Cleveland Rams' boys and girls win Two Rivers 3A track titles

For Austin Blumenberg the key to his boys MVP performance at the Two Rivers 3A Conference Track and Field Championships Wednesday was a classic school lunch standby.

“My diet, I think that was the big thing,” Blumenberg admitted after winning the 400- and 800-meter individual titles and helping Cleveland win the 3,200 and 1,600 relays. “We have pizza every day at school and every day, I eat pizza. Today, I took a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch and I had some oranges to eat this afternoon. It really helped me a lot.”

The reasons for the rest of Cleveland’s stellar afternoon at South Johnston’s Ronald Avery Stadium were a little more varied.

The Rams turned back Corinth Holders to take both team titles. Cleveland had 185 points in the boys meet, 52 ahead of the Pirates and 207 points in the girls’ meet, 50 ahead of Corinth Holders. Western Harnett was third in the girls meet and Triton likewise in the boys.

“We had a lot of kids fight through nagging injuries to help us score points,” said Cleveland girls coach Wayne Stewart. “Like Cassidy McNierney who has been out for three weeks with a broken toe. She’s been back at practice for two days and isn’t anywhere near being back at full strength but she really had a good day.”

The Rams won the 1,600 relay with Alyssa Brady, Madelyn Gilmartin, Celeste Whitaker and Alyssa Rivera and took the 800 relay with Sydni Fields, Taylor Davis, Sydni Fields and Rivera. Cleveland won the state 3A indoor 800 relay in February, but only two of those state championship winners ran in the event on Wednesday.

Imani Williams, Miranda Hinton Jekira Graham and Tiandra Jenkins won the 400 relay for Cleveland as well.

“Amber Scott winning the shot put was unexpected,” Stewart said. “She hadn’t shown that kind of distance this spring, but she threw very well today.”

Corinth Holders’ Arden Vessie was the girls meet MVP, winning the 800, the 1,600 and the 3,200. She ran the anchor in the winning 3,200 relay as well with Kayla Ste. Marie, Hannah Canterbury and Rachel Strickland.

Blumenberg ran with Derek Lasser, Noah Pipes and T.J. Deluca on the 1,600 relay win and the 3,200 with Derek Lasser, Lawson Lamm and Gabe Dershem.

“Our distance guys really gave us some strong times, gutting it out through a lot of events,” said Cleveland boys coach Joe Capps. “And two of our middle distance runners – Noah Pips and Lawson Lamm – ran with stress fractures. We knew every point was going to be big for us to beat Corinth Holders and the kids just gave us everything they had.”

Zack Bunn and Aaron Farmer both had season best performances in the triple jump and Farmer broke the 21-foot mark for the first time in the long jump for the Rams.

This story was originally published April 23, 2015 at 12:38 AM with the headline "Cleveland Rams' boys and girls win Two Rivers 3A track titles."