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Taking steps toward drug use prevention

WARREN — From the bleachers, families cheered for their 4- to 14-year-old track and field event participants with pride at the 2022 Summer Track Meet sponsored by the Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention.

More than 230 kids registered for the meet, which included 800-meter to 1,600-meter runs, 5- to 200-meter dashes, discus, shot put and softball throws, and long and high jumps. Student volunteers from Warren G. Harding and McDonald high schools kept time, measured jumps and helped carry the torch for younger athletes.

Klair Whiting, 7, from Maplewood Elementary, said, “I’m here trying my best. I like to go fast and hustle.”

Klair’s friend from school, Melody Richards, 11, is following in her older sister’s footprints. Kaleigh Richards, 16, won the OHSAA Division III Track and Field Championship for her 4-minutes, 57-second time in the 1,600-meter run earlier this year.

Kaleigh and her friends watched, smiling, as the younger kids warmed up for the big day at the Warren G. Harding Track & Field Complex.

The event began with a welcome by Laura Domitrovich from ASAP, who explained that substance abuse prevention in kids can be encouraged by giving them a lot of support and healthier things to do. Whole families and communities who promote physical and mental health serve as great natural protection against the pressure to use drugs, she said.

As in years past, a variety of local health-related organizations set up scavenger hunt stations following the athletic events. Kids visited each station where they learned something new and played a game, and then entered to win a prize for their fully stamped scavenger hunt cards.

At one of the stations, a Meridian Health Care prevention educator Alisa Roziel showed kids pictures of various pills and asked if they could tell which were candy, and which were dangerous drugs. It was impossible to tell, and Roziel’s lesson was that it’s important to ask a trusted adult for permission before they take any pill, no matter how harmless it looks.

Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Mike Yannucci, commander of the TAG Drug Task Force, who was in the next scavenger hunt station, sends school resource officers to K-2 classrooms to talk about drugs. The most common substances — like marijuana, vaping cartridges and pills — are already things kindergartners have questions about.

Why such young children?

“These substances are out there, so the earlier, the better. By the time kids get to middle and high school, it gets harder and harder to change their minds,” Yannucci said.

It was heartening to see so many young kids participating at the track meet this year, Domitrovich said.

Anthony Walker, 5, from Akiva Academy and the Youngstown Striders Track and Field Club, rushed into his mom’s arms after his 4-9 long jump.

“We’re here again this year because the kids are treated so well, and everyone has a great time,” his mom, Samantha Turner, said.

Sherry Williams’ grandchildren, Beautiful, 14, and Antoine Jr., 11, both won awards. She said this was their first year getting involved in the Team Elite Track Club in Youngstown. The kids’ father, Antoine Williams Sr. was featured in the Buckeye Review when he broke the 1,800-meter run record in Pittsburgh at age 11.

The kids’ mom wanted them to get involved in an activity that would keep them safe and build their confidence. Beautiful, who won third place in the 100-meter dash in her age group, and Antoine Jr., who won second place in the same event in his age group, placed in the Harding School Regionals. Antoine will go on to compete in the 100-meter and 400-meter dash events at the national competition in Greensboro, N.C., this year.

news@tribtoday.com

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