Indoor track: Elyria Catholic's Anthony DeMartinis sets school mark at Baldwin Wallace meet

Anthony DeMartinis' forte in track the last three seasons has been the hurdles. Turns out he's not too shabby in the triple jump either. The Elyria Catholic senior broke the school's longest-standing track and field record Sunday in an indoor meet at Baldwin Wallace with a mark of 41 feet, 5.5 inches to win the triple jump. That broke Jim Churpek's record of 40-11 set in 1969. DeMartinis' record-breaking effort came on his third of four attempts. "I truly went into this meet with a blind eye," said DeMartinis, a Division II regional qualifier in the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles during the outdoor season. "I was able to find a great starting place and kept making the necessary adjustments." DeMartinis improved his previous best of 39.4.5 by over 2 feet. Olentangy Orange's Lucas Frye (40-7) was second. "I had four attempts," said DeMartinis, who cleared 39-6 on his first try. "I faulted my second try, but it was an attempt that possibly would've broken the record. That fueled me even more as my third attempt ended up resulting in the school record and my personal best." "He just barely fouled on his second attempt, but we could all see it was a great attempt," Elyria Catholic coach Matt Barber said. "He got the record, 41-5.5, on the next attempt, which looked even better than the one before so we knew it was going to be a big mark." DeMartinis also won the 55-meter hurdles (8.29). "Anthony is such a tremendous athlete with a lot of pop and bounce, so I'm not surprised he's taken so quickly to the triple jump," Barber said. "I entered him in it on a whim for the first indoor meet of the year thinking he could just have some fun with a quirky event that we don't do much in Ohio and he found immediate success with it. All the credit is his. Our coaching staff doesn't have much experience coaching that event so he's pretty much figured it all out on his own. "We don't even have a place here to practice any jumping in the winter, so all the work he gets in happens at the meets. Getting the record was a cool accomplishment for Anthony. It definitely provides motivation for the next few meets. "His success came from his strong belief in his own ability and maybe from the fact that he switched into a brand new pair of spikes to jump in that day. He's a little superstitious, so he probably won't be going back to his old jumping spikes anytime soon. We try to emphasize having fun with the indoor season as we get ready for outdoor and Anthony seems to be having a lot of fun right now." EC junior Connor Petrus went 20-2.75 to win the long jump by a quarter of an inch and had a third in the 400 (54.46) and a fifth in the 55-meter dash (6.89). Even though they had just seven athletes competing, the Panthers placed third as a team with 51 points in a field of over 25 schools. Berea-Midpark (76 points) and Cuyahoga Heights (60) took the top spots. Other EC boys placers were junior Tyler Krese in the 3,200 (5th, 12:07.94), the 4x800 relay of senior John Dugan, freshman John Barber, Krese and junior Aiden Kunkle (7th, 9:30.20), and junior Trevor McMahon in the 1,600 (8th, 5:02.28). The Panthers girls had only five athletes competing, but still finished 13th (15 points) out of a field of some 30 teams. Senior Lauren Schemmel had a third in the 3,200 (13:43.82), junior Gracie Jones was fourth in the 800 (2:35.33) and the 4x800 relay team of Schemmel, junior Audrey Fote, sophomore Sydney Stratton and Jones took fifth. Midview's boys also had a strong performance, finishing fourth out of 27 teams that scored with 49 points. Black River was 19th with 10 points. The Middies 4x200 team of Zach Wallace, Seth Gendics, Nolan Roth and Max Kucera was second (1:38.31). Midview also took second in the 4x800 (8:48.89). Senior Dylan Robinson was third in the 800 (2:09.51). Senior Hayden Bewley was third in shot put with a toss of 39-8, while junior Aiden Covender was sixth in the high jump (5-8). Aden McFarlane led Black River with a sixth in the 200 (24.46). On the girls side, Avon Lake senior Claire Springer won the shot put (40-6) and was fifth in the weight throw (34-1), while Midview freshman Cora Vance was fourth in the 200 (27.88). The Avon Lake girls finished 14th out of 35 teams that scored with 14 points. Midview was 29th with six points. Contact Paul Heyse at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.