Staff photo / Preston Byers Grace Bundy of McDonald prepares to throw the shot put at the Trumbull County championships in Cortland.

CORTLAND — The 29th annual Trumbull County Track and Field Championships got underway Tuesday at Lakeview, and on a day in which the champions of several field events were determined, McDonald stood out among the rest.

The Blue Devils dominated the boys discus and girls shot put events, earning the title and runner-up honors in both. Grace Bundy and Cierra Shiley cleared more than 30 other competitors in the shot put, recording best throws of 38 feet, 10 inches and 37 feet, 7 inches, respectively.

In the boys discus, McDonald’s Drew Zajack and Jack Reckard were the only two throwers to clear 160 feet, with Zajack winning the event with a throw of 167 feet, 8 inches, while Reckard finished second with a 161-foot throw.

Bundy said the reason behind McDonald’s consistently strong throwing results is clear.

“Because we have a wonderful coach, Mary [Domitrovich]. She coaches us up every day, and she never takes it easy on us. She’s always on us and helping us get better every time,” Bundy said.

Domitrovich, who is in her 16th season as McDonald’s throwing coach, sidestepped the credit and said the Blue Devils’ success is due to the hard-working kids she coaches and has watched become leaders and mentors.

“We’ve been blessed with a lot of very, very high-quality kids, in that they buy into the system, they work hard, they’re very respectful, (and) they’re humble. So I think that’s played well for them, and they’ve been great mentors to the next group that’s under them,” Domitrovich said. “They understand that it’s a process. It takes time and things don’t happen overnight. So they work hard in season, out of season and they do the things that need to get done.”

Grace and Emma Bundy, Grace’s younger sister, will compete Thursday in the discus finals. Reckard and Zajack will also compete in the shot put, where they are expected to vie for the title again.

BADGER’S GREXA FIGHTING THROUGH INJURY

Badger’s Katie Grexa, the Trumbull County Coaches Association Player of the Year in basketball, qualified for the OHSAA state tournament last year in the high jump, but injuries to her foot and shoulder have slowed the superstar athlete down this spring.

Grexa placed third in the girls shot put Tuesday, recording a throw of 35 feet, 7 inches, more than three feet short of Bundy’s first-place throw and Grexa’s own personal record. Grexa said that she is not “anywhere close” to where she would like to be due to a lingering shoulder injury she suffered during basketball season.

“We never actually figured out what exactly was wrong with it,” she said. “But I know I had to be careful because my hand and my arm would go numb. I would lose some blood flow. My physical therapist said that there might be some micro tears in there, but we’ve been working on it and it’s come a long way, so it’s getting better.”

The shoulder injury, which she said has not caused her much pain over the last month, is unfortunately not the only ailment she is trying to grit through. Grexa said her foot “cracked” earlier in the track and field season, which has kept her from running in the 400-meter dash and the 4×200-meter relay.

Despite the injuries, Grexa said she is proud of what she has accomplished in her athletic career at Badger and seems to look forward to completely focusing on basketball once she enrolls at Lake Erie College.

“There probably hasn’t been a season of me doing a sport where I haven’t had some type of injury,” she said.

TRUMBULL TITLES AT STAKE THURSDAY

While several field events finished up Tuesday, almost all of the meet’s track events, in addition to the girls discus, boys shot put, girls high jump and boys long jump, will conclude on Thursday.

Warren G. Harding finished first in the boys 4×400 relay preliminaries with a time of 3:32.70, while Liberty holds the best times in both the boys 4×100 and 4×200-meter relays. Dwayne Moody, who is a part of both of those relay teams for Liberty, also finished atop the 100-meter dash preliminaries.

In the 4×800-meter relay, the only track event that ran its finals Tuesday, Maplewood won both the boys and girls events. The boys crossed the finish line at 8:15.76, nearly 12 seconds ahead of second-place Lakeview, while the girls were nearly 15 seconds clear of McDonald in second.

Have an interesting story? Contact Preston Byers by email at pbyers@tribtoday.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @PresByers.