Fri, Nov 20 2009
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Published June 06, 2009 02:01 am - COLUMBUS — A state track meet that holds so much promise for area girls got off to a great start Friday at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. It was started by Jefferson high jumper Lizzy Ziemski in the Division II ranks with a second place by clearing 5-4. Jefferson’s Lizzy Ziemski takes second in the Division II high jump SJP’s Mary Mahoney reaches finals in three Division III sprints, including best qualifying time in 400 KARL PEARSON Star Beacon COLUMBUS — A state track meet that holds so much promise for area girls got off to a great start Friday at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. It was started by Jefferson high jumper Lizzy Ziemski in the Division II ranks with a second place by clearing 5-4.
It is the highest finish by a Jefferson girl since another high jumper, Theresa Dyer, won the event in 1987 by clearing 5-7, which is still the Ashtabula County record, when the state meet was still held at Ohio Stadium. The champion was Katie Davis of Cambridge, who also cleared 5-4, but she earned the championship on fewer total misses. The top four finishers in the event all cleared 5-4. SS. John and Paul sprinter Mary Mahoney was equally outstanding in the Division III ranks. The Herald senior qualified for the finals of the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes beginning at 9:40 a.m. today. Mahoney recorded the fastest qualifying time in the 400-meter dash, for which she has reached the state meet for four straight years, in 57.42. That was a 10th of a second faster than her nearest pursuer, Janel Olberding of Fort Loramie. Mahoney won the second preliminary heat, while Olberding won the first. If Mahoney is able to repeat her performance today, she would become Ashtabula County’s first girls track state champion since Grand Valley’s Brenda Weaver won the Class A 200-meter dash in 1988. Mahoney would also be the county’s first state track champion of either gender since Edgewood’s Zac Miller won the Division II 110-meter high hurdles in 2002. Mahoney also advanced to the finals of the 200-meter dash. She has the third-fastest preliminary time of 25.76, with all of those times come out of the first qualifying heat. Candace Longino-Thomas of Gilmour Academy, to whom Mahoney finished second at last weekend’s regional meet at Navarre Fairless, was fastest at 24.53. Mahoney is still a half second off the Ashtabula County record in the event of 25.2 set by Pymatuning Valley’s Karen Konyha in 1987. It was in the opening 100-meter dash that Mahoney topped even herself. By earning the eighth and last qualifying time in 12:58, she reached the finals of all three sprints at the state meet for the first time. She was fourth in the second qualifying heat. Longino-Thomas also recorded the top preliminary time in the 100-meter dash at 11.86. Mahoney was also second to her at last week’s regional in the event. Still to hit the track among area girls is Edgewood’s junior distance runner Mallory Kreider. She enters today’s Division II competition in the 1600-meter run, which will be run at 1:35 p.m. as the fourth-fastest qualifier, while she has the top time entering the 3200-meter run at 2:40 p.m. Ziemski will also return today for the Division II long jump and is a contender there as well. That will take place at 9 a.m. She held the lead for much of the high jump, clearing the first three heights without a miss. But two misses at 5-3 and three at 5-4 pushed Ziemski to second. There was only a mild sense of disappointment for Ziemski. “I’m very pleased with my performance,” the Falcon junior said. “It’s great that I’m going to place, just to see how far I’ve come after finishing ninth last year. That was my goal this year, to place. “It came down to the last six jumpers. I just missed on my second jump at 5-4, but I don’t regret anything.” Jefferson coach Steve Locy was quite pleased with Ziemski’s showing, too. 
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