Seidman, Gibson, Jones Among Tigers Headed to Regionals

When Cleveland Heights High School long jumper Hadly Seidman fouled on her first two attempts during the preliminary round of the district track meet at Mentor, she felt a distinct rush of panic.

With one attempt remaining, the freshman gathered herself and flung her 6-foot-0 frame back into the sand and landed perhaps the biggest surprise result for the Tigers at the Jerome T. Osborne Sr. Stadium on Friday afternoon.

Seidman posted a personal best of 15 feet, 9 inches to place fourth and earn a spot at the regional meet, which will be held Wednesday and Friday at Austintown Fitch High School.

“I told myself that this was it. And if I didn’t do it now, then there wasn’t ever going to be a second shot. I guess it worked. I think all the nerves might have helped. It’s a lot of pressure, but I’m happy that I made it through,” Seidman said.

In the overall district meet standings, the Cleveland Heights boys finished with 75 points for fourth place out of 15 teams behind winner Glenville, which had 95. The girls finished last out of 14 teams with five points as Mayfield won with 118.5. The top four finishers at Friday afternoon’s district meet advanced to the regional meet.

Of all the high-level performances of the day, Seidman’s poise under pressure was perhaps most impressive to Cleveland Heights head track and field coach Nick Continenza.

“She fouled twice and then the pressure was on. We made an adjustment with her step, and she trusted it. She just went after it and jumped when a lot kids in similar situations are going to blow out and the last one will be a terrible jump anyways. … She competed like a machine. She got it done. She was very impressive. It’ll be a great next three years, for sure,” he said.

Cleveland Heights sophomore Shelton Gibson played his usual dominant role in winning the 100-meter dash (10.87 seconds), the 200 (21.74 to match his personal best) and anchoring the winning 4x100 relay team (42.30).  Though he’s rarely lost this season, it wasn’t easy for him in the 100 on Friday afternoon.

“I kind of fell out of the box (at the start) a little bit, but I wasn’t going to let it get me down. So I tried to pick it up. I got neck and neck at 60 meters, and I saw myself pulling away,” Gibson said.

Junior teammate Bryce Jones was quite busy himself, qualifying for the regional meet in four events including the high and long jump and the 110 and 300 hurdles. Jones was fourth in the high jump (6-2), fourth in the long jump (20-10), second in the 110 hurdles (14.81) and fourth in the 300 hurdles (40.42).

“It feels great. I didn’t expect to make it in all four events,” Jones said. “God gave me the power to do it. All thanks to my coaches and God. … I’m just going to ride it out and see how long it lasts.”

The boys' 4x200 relay team of Marcus McShepard, Damon Legget, Dionte Saffo and Diontre Delk took third with a season-best 1:30.27.

The Tigers had some heartbreaking misses including 1600 runner James Moore who appeared to have a fourth-place finish and a trip to the regionals set with just meters to go, but Mayfield’s Chris Fortuna ran by him and ended his hopes.

Issac Korb finished fifth in the 800 (2:02.51), while Ryan Bounds took fifth in the 100 (11.36), missing the regionals by two-hundredths of a second.