By Bill Bray
TOLEDO – The second day of competition took place at Toledo Whitmer High School Friday evening as the competing schools from the Three Rivers Athletic Conference ran for a championship.
When all was said and done Findlay captured the girls meet with 115 points just nosing out Toledo Central Catholic by a single point. Fremont Ross ran third with 91 points.
Findlay won the boys championship as well scoring 142 points to 137 points for St. John’s Jesuit. Fremont Ross scored 74 points to finish sixth.
The girls scored a total of 48 points in the field events. Joining Makenna Englund as a conference champion was Jadyn Rozzell in the long jump with a leap of 16’9”. In a record-breaking performance, Allison Taylor set a new conference standard in the pole vault. Previously the mark was held by Fremont’s AnneMarie Moses from 2017 when Moses jumped 12’1”. Taylor (cover photo) cracked the record with a leap of 12’1.25”. In the weight events, Caroline Cahill finished fourth in the discus with a personal record of 111’ and freshman Reese Smith placed sixth with a throw of 97’2”.
Briana Morrisette, fighting off the effects of a head cold, scored in the long jump as she finished seventh with a leap of 15’. She also ran with Jasmin Hiedelburg, Rozzell and Englund as the foursome ran a 1:48.64 good for third in the 4×200 relay. In the 4×100 relay, Taylor replaced Heidelberg, and the foursome also captured a third place with a time of 51.27.
In the sprint competitions, Rozzell finished sixth in the 100 meters in 12.92. Hiedelburg scored a point in the 200 finishing eighth in 27.3. She also scored two points in the 400 meters with a seventh-place finish in 65.12.
In the distance races, Ross was hurt by the loss of Evelyn Szymanowski out with an apparent stress fracture. Mackenzie Smith stepped up in the 3200 meters and put on a great finishing kick to take the runner up spot with a time of 12:32.58.
In the final race of the meet, the girls 4×400 relay team finished sixth with a time of 4:42.08. Adriane Halbisen, Briyanna Simms, Heidelberg, and Kyrah Messer made up the quartet.
Turning to the boys meet, in the sprints, James Kemp finished sixth in the 100 meters in 11.33. He then competed in the 200 meters as well and turned in a seventh-place finish with an excellent time of 22.7. Kemp is only a sophomore. Michael Ruiz Patterson also had a seventh-place finish in the 400 meters with a time of 54.65.
Kameron Walker has found his place in the 800 meters as the young sophomore ran to a fifth-place finish in 2:02.40. A fellow sophomore, Will Kiser ran eighth in the 1600 meters in 4:48.08. Ross scored five points in the 3200 meters when senior Zach Glotzbecker and Aaron McNutt finished sixth and seventh respectively. Glotzbecker ran a 10:48.62 and McNutt followed with a 10:52.70.
In the relays, Ross ran fourth in the 4×100 as the team of Jadrian Brown, JD Moncrief, Ricky Howard III, and Kemp ran an impressive 44.09. in the 4×200 relay Ross ran fifth in 1:32.54. Competing for Ross were the foursome of Elijah Kirksey, Ruiz Patterson, Howard III, and Kemp. In the final relay, the 4×400, the team of Kirksey, Semaj Kemp, Walker, and Brown ran the event in 3:34.60.
Turning to Friday’s field events, Anthony Vann and Howard III finished third and seventh respectively in the high jump. Vann cleared 6’ and Howard III went over 5’8”. In the shot-put competition, Ethan Green finished fourth with a put of 46’ .25” and Alex Menkoff was sixth with a heave of 45’.5”.
The road to Columbus begins next week with the district competition on Thursday and Saturday at Findlay High School
Jadyn Rozzell captured the TRAC title in the long jump competition.
Makenna Englund won her second TRAC title in the 100 meter hurdles after winning the high jump Wednesday. It was Englund’s second straight TRAC title in the hurdles event.
Senior Zach Glotzbecker ran to a sixth place finish to pace the Little Giant distance runners.