Highland’s boys and girls track teams both went the distance in the Suburban League American Conference meet. This also included the distance, the sprints, the hurdles, the relays, the throws and jumps.

Getting roster-wide contributions, both Hornet squads left Boliantz Stadium in Nordonia with first-place trophies.

The boys’ win gave Highland an outright SL-American championship. After going unbeaten in dual meets, the Hornets would have had to finish third in the league meet to not get a share of the title. Highland won with 134 points to Copley’s 125.

The girls lost to Copley in the regular season, but this time overwhelmed the Indians – and everyone else – with 153 points. Copley was second with 137.

In both cases, Highland’s deep and versatile lineups were the difference as the Hornets scored in every event, both boys and girls.

“We got points in the sprints, we had quality kids in the hurdles, we got them in the distance and all the other things,” Hornets girls coach Paul Lushes said. “Our kids picked it up. We knew there had to be a few things that happened.”

The boys team’s victory was a mild upset of sorts, given the team was without five starters with leg ailments. Hornets coach Josh Victor had to use a little imagination when filling out his line-up, especially in the sprints, where most of the missing athletes were.

Highland by no means dominated the sprints, but scored enough in them to make a difference. Chris Burnside placed seventh in the 100 and 200. Anthony McCartney finished sixth in the 200.

Josh Filips placed fourth in the 400, while Thomas Pembridge finished eighth.

Despite their battered sprint corps, the Hornets were runners-up in the 4x100 and 4x200. All those sprint points wound up meaning something.

“It’s real gratifying,” Hornets coach Josh Victor said. “I’m real proud of the boys. We’ve had a fantastic season. Having these guys drop like this, they just kept wanting it really badly. I feel great for our seniors.”

Meanwhile points poured in from everywhere else. Nicholas Vondach won the 800, nipping Vince Labosky of Tallmadge by .37 seconds in one of the night’s most dramatic finishes.

“I saw that Tallmadge kid just take off and I knew I couldn’t let him go,” he said. “I had to catch up with him and just pushed it as hard as I could the last 300. I was not expecting that. It’s hard. You’re already tired. You’ve got to pick up and give it everything you have, even if it’s not much.”

Vince Manning won the 1600 and second in the 3200. The two distance wins were Highland’s only first-place finishes on the track. Brent Ponikvar and Elijah Fragnoli double-placed in the 110 hurdles and Ponikvar followed that with a third in the 300s. Alex Borla placed sixth in the 1600. Jacob Marquis finished seventh in the 800

Off the track, Highland continued piling up the points.

Ethan Gerding won the shot put, for his team’s other first place, and was runner up in the discus. Alex Sube finished seventh in the shot. Lucas King was fourth in the discus.

Matthew K’Meyer placed fourth in the high jump, two spots ahead of teammate Max Goettler. Tyler Schultz placed fourth in the pole vault. Andrew Plevris finished seventh. Dylan Liggett placed fourth in the long jump. Mitchell Zaz placed eighth.

Like their male counterparts, the girls team posted a pair of distance wins. Annamarie Digiacobbe finished .05 ahead of teammate Kayle Kenne in the 1600. Kenne won the 3200, finishing 15 seconds ahead of teammate Jessica Bentley. DiGiacobbe finished fourth in the 800, one place ahead of teammate Delaney Geiger.

“I didn’t really hear her,” said DiGiacobbe of Kenne, who nearly overtook her teammate at the finish. “I’m really glad to be back training with her. She’s so good.”

Kenne, whose stronger event is the 3200, echoed the sentiment about having her training partner back, after DiGiacobbe missed much of the season with a stress fracture. Kenne marveled at DiGiacobbe’s ability to post such a low time so quickly.

“That’s crazy,” she said. “That just shows how good of a runner she is and how much she pushes it. She came to all of our meets just to support us. And every time I didn’t want to run, she said, ‘I want to run so bad,’ and that just pushed me even more.”

Emily Lyon finished third in the 200, one spot ahead of Amanda Orban, who added a third in the 400, one spot ahead of teammate Alexa Sposit.

Lyon and Kayle Burress double-placed in the 100. Jenna Saunders and Sarah Pleasant both scored in the 100 hurdles. Bailey Ritter finished third in the 300 hurdles, in which Kaila Oberhaus also scored.

Kaelin Stahl and Abby Lewicki placed second and third in the pole vault. Saunders and Ava Mastrianni went 3-4 in the high jump. Highland outscored Copley 25-0 in that pair of events, more than making up the difference on the scoreboard.

The long jump and shot put was the only event in which Highland didn’t have two placers. Madelyn Meacham finished sixth in the shot and Kayla Burress still got the Hornets a point with an eighth-place finish in the long jump. Meacham and Cameron Steiger placed in the discus throw.

Putting a final stamp on the meet, the 4x400 team of Sposit, Orban, Lyon and Hanna Webb won by 3.5 seconds. The Hornets’ 4x200 and 4x800 teams each placed second.