Team Effort Takes Hartley To The Top

Photo by Terry Gilliam

Posted 06-07-09

 Seldom does a team revel in finishing second, but when the Hartley girls track team took runner-up in the 4x400 relay at the state track meet Saturday afternoon, there were smiles all around.

 The reason for the jubilation was because Hartley -- which finished second last year -- tied defending Division II champion Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy for top honors, scoring 55 points. When senior Ashlee Hoffman crossed the finish line with a clocking of 3:59.67, it was the culmination of a tour de force performance by the Hawks.

 And it was enough to erase the memories of last year, when Hartley entered the state meet with visions of a title and tied for second. A tie for first place had not happened in the girls division since Cleveland Heights Beaumont and Springfield Shawnee did it in 1992.

 "It feels great," Hawks coach Rich Jones said through a wide smile. "We went into that last race knowing we had to beat Cuyahoga Valley, and when they came into the final exchange they were seventh. So we looked like we were going to get it all by ourselves. But as champions do, they stepped it up and finished third. We had to beat them by two places but they put it together. It doesn't really matter to us because a title is a title."

 The final half hour of the meet was frantic as there was a bit of doubt about the state of the relay team.

 Junior Chesna Sykes edged teammate Aisha Cavin on the way to the 200 meter crown, but after the race Cavin needed attention from a couple of teammates as her legs tightened up and she begin to feel ill. She made it to the relay, not losing anything in running the second leg, but Jones said there were some anxious moments.

 "We go through this every meet with her," he said. "She just has very bad nerves. She's fought this all season, and today was no different. We had some time between the 200 and our relay, so we asked her if she could go. We thought about subbing Chesna in for her, but we left the decision to the two of them. Aisha toughed it out and ran a good leg."

 Sykes was also a winner in the 100 meters with a clocking of 11.64, and was part of the 4x100 relay team that not only defended its state title, but set a new state championship record in the process. During Friday's preliminaries Hartley ran a 47.20, which was good enough to establish a state meet record. But the Hawks were shooting for more, and when they crossed the finish line in 47.09 they were happy, but not as happy as one might have expected.

 "We actually thought we could get into the 46s," junior CharAnna Dixon said. "Last year in the prelims we set a record and then didn't beat it in the finals. We were wondering if the same thing would happen again, so we just stayed focused and listened to coach Jones when he told us to just go out and run our race. We thought we were going to win, so we wanted the motivation of getting to 46 out there. We're happy we won, but a little disappointed we didn't do a little better with our time."

 Hoffman scored vital points with a third place finish in the 400 meters, and as one of the only point scoring seniors on the team she allowed the magnitude of the title to sink in.

 "It's great to win a team title in my last meet," said Hoffman, who will walk on at Ohio State. "I told myself all week that this was my last time at states and that we wanted to do something special. These guys are so good, and I know they're going to be even better
next year when I'm out of here. It was a long day and a hard day, but we stayed together and stayed focused and won. Even if it's a tie we don't care. We got to stand on the top step of that podium and it was such a great feeling."

 Things also went well for the Hartley boys, who finished third as a team with 33 points. Pemberville Eastwood took top honors with 47 points while Cortland Lakeview was second with 38.

 A stretch at the finish line by Carwin Hall in the 4x400 relay capped a stellar anchor leg in which he chased down Huron's Craig Thorne, who went into the final turn with a solid lead.

 "I thought the boys never quit and put it all out there, and we needed a win to get into one of the top three spots," Jones said.

 Hartley finished second to Youngstown Cardinal Mooney in the 4x100 relay and got a crucial 10 points from senior Rufus Walls, who won the 200 meters with a time of 21.44. The Akron bound Walls said that he felt the race was won around the turn because "I took the curve about as well as I could. I knew it would be a tough race with a lot of great runners out there, and it was all going to come down to how I took the curve. I really exploded there and got into a groove and came in first."

 Jones believes that hard work and dedication -- not to mention talent -- were key ingredients in the Hawks winning their first state crown since 1988.

 "We treated each individual race this year as a steppingstone to today," Jones said. "We wanted the individuals to do their best and the team thing would fall into place. They practiced hard and worked hard and they're all deserving of this. We have a pretty young team, so next year around June 5th I'll be thinking that we have a really good chance of being here again and being contenders for the state title."