ROCKY RIVER, Ohio (April 3, 2024) -- The 2024 edition of Rocky River Track & Field is off and running, and we catch up with the Maroon & White in the season's first edition of The Pirate Track Report ...
Rocky River got its season out of the blocks with a Great Lakes Conference dual meet at Lakewood March 27. The Pirates swept the Rangers winning 111-25 on the boys' side and 92-36 on the girls'.
The River boys won 11 events at Lakewood. Ruairi Zuercher won the 1600-meter run and was in for a fourth of a first-place 4x800-meter relay. Grant Preto was in that same relay quartet and also took first in the 800-meter run. Nick DiSalvo was in on Rocky River's winning 4x100-meter relay and also took first in the 200-meter dash. Ryan Ricketti was part of that same 4x100 -- a group that tied the Double-R program record with a time of 44.1 seconds -- and also won the long jump.
The Pirate girls took first place in 10 individual events. Doris Kale (shot, discus) and Mary Sollars (100-meter dash, 100-meter hurdles) both struck gold twice over. Overall, River got off to an especially impressive start on the field side of the ledger. In addition to Kale's sweep in the throwing events, the Raiders earned wins in the pole vault (Eleanor Remias) and high jump (Morgyn Cruz).
On March 30, the Maroon & White closed out their first week of competition at the
Avon Lake Invitational. It was a Buccaneer bronze Saturday for the Double-R. The Pirate boys scored 70 points to take third place in a field of 14 teams. The River girls tallied 70.5 points to finish third in a field of 16 teams.
The boys' performances at Avon Lake were highlighted by Henry Lange placing first in the 1600-meter run, Preto taking second in the 800, Zuercher finishing as the runner-up in the 3200, Abel Sereika placing third in the discus, and River winning the 4x800. Lange's mile came in a duel with Westlake's Jeremy Snyder, who finished less-than-a-second behind the Pirate junior. Rocky River also got top-6 finishes in the 400 (Simon Baum-4P), 1600 (Ryan Stirm-6P), 110-meter hurdles (Owen Kleckner-5P), shot (Alex Van Meter-4P), and the 4x400 relay (5P).
On the girls' side, the Double-R racked up significant points behind the performances of Mary Sollars (1P-100-meter hurdles, 3P-100-meter dash), Brianna Chaves (1P-3200), Morgyn Cruz (2P-high jump), and Ellie Harkins (3P-100H, 6P-300 hurdles). The Pirates also got top-6 finishes in the 300 hurdles (Alesia Zotaj-5P), high jump (Katelyn Heavey-6P), and all four relays.
Rocky River has two scheduled meets the week of April 1. The Pirates will host a GLC meet against Elyria Catholic Wednesday and travel to the Sandusky Perkins Invitational Friday.
by Skip Snow