Cleveland Heights Track and Field Ready for Regional Meet

The Cleveland Heights track and field team will send three individual performers and two relay teams to the Division I OHSAA regional competition at Austintown Fitch High School on Wednesday and Friday.

Sophomore Shelton Gibson will run in the 100-meter sprint, the 200m and anchor the 4x100 relay team of Marcus McShepard, Ryan Bounds and Diontre Delk. The boys’ 4x200 relay team of McShepard, Damon Legget, Dionte Saffo and Delk will also make an appearance.

Delk had a little wear and tear on his legs after Friday’s district meet at Mentor, but Tigers coach Nick Continenza believes he’ll be fine in time for the regional meet in Youngstown.

Junior Bryce Jones will compete in four events including both the high and long jump and the 110m and 300m hurdles. Freshman Hadly Seidman is the only Cleveland Heights girl to reach the regional round and will compete in the long jump.

Seidman intends to enjoy her time at the regionals, a plateau that came early in her high school career.

“I think I’m just going to go in for the experience, and I’m going to try and PR (personal record) for me," she said. "I’m going to try and get a 16 (feet) and not worry about what the other girls are jumping and just try and do it for me."

While reaching the regional round is great, there’s a bigger step ahead for the Tigers’ qualifiers.

“We’re looking to qualify (for state) our 4x100, 4x200; Shelton in the 100 and 200 and Bryce Jones in the 110 hurdles. Those are the people we’re hoping to get to the state meet. Anything else would be a bonus,” Continenza said.

Competition begins at 4 p.m. on both days.

Girls’ lacrosse

After handling its Division I first-round playoff test against Westerville South, 17-4, this past Monday, the state’s No. 1 lacrosse team faces Perrysburg at home at 7 p.m. Monday.

The Tigers (9-6) have never faced the Yellowjackets (8-4), but Cleveland Heights coach Terry Saylor is confident his team can find the right formula for victory.

“We would hope to be successful, but one never knows in the playoffs,” Saylor said. “We’re confident of moving on, but we’re not going to take it for granted.”

Saylor said Perryburg’s one opponent that most resembled Cleveland Heights was St. Ursula of Toledo, and they lost to them, 16-6, on April 28. He said Christine Beaujean is one of the team’s best players.

Should the Tigers win, they’ll likely have a date with defending Division I state champion and No. 2-ranked Medina in the regional final Thursday. The teams were originally scheduled to play May 12, but bad weather canceled the regular-season tilt.

Baseball

The Tigers’ week ended with a lot of weather-related cancellations and postponements that wiped out the schedule, so their only game in the last two weeks was a loss against Shaker Heights in the sectional round of the playoffs on May 10.

The Tigers are 12-8 overall and 8-1 in the Lake Erie League.

This past week, Cleveland Heights was supposed to face Benedictine on Monday and finish its league schedule with two games against Shaw and another against Maple Heights, .

Also, Cheyfitz Tournament games against Aurora and Brush were canceled for the second week in a row. Bad weather pushed back much of the playoff schedule, which forced Brush, the tournament host, to cancel, said Tigers baseball coach Mike Dillon.

Coach Dillon said he will learn the status of the remaining league games on Monday but expects that games won’t be played beyond Thursday.

Boys’ lacrosse

The Tigers’ season ended in the Ohio High School Lacrosse Association’s Division I tournament with a 15-8 first-round loss at Green High School near Akron on Thursday.

The Tigers lost their last six games of the season and finished with a record of 3-12.