Carey boys, Riverdale girls excel at Fostoria regional meet

By BRIAN HEMMINGER

City editor

FOSTORIA — Riverdale and Carey might need to rent some extra buses to carry all the athletes the schools will be sending to the state track meet after a tremendously successful day two of the Division III regional track meet Friday at Memorial Field in Fostoria.

Carey is sending a total of six athletes in seven different events while Riverdale is sending five athletes in four different events.

The day’s biggest winner was Carey sophomore Tripp Phoenix, who qualified for four events. Phoenix was the regional champion in the 100 meter dash with a personal best time of 10.95 seconds.

“My goal at the beginning of the year was to break 11 seconds in the 100 meters,” Phoenix said. “I’ve gotten real close. I ran an 11.07 on Wednesday and I told my dad I wanted to go 10.9 and I finally got it. It felt amazing.”

Phoenix also qualified for state by finishing second in the region in the high jump, clearing 6 foot 4 inches on his first attempt.

“I was really nervous going into high jump today,” Phoenix said. “I know I’m ranked high in the state and that put a lot of pressure on me, but I just kind of forgot about it. Once I was guaranteed top four, I just started jumping and I cleared 6-foot-4 on my first attempt by a mile and that’s what I wanted to do. My dad told me 6-foot-4 would be my magic number today and he was right.”

Phoenix then helped Carey qualify a pair of relay teams for state as the 800 relay finished fourth place with a time of 1:30.91. Phoenix will be joined at state by 800 relay teammates Brody Baker, Dalen Walter and Bryce Puckett. Baker, normally a hurdler, was a late addition to the 800 relay a couple weeks ago.

“I couldn’t ask for better teammates to run with,” Phoenix said. “We lost our second runner in the 4×200 just a couple weeks ago due to an injury, but we put Brody Baker in there and he did awesome.”

Carey’s 400 relay also finished fourth. It consists of Phoenix, Puckett, Walter and Eli Steen. The Blue Devils had to battle the elements to qualify for state as it started raining right before the race started.

“I was excited when it started raining,” Phoenix said. “I thought the cold rain felt good.”

Qualifying for state in four different events was another goal accomplished for Phoenix.

“I told my teammates at the beginning of the season, ‘I’m going four for four. I don’t know about you guys, but that’s my goal,’” Phoenix said. “It feels really good.”

Not to be outdone, Baker qualified for state in three events. The first was the 110 meter hurdles, where he finished in sixth place but ran a personal best time of 14.9 seconds, which qualified him for an at-large bid to state in the event.

Baker didn’t know he had qualified for state at the time and thinking he’d missed his opportunity, he used his sixth place finish as motivation.

“There was false start in the 110 and that threw me off a little bit — it threw everyone off,” Baker said. “I was furious with my performance in the 110 and I used that in my performance in the 4×200 and that worked out pretty well.”

Baker then rolled his success over into the 300 hurdles, finishing first in the region with a time of 39.25.

“It was my best 300 hurdle and it’s the school record,” Baker said. “I broke my record from last year. I wasn’t really feeling it either. Before the race, I was really nervous. I felt like my legs were weak and it was bad, but as soon as I got in the box, I was locked in and ready to go. It just clicked.”

Carey’s Landyn Miller finished eighth in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:02.17.

In the girls events, Carey’s Elysa Holsinger also earned an opportunity to compete at state with an at-large bid after finishing fifth in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 46.33. She initially thought she hadn’t made it after clipping the last hurdle and falling at the finish line, missing fourth place by 0.02 seconds, but the pain was quickly replaced by pure joy.

The lone Riverdale boy to advance to state was Kolten Evans. Evans finished sixth in the 1600 with a time of 4:27.17, but 50 minutes later qualified for state with a school record time of 9:47.05 in the 3200, where he finished third overall.

Evans led the pack in second place for the first half of the race, then made his move on lap five, advancing to first. He was passed right before the final lap but held strong to the finish line, beating his previous school record by nearly six seconds.

“It’s windy out here and (Kolten) ran a gutsy race,” Riverdale boys coach Richard Patterson said. “On one hand, we run in the wind every day, but on the other hand, it takes more effort to lead a pack into the wind. Kolten is bold. He put in a ton of miles and a ton of work. He had some really key workouts that indicated we’ve got the strength to do it. I’ve said for a long time one day Kolten’s fitness is going to match his heart. I’m excited we’ve got a ticket to the big show next week. We’ll see what we can do with fresh legs on the 2 mile on one of the fastest tracks in the state. I’m ecstatic.”

Riverdale’s Gabe Donaldson finished 11th in the 1600 with a time of 4:46.09 while Falcons senior Jack Dusseau just missed an at-large bid in the high jump by finishing sixth with a height of 6-1.

Brody Berger finished 14th in the shot put for Riverdale with a throw of 43-0.

The Riverdale girls also had a huge day, particularly sophomore Marissa Bonham, who qualified for state in three events (plus an additional fourth event Wednesday).

Bonham opened her day by finishing second in the long jump with a leap of 17-0.

“I wasn’t jumping good at the beginning, but then I changed feet and then I got 17 feet off my left foot,” Bonham said.

Bonham also finished second place in the 400 meter dash, beating her preliminary qualifying time by two full seconds at 57.39.

She then carried that momentum into the final girls event of the day, helping Riverdale qualify its team in the 1600 meter relay. Riverdale was in sixth place when Bonham was handed the baton and she passed two runners in the final 100 meters to punch the team’s ticket to Columbus with a school record time of 4:03.39.

“It was going to be the last time with two of my favorite runners and I just wanted to go farther with them,” Bonham said.

Teammate Allison Woodruff, who ran the third leg of the 1600 relay, felt the same way.

“It feels awesome going back to state and it feels even better going with my relay partners because it’s one of the best groups of girls to run with,” Woodruff said.

Woodruff also qualified for state in the 1600 meter run, passing Patrick Henry’s Mia Amador at the last moment to clinch fourth place with a time of 5:21.40.

“We went back and forth in the whole race,” Woodruff said. “I was like, ‘You know, this is my last year and I really want this,’ so I just sprinted at the end and I just barely passed her.”

Woodruff also competed in the 800 meter run, finishing ninth with a time of 2:28.49. Shae Berger finished 13th in the high jump by clearing 4 feet, 8 inches.

Wynford’s Adison Stuckey competed in a pair of events at the meet as well. She improved her qualifying time in the 400 meter dash but finished in sixth place with a time of 59.33.

Stuckey finished eighth in the 200 meter dash finals with a time of 26.73.

The Division III state track meet begins at 9:30 a.m. Friday at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus.

Girls

Team results (top 10 and local)

1. Coldwater 106, 2. Columbus Grove 88, 3. Kalida 41, 4. Riverdale 29, 5. Margaretta 28, 6t. Patrick Henry 27, 6t. Montpelier 27, 8. Ottawa Hills 26, 9. New London 22, 10. Colonel Crawford 21, 32. Wynford 4, 33. Carey 4.

Friday’s individual finals results

200 dash: 8. Stuckey (W) 26.73.

400 dash: 2. Maris. Bonham (R) 57.39, 6. Stuckey (W) 59.33.

800 run: 9. Al. Woodruff (R) 2:28.49.

1600 run: 4. Al. Woodruff (R) 5:21.40.

300 hurdles: 5. Holsinger (C) 46.33.

1600 relay: 4. Riverdale (Vent, Berger, Al. Woodruff, Maris. Bonham) 4:03.39.

High jump: 13t. Berger (R) 4-8.

Long jump: 2. Maris. Bonham (R) 17-0.

Wednesday’s individual placers

3200 relay: 6. Riverdale (A. Woodruff, Boutwell, Vent, Maris. Bonham) 9:47.38.

Boys

Team results (top 10 and local)

1. Huron 69, 2. Margaretta 54, 3. Tinora 47, 4. Columbus Grove 44, 5. Carey 42, 6. Wayne Trace 41, 7. Lakota 38, 8. Liberty Center 32, 9. McComb 28, 10. Van Buren 20, 15. Riverdale 15.

Friday’s individual finals results

100 dash: 1. Phoenix (C) 10.95.

800 run: 8. Miller (C) 2:02.17.

1600 run: 6. Evans (R) 4:27.17, 11. Donaldson (R) 4:46.09.

3200 run: 3. Evans (R) 9:47.05.

110 hurdles: 6. Baker (C) 14.90.

300 hurdles: 1. Baker (C) 39.25.

400 relay: 4. Carey (Phoenix, Steen, Walter, Puckett) 43.86.

800 relay: 4. Carey (Phoenix, Baker, Walter, Puckett) 1:30.91.

High jump: 2. Phoenix (C) 6-4, 6. Dusseau (R) 6-1.

Shot put: 14. Berger (R) 43-0.