NORTH ROBINSON – Throughout the regular season, Colonel Crawford coach Preston Foy emphasized how important the team aspect of track is.
“We feel like that’s how you build a track and field culture,” he said.
Sometimes that means competing in events you don’t typically do in order to maximize point potential. Friday’s Northern 10 championships was the culmination of a season’s worth of selflessness as the Eagles swept the boys and girls titles for the first time since 2019.
“It really comes down to coaches (Todd) Roston and (Joey) Bauer, they were working on this lineup since last year when we lost,” Foy said. “They had the strategy and they knew the other teams better than I think some of their own coaches knew their teams.
“A lot of these kids were asked to do things they don’t usually do. Don’t worry about times, worry about placing. We had a game plan to plug kids where we needed them and that kept constantly changing, but the game plan was perfect today. Credit to our kids because they bought into it and they had a great meet today.”
Junior Dom Dean set the tone early winning the shot put (51-2) and discus (148-5) after coming in seeded second in both. His sophomore teammate Luke Christman was runner-up in the discus and classmate Lane Burge was fifth in shot put.
“He said he wanted to go out there today and win both,” Foy said. “I didn’t think he was going to, but it was awesome that he did. He’s worked really hard the last couple weeks and starting to get a little confident. He didn’t throw last year because of the the transfer rules, so he’s really starting to hit his peak at the right time.”
Senior Adam Scott held off Seneca East’s Owen Gahring down the stretch of the 800-meter run, and junior Jacob Cochran staved off SE’s Bryler Beamer in the 200 dash for the only other first place finishes the boys had. But it was the numerous second, third, fourth, and fifths that added up to the 153 points needed to top Seneca East by five which halted a four-year reign by the Tigers.
Cochran scored 32 points himself with a pair of runner-up finishes in the 100 and 400 dash, plus third in the high jump to go with his 200 title.
“Jacob was a difference maker today,” Foy said. “He had to go toe-to-toe with the best sprinters in the league. This is first time we asked him to do that, and he delivered”
Lady Eagles win sixth consecutive N10 title, ninth in last 10 seasons
It was business as usual for the girls who bested runner-up Upper Sandusky by 27 points led by league titles from senior Gabby Roston in pole vault (11-0), classmate Mira Holt in the 100 hurdles (16.64), 100 dash (13.13), and 400 dash (1:00.03), and junior Rylinn Edgington in the mile (5:37.82).
Holt was also runner-up in the 200 dash, Edgington second in the 800, senior Olivia Hardy was second in the 1600 and third in the 800, sophomore Brooklyn Good and freshman Emmi Powers were second and third in the long jump, junior Sydney Wirebaugh third in the discus, Roston runner-up in the 300 hurdles, as were the 4×100 and 4×400 relays.
With the postseason less than a week away, the Eagles will shift their focus from being team-oriented to maximizing individual success.
“It’s going to be their time,” Foy said. “We’re going to let them decide where they have the best success, we want to let them run the race with fresh legs. You’re not going to see Mira Holt do what she did today, she’s going to get her turn now because she was a team player all year. Our distance guys had a tough day today, they’re going to be able to focus on what they want to in the postseason.”
Freshman field phenom stars for Bucyrus
Ivan Pirnstill has had success in pole vault all season long. But coming into the N10 meet, he wasn’t seeded first which meant he had to do something about it.
“Ivan’s a special character, I never know what he’s gonna do,” Bucyrus coach Kevin Boggs said.
Friday, Pirnstill cleared 13-0 to win his first league title.
“He worked all winter on pole vault, that’s his thing,” Boggs said. “He loves it, but he had a great day. We knew if he could go 13, he’d have a shot. He kept his composure and the challenging thing was that his pole vault coach was in the trailer timing it, so he’s very good about looking for self-corrections.”
And that came after he cleared 5-6 in the high jump to tie for eighth, and leapt 18-7½ in long jump placing sixth.
“His goal was to do three field events, and that’s what he does,” Boggs said. “But he’s so athletic that he can do anything I’d put him in. And that’s where we need him, so he high jumped, long jumped, and then vaulted.”
Junior Karter Boggs won the mile by more than 10 seconds ahead of runner-up Evan Schiefer of Seneca East, but Schiefer would get the better of Boggs later on in the two mile with 15 seconds separating the two.
“Karter had his mission, he wanted to come out and win the mile because he did not like losing that last year,” coach Boggs said. “And he knew Evan’s stronger in the two mile, so just hang on as long as you can.”
The Redmen placed fourth overall as a team with 81.5 points thanks to some high finishes from sprinters, notably a runner-up in the 4×10 and 4×200 along with third place finishes from Hall in the 110 hurdles and Christian Neal in the 100 dash.
“The N10 is so tough and we knew coming in we were going to be out-bodied,” coach Boggs said. “My sprinters and my distance, we’re pretty balanced, (but) the throwers are pretty young. Maseo (Hall) was pretty beat up so I had to pull him out of the one hurdle races … but he said I’m gonna gut it out (for the relays). Da’Shawn (Cosey), Demaris (Munn-Page), Christian, and Maseo ran awesome.”
Other notable finishes
Wynford senior Anthony Evans set a new N10 record in the 400 dash with a time of 50.86 and Buckeye Central senior Corbin Bloomfield won the long jump at 21-10¾.
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