04-01-2004, 04:45 PM
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Head Coach
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Join Date: Nov 2003
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Total Points: 499,077.10
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another PD article on Glenville track
http://www.cleveland.com/sports/plai...0618235610.xml
Quote:
Just how good is the Glenville boys track team?
After winning the Division I state championship in 2003 and adding two of the better sprinters in Ohio to this season's team, the potential would seem unlimited. But coach Ted Ginn, his son, Ted Jr., and other members of the Tarblooders squad aren't ready to make any bold claims about their place in history. Yet.
"We do have a chance to be one of the best track teams ever to come out of Glenville," Ted Jr. said. "But we're not going to put anything else on our backs. We're not going to say we're the best this or the best that. We'll just see how it goes. We just want to be as good as we can be."
Ginn Jr. has already been very good. He was one of the most heavily recruited football players in the country before accepting a scholarship from Ohio State in December.
In last season's state track meet, he won the 110-meter hurdles, the 300-meter hurdles, anchored the first-place 4x400 relay team and finished second in the 200 meters.
His father also is hedging his predictions about what the Tarblooders are capable of achieving this season.
"I would just say we're on a faster pace than we were last year at this time," Ginn Sr. said. "It all depends on people staying healthy and continuing to work hard."
The Tarblooders might not be ready to say it, but others are willing to compare the team with the best ever from Ohio.
Claude Holland is the boys coach at Cleveland Heights. He has been a track coach for 30 years, and his 1985 John Adams team still holds the state record in the 4x400 relay — a record the Tarblooders could break this season.
"I can say this with great certainty," Holland said. "They are the greatest assembled group of sprinters from 400 meters down in the history of the state."
Old and new
That group starts with Ginn, who followed up his state-meet performance by winning national championships in both hurdle events last June at the Adidas National Track and Field Championships in Raleigh, N.C.
The Tarblooders also set a national record in Raleigh in their victory in the 800- meter sprint medley (1:28.95); and finished second in the 4x400 relay, in 3:10.66. That's nearly three seconds faster than the current state record (3:13.57).
Other returning standouts include Stephon Fuqua, Donte Cloud, Freddie Lenix, Raymond Small and Daven Jones. Jones, Fuqua and Lenix ran on the state- champion 4x100 relay team. Lenix finished seventh in the 100 meters. Cloud ran on the 4x400 relay team.
Glenville's newcomers include Jamario O'Neal, who transferred from Mansfield; and Myron Howard, who transferred from Collinwood. O'Neal finished third in the state in the 100 meters and anchored the fifth-place 4x100 relay team. Howard was the Senate Athletic League champion in the 100 meters and ran on Collinwood's 4x100 relay team that finished third in the state.
Dayton's Randy Wagner has coached several of the teams that are considered among the best ever from Ohio. His Roth High teams still hold the record for most points in a state meet. The 1981 team scored 62 points in Class AAA (comparable to Division I). In 1982, Roth scored 77 points in Class AA (Division II).
But Wagner said those teams were not the best he ever coached. That honor goes to the 1990 Dayton Dunbar team, which won the Division I state title with 59 points. Wagner said Glenville looks to be a mirror image of that Dunbar team.
"They're a lot alike in many ways," Wagner said. "You've got a big horse in the stable and lot of ponies with him."
The big horse for Glenville, of course, is Ginn. At Dunbar, it was Chris Nelloms. As a senior, Nelloms set state-meet records in the 200 meters, the 400 meters and the 110-meter hurdles. He also anchored the first-place 4x400 relay team and was a four-time state champ in the 400 meters before going on to become an NCAA champion at Ohio State.
More in store
Wagner said the 4x200 is Glenville's best event. The timing couldn't be better, since that race will be run in the state meet for the first time this season. Glenville broke the state record in the 4x200 (1:26.25) last season in a regular-season meet. The Tarblooders ran 1:24.77 in the 4x200 in the nationals, and Wagner thinks the team could challenge the national record of 1:23.31.
"I think the sky's the limit for them in the 4x200," Wagner said. "I wouldn't be surprised if they ran a 1:22. That's faster than most college teams."
With all the talent concentrated in the sprints, coach Ginn will have some tough decisions to make before settling on a lineup for the district meet. There's no question the competition will be fierce.
O'Neal was used to being the main man at Mansfield, but at Glenville, he will have to earn his spots like everyone else.
"You know if you fall off, there's someone there to take your spot," O'Neal said. "I knew it was going to be like this when I came here. It's just great competition."
Fuqua said the focus is on each athlete doing everything he can to maximize his own performance. The championships and records will take care of themselves.
"We compete more amongst ourselves more than anything else," Fuqua said. "When we get to a meet, it's easy."
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Glenville at the Arcadia Invitational
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