4×400 team, as the Tigers raced their way to first overall in Division II on Saturday at Austintown Fitch.

“I was feeling a little iffy coming into the meet, just knowing the weather and stuff like that,” Sanders said. “We didn’t know if it was going to get canceled, so I wasn’t mentally ready to run because we were sitting on the bus for an hour and a half. But once we got out here and were doing warmups, I felt pretty good. I was ready to go.”

Sanders kicked her day off with the victorious 4×200 team, which raced in a time of 1 minute, 51.77 seconds. She followed with her victory in the 400 with a time of 1:03.37, and then tacked on her third victory with a time of 27.51. Finally, her 4×400 team finished second in a time of 4:33.69.

“My 400, I didn’t really have a mental preparation for that. I kind of just let myself run how I run going into the 400,” she said. “These girls are fast, there’s going to be some competition, but based off of last year, I was feeling good.

“In the 200, I knew there were a couple of fast girls, and I love competition. I really do. So I was excited to get to run with them, so I was happy. I was more upbeat for the 200.”

With a few county titles under her belt, Sanders says she’s aiming for a state appearance in the relays and in her individual events, she said she’s taking things one meet at a time.

“I’m really hoping to get far, but it’s meet by meet right now,” she said.

Ballone fuels the Rockets

On the boys’ side, meet Co-MVP Michael Ballone overcame a similar mental block with the weather and delay to help lead the Rockets to a narrow first-place finish over South Range in Division II.

“There were a couple of delays with the rain, so it really threw off my way to approach the meet,” Ballone acknowledged.

But, Ballone was able to come out of the gates quickly, taking first in the long jump on his first attempt, a mark of 19 feet, 9.50 inches.

He quickly followed with a victory in the 110 hurdles with a time of 16.04, all while the rain hadn’t stopped and winds had picked up.

He tacked on another victory with a time of 41.97 in the 300 hurdles, and also helped Lowellville’s 4×400 team to a second-place finish in a time of 3:35.12.

“Starting with the long jump, it was really cold, rainy, windy, but I got a good jump in. I thought I was ahead of the competition and was ready to move on to the 110s,” Ballone said. “Went to the 110 hurdles, and again, the wind was horrible, but I still pulled through. It’s a lot of mental work to be able to do those two events really close to each other. And then the 300 hurdles went smooth. I had all my steps right; I was ready to go. I was really excited with how that event turned out.”

So far, the season has been a “roller coaster” filled with ups and downs for Ballone. With plenty of small meets on the front end of the schedule, the junior said he’s been competing against himself, trying to consistently hit his times and marks.

“The goal is to get to Jesse Owens Stadium again, get down to the state meet. It’s one meet at a time, but that’s the end game,” he said.

He added, “I’ve still got a lot of tweaks to do with my form in the hurdles right now, but I think I can get down there in three or four events this year.”

Slabach goes the distance for South Range

Emmitt Slabach said he and South Range were preparing for this meet all year.

The sophomore distance runner left his mark, earning Co-MVP honors alongside Ballone in Division II.

Slabach took first in the 800, 1600 and 3200 runs and added a second-place finish as a part of South Range’s 4×800 relay team.

With the wet and windy conditions, Slabach said he was vying for placement rather than a specific time goal.

“We weren’t really focused on time because we needed points to win the meet, so it wasn’t PR times, but it was still good enough to win it,” he said specifically of the mile, which he ran in 4:49.12.

And though a PR time wasn’t on his mind, he did post a personal best in the 3200 with a time of 10:08.55, which was a surprise to him.

“I knew I was running four events, and I wasn’t expecting to have that much left,” Slabach said. “That was a PR for me by like 30 seconds, and I knew we had to get (Michael Katula, the second-place finisher) from Lowellville, and I just slowly made my way up to him. Once I passed him, I started my kick to not let him get back up with me.”

Saturday marked the latest in a season in which Slabach says he’s hit PRs multiple times, all while staying healthy.

“I’m a lot happier with how I’m running this year. I’ve PRed multiple times this year, and I’ve really been working a lot harder,” he said.

Yon shines again

The Mahoning County Track and Field Championships are one of Sophia Yon’s favorite meets.

“This is one of my favorite ones of the year. I love running on this track, so I was really excited,” Lowellville’s star distance runner said.

It’s easy to see why.

Yon, who had a record-setting day at the 2022 Mahoning County Track and Field Championships, dominated again. The junior placed first in the 1600, 800 and 3200 and tacked on a third-place finish as part of Lowellville’s 4×400 team as the Rockets finished third overall in Division II behind Springfield and South Range.

She garnered MVP honors for her efforts.

“I was going mostly for place in the mile and the two-mile, and then I just wanted to get out and see what I could do relatively fresh in the 800, and then I just (gave) everything in the 400,” Yon said.

The day didn’t start smoothly for her, however. Yon said she didn’t travel on the team bus, and didn’t arrive to Fitch until 10:05.

“They said it’s a 10:15 start, and we’re all freaking out trying to warm up, and then it ended up being a 10:30 start,” Yon laughed. “But I just tried to focus on one event at a time, just push through each and really gave it my all in the 800 to see what I could do.”

No stranger to success, Yon says she’s looking to continue to cut her times as the season enters its second half.

GIRLS NOTES: Lowellville’s Aryana Romano won the 100 with a time of 14.09 and added third-place results in the 4×200, 200 and 4×400. … Fellow Rocket Averi Shumaker won the 100 hurdles, was on Lowellville’s third-place 4×200 team, was second in the 300 hurdles and was on the third-place 4×400 team. … Jackson-Milton’s Faith Sullivan took second in both the 1600 and 3200 and was third in the 800. … Springfield’s Ava Vecchione won the 300 hurdles with a time of 50.02 and was second in the 100 hurdles. She also had first-place finishes as part of Springfield’s 4×100 and 4×200 relay teams. … South Range freshman Taylor Dado had second-place showings in the 400 and 4×200 and posted a first-place finish in the 4×400. … Springfield’s Graciella Ebert posted four first place finishes: high jump (4-6), long jump (14-10.75), 4×200 and 4×100.

BOYS NOTES: Lowellville’s Braylen Dabney took first in the 100 and 200 and added a second-place showing in the 4×100 and third-place result in the 4×200. He ran a 11.54 in the 100 and 23.12 in the 200. … Springfield’s Dante Gentile was second in both the high jump and 110 hurdles. … South Range’s Gaven Nagy was second in the 300 hurdles, third in the 110 hurdles and had a first-place result in the 4×400. … Struthers sprinter Tyler Sanchez was second in the 100 and had a first-place showing in the 4×100. … Fellow South Range distance runner Charles Reigret was second in both the 4×800 and 1600 and third in the 3200. … Lowellville’s Matt Lucido was on the Rockets’ winning 4×800 team and posted second-place results in the 4×400 and the 800. … Valley Christian’s Jontrell Mixon won the shot put with a toss of 45-3.50 and was second in discus.