It may have been on a new track, but the girls team standings at the 70th Comet Relays finished the same way they did at the 69th edition, with Avon on top.
It wasn’t until the final event announcement of the day that Avon clinched the win, emerging victorious in the discus to defeat Solon by just three points, 100-97.
“This is such a prestigious event, so it’s pretty humbling,” Avon coach Sam Ulery said. “I’m really thrilled with the way our girls responded under not great circumstances. The weather took a turn on us, but we kept grinding through. They picked up the slack when they needed to, and we weren’t going to get any PRs today. But across the board, the performances were strong.”
The Eagles were excellent in the relays all day, finishing in the top two in six of the seven relay races, with three wins.
Those victories came in the sprint medley, the 4×1,600 and 4×800, with the third of those coming in a meet-record time of 9:26.25.
“It’s quite impressive,” Ulery said. “I’ve been doing this a long time, and this is really the first time we’ve been able to do that. The girls see each other working hard in practice, and they want to be part of it. And because of that, the depth keeps building, and success is breeding success.”
The standout performer of the day for the Eagles was Aly Brediger, who won the 100 with a time of 12.24, as well as running on the winning sprint medley team and 4×100 and 4×200 teams, which both finished second.
“Everything just came together,” Brediger said. “I’ve been working on my start a lot, and pumping my arms, and obviously there wasn’t great weather, but I feel like I executed well.”
“Aly is a special athlete,” Ulery said. “She’s a once-in-a-generation kind of runner, but what makes her great is that she’s humble, she works very, very hard, and she loves to include her teammates in the wins. It’s great to coach her, but it’s also great to know her as a young lady who is embracing the sport of track and field.”
It has been a great season for the Avon girls, who last week won the Lorain County meet for the fifth straight year before winning their second straight Comet Relays on April 25.
“It’s a really amazing environment,” Brediger said. “At practice, everyone’s always pushing each other. We’re all like a family here, we’re always cheering for each other and pushing each other, no matter what.”
Avon also had a strong day on the boys side, finishing in fourth place, the highest ranking of any area team, thanks in large part to a huge day in the field events.
The Eagles finished in the top four in all five field events, and had the top individual score in two of them.
Particularly impressive was their performance in the shot put, where seniors Max Hauck and Jacob Abfall recorded the two of the three farthest throws of the day to lead Avon to a narrow win over Solon in the event.
Avon’s Max Hauck competes in the shot put at the Comet Relays on Saturday Apr 25 (Randy Meyers – for The Morning Journal)
“I thought it went pretty good,” said Hauck, who had the longest individual throw at 57 feet, 4 1/2 inches, “We both got out and competed against each other. I thought it could have went a little better looking for PRs, but we did pretty good today.”
The Eagles may have gotten the win, but Hauck was just happy to be competing with Abfall, instead of against him.
“It’s nice to go and be able to combine our scores as a team,” Hauck said. “It’s really nice to see Abfall and Grasso and throw with them and compete with each other.”
The home team saw its best performances on the track come in two of the early relays, with a pair of second-place finishes in the sprint medley and 4×200, with both teams anchored by senior Ben Thompson.
“The sprint medley relay is amazing,” Thompson said. “That was a fun race. You don’t usually get to do that — it’s a Comet Relays exclusive. I was really preparing mentally and physically for that race, and it went the way we wanted it to go, with a school record.”
The 4×200 was one of the fastest races of the day, with both Amherst and winners breaking the meet record despite the cold, wet weather.
“We were coming after that first-place spot today, and unfortunately, we got second,” Thompson said. “We didn’t get the time we really wanted, but we still pulled through for our team and did what we needed to do.”
Thanks to those two performances, as well as a win in the boys pole vault from juniors Cole Lugar, Grady Pellittieri and Devin Juristy, the Comets finished second among the area boys teams in ninth.