Staff photo / Preston Byers Girard’s Gianna Sabatino begins another lap during the girls 1600-meter run at the Northeast 8 Conference meet on Tuesday.

BEAVER TOWNSHIP — The South Range boys and Girard girls track and field teams won their second consecutive Northeast 8 Conference team championships Tuesday at Rominger Stadium in Beaver Township.

The Raiders and Indians both beat out second-place Lakeview to earn back-to-back NE8 titles after similarly winning last year’s meet when it was held in Girard.

“I’m extremely proud,” Girard coach Jennifer Gassman said. “I’ve been with these girls for four years now. I started as an assistant coach, and it’s my first year as a head coach, and I’ve watched them grow together since they were freshmen. The girls that keep coming up, they keep getting stronger and better, and they’re leaders on this team. I’m really proud of all of them. That’s what leaders do; they win.”

The Girard girls finished the meet with 149 total points, 30 clear of Lakeview and five shy of matching South Range, which secured the team championship with a second-place finish in the 4×400-meter relay.

For his efforts, the Raiders’ Emmitt Slabach earned the meet’s boys MVP award. Slabach won the 800 and 1600-meter runs, as well as the 4×800-meter relay. He also finished second in the 3200-meter run in his final event.

Similarly, Tristan Toy proved his value to the Raiders; Toy won the 400-meter dash and long jump, setting personal records of 51.46 seconds and 20 feet, 10.5 inches, respectively. Additionally, he helped South Range finish second in the 4×200 and 4×400-meter relays.

“In so many ways, they’re so valuable,” Raiders coach Rach said of Toy and Slabach. “Obviously, their performance on the track speaks for itself. But just from a leadership perspective, those guys carry themselves a certain way … When you look at what Emmitt did tonight, there’s not many runners his caliber, and Tristan, there’s not many athletes his caliber that are gonna go get loaded up on four events at this time of the season. But I think it just shows what the team aspect of it means to them and how much pride they have in being great teammates and trying to perform their best when it’s crunch time.”

Like South Range, Girard’s success could be linked to an all-around team effort. The Indians scored 44 of their points in the individual sprints but benefited from at least 14 points in each corner of Tuesday’s meet.

“Every part of our team – from field events to distance events to sprint events – we all contribute equally. It’s always dominant in all different areas,” Gassman said. “We all just come together as one, and we pull together in the end. We have people that scored in every event. So that’s what’s strong about us.”

Among the girls, below Girard and Lakeview was South Range, which fell four points short of the Bulldogs for second place. Poland, Hubbard, Niles and Struthers finished fourth through seventh, respectively.

On the boys side, far behind South Range and Lakeview, who scored 304 points between the two teams, was Girard in third place, Hubbard in fourth, Poland in fifth, Struthers in sixth and Niles in seventh.

Every team that competed at the NE8 meet certainly hopes it can serve as either a launching pad or a valuable lesson as the end of the 2025 season draws near.

Districts begin next week, while regionals are set for the following week. The state meet, which will return to Columbus after one year in Dayton, will take place June 6 and 7.