East Liverpool's Quintin Conrad (Photo by Jimmy Joe Savage)

EAST PALESTINE — This is East Liverpool’s best shot at unseating Salem as the Columbiana County boys track champion.

The two teams will be battling it out for the top spot at the 121st Columbiana County Track and Field Meet at Reid Stadium today.

“I’m excited to get to see East Liverpool run and to see our guys run against them,” Salem boys coach Austin Noel said.

“We know we’re taking a good team,” East Liverpool boys coach Andy Miller said. “Obviously Salem is a perennial powerhouse. Our goals are to win our league, our conference and the county meet. This is going to be our last opportunity before district to put it together.”

Action starts at 4:30 p.m. today with the boys discus and high jump, girls shot put and long jump and the 3200-meter relay finals. The rest of the running events will start at 5:30 p.m.

The Salem boys have won 14 of the last 15 county titles.

“I think it will be very competitive this year,” Noel said. “East Liverpool will be our biggest challenger.”

The Quakers have finished first or second every year since 1986 except for 2003, when East Liverpool won its last county title. The Potters haven’t finished higher than third since their last title.

“With a meet going to be this close, I’m looking at every event,” Noel said.

He said the Quakers are healthy and sophomore Sam Yakubek is back in the lineup.

“He suffered a hamstring pull at the Cope and we’ve been talking it very slowly,” Noel said. “He ran at Poland last week and is racing this week, although not 100 percent.”

The Quakers have six seniors and a roster full of juniors and sophomores. Salem always seems to do its best at the county meet.

“Our strength is getting the experience we had from last year,” Noel said. “Last year was a good learning curve for a lot of our guys. They have been around for a while and have seen what it is like.”

Returning county champions for the Salem boys are Hunter Owen in the shot put and Marcus Phillips in the long jump.

“Obviously our mid-distance is our strength,” Miller said. “We’re looking to see if we can stave them off in the field events. Last year we outscored them on the track, but we gave up a lot of points in the field events. Salem is great in those aspects.”

East Liverpool has already won its first Ohio Valley Athletic Conference All-Class championship, the Buckeye 8 title and the Bulldog Invitational.

The Potters feature two of the top distance runners in Ohio — senior Julius Jones and junior Maddox Roach.

Jones has the No. 1 time in Division II in the 800 meters (1:54.90), while Roach has the No. 5 time in the 1600 meters (4:19.09).

“They are an excellent middle distance team,” Noel said. “I knew they were going to be after what they did last year.”

Amazingly, Jones and Roach have neither won an individual county title. East Liverpool senior Quintin Conrad won the 400 dash the last two years and the 200 dash as a sophomore. Senior Gavin Wright captured the 300 hurdles last year.

“It’s going to be close,” Miller said. “It will be decided by who has the cleanest day and avoids any flat tires.”

Or it may be decided by who takes points away from the favorites.

United’s Danny Milburn — who anchored the Eagles’ state championship 400 relay team last year — is the defending county champion in the 100 and 200 dashes.

Wellsville’s Tyrell Watkins won the 110 hurdles the past two years. Other defending county champions are Beaver Local’s Jeremiah Moore in the 3200 run, United’s Trent Ellyson in the discus and Beaver Local’s Isaiah Boyd in the high jump, now at Wellsville.

“We really value and look forward to the county meet. We’re excited,” Noel said.

“We call this entering into our championship season. When the county rules around, we change our mentality.”

The girls meet isn’t expected to be as close as Salem makes a run at its eighth straight county title.

“The girls are expecting to do well,” Salem interim girls coach Ted Yuhaniak said. “It’s going to be difficult to win any individual event with (Southern’s Maddy Jones in the throws), the hurdler from United (Brinsley Hiscox) and six girls over 5 foot (in the high jump). It’s loaded all around.”

But the Quakers have depth and can score high in every event. They have scored over 180 points each of the last four years, the top four scoring totals in meet history.

“We can compete at the top in every event,” Yuhaniak said. “Our field events have been the strength of our team this year.”

Salem returns Maddie Gorby as the high jump champion and thrower Maddy Andres. Salem senior standouts Maggie Hall and Maggie Hopple are multiple county champions. Hall has seven county titles and Hopple four.

Yuhaniak expects Beaver Local to be the biggest threat for the Salem girls.

Returning county champions also include Beaver Local’s Ciara Call in the 100 dash, Beaver Local’s Mallory Miller in the 200 dash and Hiscox in the 100 hurdles. Heartland Christian junior Rebecca Geiss, one of the top distance runners in Ohio and the 1600 county champion in 2023, is not entered.

“We should do pretty well,” Yuhaniak said. “Do your job in each event.”

Meet notes

Today’s forecast for the meet is rain with temperatures in the 50s.

“We are preparing for a little bit of rain,” Yuhaniak said. “Embrace it, don’t complain about it.”

The last time the county meet was in East Palestine in 2023, temperatures were in the 40s and it rained for most of the meet.

“Some people told me it was going to rain,” Noel said. “We’re used to it at this point in the season.”

“It couldn’t be worse than it’s been,” Miller said. “We’ve been in some monsoons.”