By Bill Bray
FINDLAY – With a few surprises and few leaps and throws, Fremont Ross Little Giants men’s and women’s track teams got off to a good start at the 2022 District Track and Field meet Thursday afternoon in Findlay.
The Lady Giants sit in second place as a team with 15.5 points. Many of those early points were obtained in the High Jump as Mckenna Englund added a district championship to her resume with a leap of 5’3″. Freshman Lyndi Wolf, participating in her first track and field season ever, jumped 5’ to finish fourth and qualify for her first regional meet.
The women’s 4×100 relay featuring four of Ross’ mighty seniors in Briana Morrisette, Jadyn Rozzell, Makenna Englund and Alliston Taylor. The outstanding foursome put together a time of 50.72 to qualify first into Saturday’s finals. Allison Taylor was replaced in the 4×200 relay by freshman Jasmin Heidelburg as that speedy foursome ran a 1:48.55 to qualify second into Saturday’s final.
Morrisette added a third qualification in the 100-meter dash. The senior, plagued this year with health issues, came through with flying colors as she added the 100 meters to her agenda for Saturday as she qualified fifth with a time of 13.32.
Heidelburg made the cut in the 200 meters as she finished eighth in 28.53.
The all-freshmen 4×400 relay team gave the Ross coaches the biggest surprise of the night. The team of Heidelburg, Kyrah Messer, Imajah Elkins and Lanae’ Tucker sneaked into the finals with an eighth-place finish in 4:32.52.
The Ladies gained a point in the 4×800 relay finishing 8th. The team of Allison Taylor, Mackenzie Smith, Kylie Peck and Adriane Halbisen ran the race in 10:55.27.
The boys got some points today from Easton Silva who finished fourth with a regional qualifying leap of 11’9’. Andrew Taylor finished eighth in the pole vault with a leap of 11’6” to score a point in his final meet.
Ethan Green is moving on in the discus with a heave of 149’ securing his spot at next week’s regional meet.
Ricky Howell III finished out of the qualifying jumpers in the long jump competition. His eighth-place finish did earn him a point for the Little Giants. He had a best leap of 20’.25”.
The boy’s 4×100 meter relay qualified third with a time of 43.66. The four underclassmen making up that quartet were Jadrian Brown, Ricky Howell III, James Kemp, and JD Moncrief.
Kemp also qualified for the 200-meter finals with a fifth-place finish in 23.26.
Sophomore Kameron Walker qualified fourth in the 800 meters with a time of 2:08.0 and the 4×400 relay with the team of Brown, Elija Kirksey, Michael Patterson, and Walker turned in a time of 3:32.10 to qualify seventh.
The boys also scored points in the 4×800 relay even though they missed qualifying for the reginonal meet they did a fine job turning in a sixth-place finish in 8:33.66. The team running was Aaron McNutt, Kameron Walker, Zach Glotzbecker and Will Kiser.
The field events for Saturday’s finals will now be starting at 9am, with running events beginning at 10:30am.
Makenna Englund jumps to a District Championship.
Ethan Green advances to Saturday’s finals with a third place finish in the discus.
Elija Kirksey runs the third ‘leg’ of the boys 4×400 meter relay. The team advanced to the finals.
James “peanut” Kemp is shown during the 200 meter competition. The talented sophomore advanced to the finals in the event.