By JOHN VARGO Tribune Chronicle
 | Tribune Chronicle / Steve Schenck
Warren G. Harding’s Darren Lee win the 400-meter realy on Thursday at Lakeview High School. |
CORTLAND — Since Warren G. Harding’s three-peat of the 12th annual Trumbull County Track and Field Meet at Lakeview High School was a strong possibility for the boys team, coach Charles Penny thought it would be appropriate to honor both schools that make up Harding High School.
Ultimately, they did so by amassing 132 points to second-place McDonald’s 61.25.
Tuesday, Harding appeared in the black and gold uniforms that were the colors of the Warren Western Reserve Raiders and that are part of Harding’s current attire. Thursday, Harding appeared in predominately red outfits in homage to the Harding Panthers, whose colors were red and black. Both schools also had white on the trim of their uniforms.
Penny said his intention was not to stir the famous east side-west side controversy between Harding and Western Reserve, which consolidated in 1990 to form what is now the Warren G. Harding Raiders, but to honor the past runners of both teams.
“With all the schools in our system being torn down and new schools being constructed, we thought this would be a great time to show our gratitude to the two schools, Warren Western Reserve High School and Warren G. Harding High School, that never had the opportunity to run in this great meet,” he said.
“Neither myself, nor the team, wants anybody to think that we are trying to change the school colors or anything in that nature. We are fully aware that the schools colors are Gold, White and Black. But we just wanted to say thank you to the past coaches (coach Cullen Bowen of Harding and coach Jack Thornton of Reserve), athletes and schools. Without them, this accomplishment would have ever been attainable. This was a sign of respect and gratitude and not an act of changing color. This will be the only meet we wear our red uniforms.”
Coach Ken Kilpatrick, who coached LaBrae since 1971 and officially retired in 1997, said both Harding and Reserve had good programs prior to the consolidation and thinks it makes sense to pay homage to the Harding Panthers with the dominat red uniforms.
“To get one color like they have it makes it good too,” he said. “It’s very noticable and their athletes should be noticed this year. They’re good athletes and well-manered I might say. That makes a big difference.”
This year’s Harding team swept the individual honors as J’Abneb Provitt was named overall MVP, Christopher Rucker took the running MVP title and Christopher Anzevino won the field events MVP.
jvargo@tribune-chronicle.com
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