Mike Vukovcan Since Thanksgiving, the Hopewell Track and Field team has been working hard 3-4 days a week, preparing for a much-anticipated spring season for which they have big expectations.
With 8 state qualifiers returning, the Vikings team has their sights set on as many as 10 school records this year, and they are doing all that is necessary to reach that goal. Sprinting and hurdling through the high school lobby, lifting in the weight room, and even traveling to Youngstown State multiple nights a week to practice on the indoor track.
This group has been willing to do whatever it takes to reach their goals.
They have also competed in several indoor meets at Youngstown State, Akron University, and Mount Union. At their most recent meet, yesterday at YSU, the seeds of hard work they’ve sown for months really broke through the soil and sprouted many personal best performances, and one new school record!
Senior Zach Lucas and sophomore Luke McGrail, both second year hurdlers, started off the day with massive personal bests in the prelims of the 60m hurdles, each taking half a second off their previous best time. Zach ran 9.37 seconds – a massive .62 second improvement from his previous best. Luke ran 9.09 in his heat, which qualified him for the final, and made him the second fastest 60m hurdler in Hopewell school history!
Emma Palmieri and Nevaeh Persi-Jones came through next with 2 personal bests in the prelims of the 60m dash. Nevaeh, who is also on the cheer team this winter, ran her best time ever with 8.86. Emma, who had been very consistently running around 8.4 all winter, broke out with an 8.28 in the prelim, and then followed that up with a terrific 8.15 in the final, finishing 8th overall.
Emma’s main though, is the 400m dash. She has been the indoor school record holder with a 1:01:31 since last January and has been anxious to break under the minute mark indoors all winter. Saturday, she packed all her work together, exploded out of the blocks, took control of her race early, finished strong, and crossed the line in 59.62 seconds – a new school record for her and a giant weight off her shoulders.
@EmmaPalmieri3 and Nevaeh Persi-Jones ran big PBs in the 60m prelims. Emma went 8.28 and Nevaeh 8.86.
Emma followed that with an 8.15 in the final, finishing 8th overall 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/BVFuriZLhF— Hopewell Track & Field (@Hopewell_TnF) February 15, 2025
Madison Inderelst is an 800m runner in the outdoor season, but because the track has been covered in snow for most of the winter, she has been building her short speed with the sprinters. In her first 3 meets, she raced the 200m and 400m, but on Saturday, she got the chance to see how her new sprint speed would translate to her main event.
Despite her nerves, she ran a patient race for the first 600m, and then finished with a strong kick, passing several runners down the homestretch, and finishing with an all-time personal best of 2:38.99. Inderelst is excited to get back to work with Coach Monske and have a monster spring season.
@AdamssNick couldn’t wait to get from the hardwood to the runway. He leaped 19’7.5” in his indoor debut 🛫✈️ pic.twitter.com/ZrNPgepN1q
— Hopewell Track & Field (@Hopewell_TnF) February 15, 2025
Hopewell will take a small contingent of athletes to Kent State next Sunday for a last chance meet, and then de-load for a week before the start of official outdoor practices on March 3rd.
