AMHERST, Ohio -- Rocky River Girls Track & Field has qualified into eight events at the May 25-27 OHSAA DI Region 2 Tournament. The Pirate boys have qualified into four slots. River's qualifying efforts were posted at the May 18-20
DI Amherst District Tournament.
Sophomore Morgyn Cruz and senior Sam Coleman each registered two individual qualifying performances at the district meet hosted by Amherst High School. The event included athletes from 18 schools across Northeast Ohio.
Cruz -- a Great Lakes Conference champion in both the long jump and 100-meter hurdles -- notched qualifying marks (top-4 finishes) in both those events at Amherst. She took second with a leap of 17 feet-and-7 inches in the long jump; in the hurdles, she crossed the wire third in 15.64 seconds. Coleman -- a multi-year state qualifier in Cross Country and a state qualifier in the 1,600-meter run a year ago -- earned 2022 regional qualifying slots in the 1,600 and the 800-meter run. She took third in the 1,600 and first -- with a time of 2:18.21 -- in the 800.
Coleman will be a busy Buccaneer at the region meet, because she was also in for a quarter of two qualifying Pirate relays -- the 4x800 (Katie Stirm, Grace Lavelle, Keira Arnold, Coleman) and the 4x400 (Kylie Crane, Arnold, Coleman, Taylor Byall).
Two other Double-R athletes will also be headed to the girls regional tournament, which will be contested at Findlay High School in Findlay, Ohio. Brianna Chaves qualified in the 3,200-meter run; Madie Shoaf qualified in the discus throw.
For the Rocky River boys, juniors Majid Abuaun and Luke Dorenkott both qualified individually and were members of a River relay (4x8) which is also Findlay-bound. Abuaun and Dorenkott will make for double-barrel action in the 800-meter run at regionals: they placed second and fourth, respectively, at the district tourney. They will be joined by Guillaume Carroll and Grant Preto in the 4x8.
One River thrower will also be headed to the boys region test in Findlay. Abel Sereika placed third in the discus.
Overall, Rocky River will be sending 14 athletes to Findlay. That's nearly three times the five-man representation the Pirates had in the 2021 region meet.
The DII Region 2 event will commence Wednesday with field events at 4:30 p.m. and running events at 6 p.m.
CANNON FIRE ...
LANE LINES: The River girls squad finished as runner-up in the district tournament. The Pirates logged 78.7 team points, a total bested by just Westlake (89) over the two days in Amherst. The Double-R boys tallied 42 points to place sixth. St. Ignatius (125) edged Avon (123) for the top spot on the boys side. ... Owen Kleckner narrowly missed out on a postseason advance in the 110-meter hurdles. Kleckner notched a personal-best time of 15.48 seconds.
PIRATE CANNON THUNDERS AT DUKE: On May 13, former Rocky River standout and state champion Michael Shoaf -- a sophomore thrower at the University of Notre Dame -- earned an Atlantic Coast Conference title in the men's shot put. Shoaf's winning toss in the May 12-14 ACC Championships traveled 64 feet, 11-and-a-half inches and set a new facility record at Duke University's Morris Williams Track & Field Stadium.