Madison's Brock qualifies to state in second Division I event
May 25—AUSTINTOWN — Lakeside senior Karrye White's varsity career ended on the podium at the Division I regional track and field meet at Fitch Falcon Stadium.
White, who missed his commencement ceremony Friday evening to compete for a trip to state, just missed accomplishing his goal.
He finished fifth with a jump of 6 feet 4 inches.
The top four finishers qualify for next week's state meet in Dayton.
But, Madison's Bryce Brock advanced to the state in the shot put.
Having already qualified for the state tournament on Wednesday in the discus, Brock, a sophomore, finished fourth with a mark of 53-5.
Canfield junior Amir Ali was fifth at 52-11.
"Bryce was able to have his best first series of the season to set him up for a state berth," Blue Streaks coach Jeremy Verdi said. 'We're excited for him down in Dayton.
"The other three young men are seniors in front of him, so we're hoping he can continue to move up as he gets bigger and stronger."
On Wednesday, Brock finished third in the discus with a mark of 160-11.
White has no doubt he gave it his best shot after finishing behind Warren Harding's Nau'jeat Jones, who qualified with a jump of 6-5.
"It feels great, honestly," White said of standing on the podium. "And that I came this close to going to state."
Geneva junior Donald Shymske also reached the podium. He finished eighth in the 800 with a personal best 1:55.04, and ahead of Chardon's Jacob Nieset by nearly two seconds.
"This is super cool. I honestly wish I would have got top four, but to make the podium, I mean, still it's a great feeling," Shymske said.
The Eagles distance runner agreed it's the most talent in one race he's ever faced.
"Absolutely, of the 15 who ran, I think anybody could have moved on," Shymske said. "Just a lot of talent.
"I'm tired," he said with a grin. "That was really fast."
For his first regional competition, Shymske didn't change his training routine.
"Everything was about the same," he said. "It worked to get me here so I stuck with it."
At last week's district meet, Shymske broke his personal record and he admitted not running in the 4x800 and 3200 made a difference.
"It definitely helped not doing anything before this," he said.
Akron Garfield's Markeise Smith won the high jump with 6-9. Leaping 6-6 were Twinsburg's Derrick Pou and Akron Firestone's Jaymion Jones.
For his final attempt, White admitted he needed to chase doubt away.
"I was thinking about it too much," he said. "I just closed my eyes and cleared my mind, trying to get over it.
"I didn't, but now I know what I can do."
With high jump his only regional event, White changed up his training routine.
"I pushed [running aside] and just [practiced] high jump all week," he said.
At the district meet, White tried jumping rope in-between attempts to stay loose.
He plans to continue jumping rope when he competes next year for Lake Erie College, where he will major in criminology.
"In high school, I [participated] in public safety and learned about criminology," he said. "So I want to pursue it."
Geneva's Charlie Myers notched ninth in the high jump at 6-2.
