CAREY – Coming into Friday’s Northern 10 championships, Joey Bauer his Colonel Crawford boys had a good shot at repeating.
“We knew that we had studs in the hurdles and we had studs in the sprints, the relays are still really good, the throwers, distance, all of our field events,” he said.
OK, maybe he was confident the Eagles could defend their league title and earn their seventh Northern 10 championship since 2015. Colonel Crawford’s boys not only won the league at Carey High School, they ran away with it scoring a 169 to runner-up Seneca East’s 122.
“Galion was a great moment for our boys team,” Bauer said of last weekend’s Kiwanis Invitational. “The conditions were terrible but we had John (DeGray) run really well, Roen (Thew) ran well in the open hundred, Avery (Powers) went out and won long jump and the 300 (hurdles) against a really good Ashland kid.
“We’re ready to take off for postseason.”
Their ascent began with Dom Dean winning the shot put (52-0¾) and Powers taking long jump (20-06) by less than an inch. Dean was then runner-up in the discus, Jacob Cochran was third in high jump, Kyle Smith third in pole vault, Luke Christman fourth in discus, and Payne DeGray fifth in shot put.
When it came time to step on the track, Thew and Powers went head-to-head in the high hurdles finishing first and second and would do it again later on in the low hurdles again sweeping the top two spots, but they flipped places.
“Avery and Roen love to duke it out,” Bauer said. “Usually Roen gets him in the 110s and Avery gets him in the 300s, but today they knew it didn’t matter who got first or second, they just wanted to get first and second to make sure they sealed the deal and helped our team win.”
Cochran and John DeGray took the top two spots in the 400-meter dash while Thew and John DeGray were third and fourth in the 200 dash as was Shawn Auck and Isaac Stirm in the mile. Auck nabbed second in the two mile with Stirm fourth again. The quartet of John DeGray, Cochran, Lucca Troiano, and Kyle Smith were second in the 4×400; Tyler Lash, Powers, Hayden Spears, John DeGray third in the 4×200.
The girls saw their dominance come to an end scoring just 153.5 to Upper Sandusky’s 168. The Rams thwarted the Eagles from winning a seventh consecutive league title and what would’ve been their 10th since joining the N10, Upper Sandusky in 2018 is the only time Colonel Crawford hasn’t won the conference.
Colonel Crawford was led by Sydney Wirebaugh winning the discus (104-06) and Robin Ehmann winning shot put (36-01½).
“It feels good knowing that it’s my first year, all the coaches have been pushing me to do my best, so that’s what I came here to do,” Ehmann said.
Yes, she went from never throwing prior to this spring to league champ by three-and-a-half feet.
“It’s something new to me,” Ehmann said. “I was hesitant on doing it … but my friends and coaching kept pushing me to do it saying I’ll be good at it … I am, but there’s more work to be done next year.”
Emmi Powers won the high jump (5-00) and was second in long jump to teammate Brooklyn Good (14-10), and Cami Roston won pole vault (10-00) by a foot. Ella Agee took third in the 100 dash, Brynn Bruner and Rylinn Edgington second and third in the mile then fourth and fifth in the 800; Edgington second in the 3200 and Sydney Link fourth. Powers, Agee, Good, Sydney Rayborn were second in the 4×100, Bruner, Edgington, Alex Voll, Sophia Keller second in the 4×800.
Tiffin-bound Boggs sweeps long distance
A week ago Karter Boggs was putting the pen to paper to continue his running career at Tiffin University. Later that night he led the Redmen to a third consecutive Bob Knoll Invitational title at New London.
While his team wasn’t able to replicate that success at the Northern 10 meet, he was able to win the 1600 (4:29.29) and 3200 (9:55.08) completely unchallenged. Boggs won the mile by more than eight seconds and the two mile by 22 seconds, lapping four other runners along the way.
“I wish I would’ve ran quicker because I want to get my time down to be ranked number one in the state … it’s 4:18 and 9:16, I think I’m four or third in both,” he said. “And running it solo, it’s been like that this whole year so it’s hard to really get after it with good times. And we’re aways fighting weather for every meet … I ran a 4:24 in rain and wind, so PRs are decent, but they could be a lot better.”
And that’s what drew him to Tiffin in the first place, Boggs wants to keep working on reaching milestones he feels he’s capable of reaching.
“I decided to go to Tiffin because it’s close to home (and) they’re offering an amazing academic and athletic team,” he said. “I see a very good possibility for myself to grow as an athlete and ultimately get some barriers that I really want to get in running and academically. Their exercise health program is great and they have some amazing people that I’ve raced against over the years go there, so it’ll be fun to run with them and better myself.”
But before he can become a Dragon, he wants to become an All-Ohioan again … and then some.
“To be ranked where I am in the state running solo whereas every other guy in front of us is competing with some of the best runners not only in the state, but in the country … seeing how they’re doing comparative to how I’m doing is really exciting,” Boggs said. “The goal (next week at districts) for the 4×800 is to get the guys out because they’ve been so close every year. In the 3200 and 1600, I’m trying to win them and run 9:30s and under 4:20. There will be some good competition there, Colten Keller from Crestline, that guy’s a beast and I love racing against him.
“As the season progresses I just gotta keep going to try and get down to state for a championship. I’m seeded well, just gotta keep working.”
zholden@gannett.com | 419-617-6018 | Twitter/X: @Zachary_Holden
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Colonel Crawford boys defend N10 track title; girls see dominance end
Reporting by Zachary Holden, Mansfield News Journal / Mansfield News Journal
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