Lady Indians claim regional championship

By ROB HAMILTON

Thanks to some excel­lent per­for­mances, Mount Gilead’s girls’ track team was able to claim a regional cham­pi­onship on Friday.

The Lady Indi­ans scored 56 points to win the Divi­sion III regional meet hosted by Fair­field Union High School. Colum­bus Acad­emy was sec­ond with 46 points in the meet, which saw 46 dif­fer­ent teams score at least one point.

Senior Mikaela Bush qual­i­fied for the state meet in two indi­vid­ual events and also as part of two relays.

Bush won the 1600 in 5:17.02 on Fri­day and then took first in the 800 with a time of 2:19.04.

To fin­ish that day, she teamed with Rachel Bush, Bryanna Bolha and Ray­chel Gress to fin­ish sec­ond in the 1600 relay in 4:09.74. Ear­lier, on Wednes­day, those same four girls placed third in the 3200 relay in 9:48.66.

Two more Mount Gilead girls advanced to the state meet by plac­ing in the top four of their events. Shelby Rizor took the regional cham­pi­onship in the pole vault. Her height of 11’9” broke her own regional record of 10’9”, which she set last year. Rizor also placed sev­enth in the 200 in 28.01.

Jessie Baldridge made it to state com­pe­ti­tion in the dis­cus, as she took third place with a throw of 118’6”.

Rachel Bush nearly advanced to the state meet in the 300 hur­dles, but fell just short, as she placed fifth in 47.81. Also, Marisa Nel­son com­peted in the dis­cus for the team.

Northmor’s girls’ team also had a big meet at region­als, as they placed ninth with 23 points and moved two indi­vid­u­als and one relay team to the state meet.

Allie Tupps fin­ished sec­ond in the 400 with a time of 59.83, while in the shot put, Kris Pfis­ter claimed fourth place with a heave of 35’1”.

The school’s 400 relay of Gabrielle Woods, Tayler Coul­son, Tupps and Chantel Cline placed third in 52.52 to also advance to Columbus.

Dani Blum fell one spot short of qual­i­fy­ing in the 3200, as she placed fifth in 12:11.2. Also, Kyn­dall Williams com­peted in the shot put, as did Cline in the long jump and Coul­son in the 200.

Gilead Chris­t­ian had one girl com­pete in the meet. Lyn­dee Say­ers placed sixth in the 300 hur­dles in a time of 48.96 to con­clude her season.

In the boys’ meet, both Mount Gilead and North­mor had one state qual­i­fier, as both schools tal­lied six points.

For the Indi­ans, Ethan Har­ris was able to take fourth place in the 300 hur­dles in 39.58.

The team’s 3200 relay of Jason Hea­cock, Cam­den West, Paul Melcher and Bran­son West claimed eighth place in 8:38.57 to also place in the meet.

Logan Chap­man (dis­cus and shot put) and Har­ris (long jump) also com­peted in field events for the Indi­ans, while Har­ris also com­peted in the 110 hur­dles prelims.

Hea­cock com­peted in the pre­lims of the 400 and also teamed with Chap­man, Har­ris and Kolby Sny­der in the 1600 relay prelims.

Northmor’s Ethan Har­ris advanced to the state meet by virtue of plac­ing fourth in the pole vault by clear­ing 13’4”.

Clint Crose also placed for the Knights, as he took eighth in the 100 in 11.51. He also com­peted in the 200 and with Trevor Pryor, Lorin Camp­bell and Tyler Beck in the 800 relay prelims.

Bran­don Ney­man com­peted in the 1600 and 3200 for the Knights, as did Tyler Beck in the shot and dis­cus. Also, Gar­rett Karcher com­peted in the high jump, Jamie Baldridge was in the pole vault and the 3200 relay of Ney­man, Bran­don Loyer, Eric Linn and Jacob Hill also raced.

Of the local boys’ teams, Gilead Chris­t­ian scored the most points, as they fin­ished with seven.

Danny Bruce tal­lied fifth place in the long jump to come close to the state meet. His top leap was 19’10”. He also took sixth in the 200 with a time of 23.19.

Cardington’s Zach Zvan­sky placed sev­enth in the pole vault by clear­ing 12’8” to score points for the Pirates. He also com­peted in the high jump, while team­mate Mitchel Yake ran in the 800.

Divi­sion II

Highland’s track sea­son came to an end at the Divi­sion II track and field region­als hosted by Lex­ing­ton on Thurs­day and Saturday.

Amanda Mosier placed sev­enth in the 100 hur­dles in 19.31 to score points for the Lady Scots.

For the boys, Shawn Beltz com­peted in the pre­lims of the 300 hur­dles and Logan Eber­sole ran in the 3200, but nei­ther was able to reach the podium.

Posted by Rob Hamilton on May 30 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.