CALEDONIA — Romy Yancey and Aycen Rich will always be answers to a trivia question.
Who were the first Marion Harding athletes to win events at the Marion County Track and Field Meet?
Yancey took the girls 100 meters in 13.03 seconds, then Rich did the same in the boys 100 with a time of 11.78.
“It’s great. I’m glad we got invited and were able to run,” Yancy said of her history-making finish.
The Marion County Meet, hosted May 6 at River Valley, is a remnant from a different era. It came out of the old Marion County League decades before consolidation finished in the early 1960s, changing the landscape of athletics in Marion County forever. Afterward, Ridgedale, Elgin and River Valley still met up with Pleasant annually.
Not part of the meet was Marion’s city school — until now.
Marion Harding already competes with River Valley and Pleasant in the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference, so the area’s athletic directors felt it was time to invite the Presidents and make it an all-encompassing Marion County Meet.
Rich was happy he could be that trivia question answer while accomplishing it at RV. His grandfather Dave Rich was the legendary girls track coach at River Valley for decades, a school where he father Josh and uncle Matt were also a standout athletes.
“It means a lot more,” Rich said of the venue and meet.
Both Yancy and Rich edged teammates as Carmen Parker ran 13.44 and Drake Holbrook ran 11.84 to end in second place.
“I didn’t think I was going to win it because Drake has always had a faster time than me, but I beat him today,” Rich said.
Both have goals as the MOAC Championships loom in Harding Stadium next week followed by the start of the postseason.
“Try my best and push as hard as I can to try to break a record for myself. I’m trying to push to get a PR and stuff,” Yancey said after nearly breaking 13 seconds for the first time in the 100.
Rich just wants to stay healthy, something he was unable to do all last year. With the OHSAA expanding divisions from three to five for track, Marion Harding will be dropping to Division II, avoiding the suburban Columbus behemoths.
“It helps a lot. We’re really confident,” he said.
Team results
Ridgedale won the boys championship with 94 points, while the Presidents ended with 78 points for a runner-up spot. River Valley was third with 70 points, while Pleasant had 61 and Elgin 47.
For the girls, River Valley scored 126 points in the win followed by 77 from Elgin, 76 from Pleasant, 75 from Marion Harding and 20 from Ridgedale.
Boys top two results
Girls top two results
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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Marion Harding makes its debut in Marion County Track and Field Meet
Reporting by Rob McCurdy, Marion Star / Marion Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
