Kirtland’s 4×800-meter relay team earned a regional berth on Wednesday after placing second at the Division III district championships at Cuyahoga Heights.
Ainsley Borthwick, Reilly Greenlee, Delaney Kuczkowski, and Sylvia Voskicky teamed up to finish that race in 10:49.13, just 18 seconds behind first-place Mapleton.
“I was so excited to see my team qualify for regionals,” Borthwick said. “I am very proud of all of us. We all have worked so hard this season, so it’s very thrilling to see our hard work play out.”
The Hornets have run faster this season but Borthwick is confident she and her relay-mates will be ready for the regional meet next weekend.
“Although our time tonight isn’t our team (personal record), I am still satisfied with the time,” she said. “We have some things to work on but other than that, it’s been such a great season and I’m so grateful to have such amazing teammates and coaches to guide me through this season.”
Borthwick and the rest of the Hornets have their sights set on advancing to the state meet and they know what it will take to achieve that goal.
“To make it to states it’s going to take a lot of dedication and drive to go out and hunt people down,” Borthwick said. “We are all very excited and willing to prepare for next week.”
Borthwick also advanced to Friday’s district finals in the 800. She placed eighth in the preliminary race with a time of 2:50.09. Kuczkowski was third in that race with a time of 2:44.48 and also will compete on Friday.
Vosicky also placed third in the 400-meter dash preliminary race with a time of 1:05.90 and will compete in Friday’s finals.
“Earning a spot in the top four and advancing to regionals is very exciting for us as a team, me individually, and most of all, Coach (JP) Moran,” Vosicky said of her regional berth in the 4×800. “Delaney and Reilly were on the 4×8 team last year, which performed very well leaving some big shoes for us to fill. Me and Ainsley knew that as freshmen, we would have to work hard to make it just as far as last year’s team did.
The 4×800 team ran its second-fastest time of the season.
“We broke 11 minutes for the first time last week,” Vosicky said. “I was happy with my individual split of 2:39 since it was only four seconds away from my PR and it was cold and rainy. Each team member ran a great split and contributed to our advancement. Delaney Kuczkowski has been running especially well lately.”
Vosicky hopes to see the Hornets trim even more time next week at regionals.
“Next week at regionals we’re hoping to run a new PR,” she said. “Hopefully, we can all run an individual split in the 2:30s, which I know we can do since we all have before. We’re all such great friends and are so supportive of each other which I think is a factor of our time. Even if we don’t make it out to states, I know that we’ll all be so proud of each other and grateful that we made it as far as we did.”
Macy McIntosh was fourth in that race with a time of 1:05.93. She’ll join Vosicky in the finals.
Marissa Carmosino and McIntosh both advanced to the finals in the 200-meter dash. Carmosino was fifth in the prelims with a time of 29.17 while McIntosh was seventh in 29.85.
Ava Golem placed 15th in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 20.22 seconds and will compete in Friday’s finals.
The Hornets also advanced their 4×100, 4×200, and 4×400-meter relay teams to Friday’s finals.
Elise Beinhardt, Alyssa Bryll, Elin Connor, and Carmosino finished seventh in the 4×100 with a time of 56.78.
Bryll, Connor, Carmosino, and McIntosh were fifth in the 4×200 with a time of 1:56.71, and Olivia Dolovacky, Sophia DeMarco, Beinhardt, and Vosicky placed fifth in the 4×400 with a time of 4:52.90.
Kirtland’s boys’ team will compete in the Division II district at Perry on Thursday and Saturday.
