PIQUA — When Ontario head coach Rachel Miller was filling out her cheat sheet for the Division III regional track and field championships at Piqua High School, she needed a double-sided printer by the time she was finished.
On Saturday, May 30, the Ontario Warriors’ depth was on full display as they brought home the boys team regional championship with a meet-best 57 points finishing just ahead of Valley View’s 53.
It is the first boys track regional team championship in program history and it was a complete team effort from top to bottom.
The Warriors will send state qualifiers in six individual events and three relays to compete at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the campus of The Ohio State University for the OHSAA state track and field championships.
And the Warriors only had one regional championship event.
“I think it speaks volumes to the depth of this team,” Miller said. “Last year, our girls team was very deep and now our boys are that and then some to the point we don’t need anyone to be a hero. We have a bunch of people who just show up and do their jobs.”
The 4×800-meter relay team of Xavier Trent, Michael Ward, Xander Chitwood and Jace Young was the lone regional championship for the Warriors. The team posted a 7:55.54 to take the title by more than four seconds.
Junior Jermel Powell had a massive day for the Warriors advancing to state in the 100-meter dash when he took seventh with a 10.98 to earn an at-large bid. Powell also took third in the 200-meter dash with a 22.14 to earn an automatic spot at state. He teamed up with Trevor Breitinger, Elton Toska and Tre Fowler on the 4×100-meter relay team that took second with a 42.43 to earn a state-qualifying spot and teamed up with Fowler, Brady Rowe and Toska on the 4×200-meter relay team that took third with a 1:28.91.
Powell has never been to the state track and field championships and now, he will be going in four events.
“I am just grateful for my coaches,” Powell said. “They believe in us so much and it makes it easy to go out and compete for them. We want to keep this momentum at state.”
Powell never finished higher than third individually and second on a relay team and yet, he scored a ton of points that made the difference in the team title.
“That guy stepped into the 200 seeded sixth and placed third,” Miller said. “We have people like that across the board. We had double qualifiers in this meet in the 100, the 200, the 800, the mile and the two-mile. That is rare. It makes it so no one has to be a hero.”
Young followed up his 4×800 championship with a third-place finish in the 800 with a 1:54.81 where he had to go wide out into Lane 5 over the last 100 meters of the race to pass people and earn a season-best time.
He claimed ‘it hurt’ over those last 100 meters.
“It was all worth it,” Young said. “That is what our program and our team is built on. We got hotels so we didn’t have to drive two hours back home Thursday and two more here today. All the people who showed up for us who weren’t competing just to support us, this one is for them.”
Fowler took sixth in the 100-meter dash with a 10.97 to earn an at-large bid to state.
Trent is moving on in the 1,600-meter run after taking third with a season-best 4:22.11.
Sophomore Maddix Smith is moving on in the boys discus competition after taking third with a personal-best toss of 161-feet rounding out a huge regional meet for the Warriors.
Ontario girls also show depth with one individual, two relay team qualifiers
Junior Audrey Mahon punched her ticket to state in the 100-meter dash by taking fourth with a 12.50. She joined Mia Moton, Tessa Crum and Sasha Bulakovski on the state qualifying 4×200-meter relay team that took second in the regional with a 1:41.91. Mahon, Crum and Bulakovski teamed with Kamryn Pelphrey to take second in the 4×400-meter relay with a time of 3:55.27. They will all be moving on to state next week.
Ontario Boys Track Championship History
Conference: 1961, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1984, 1992, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2024, 2025, 2026
District: 2024, 2026
Regional: 2026
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Ontario boys win Division III regional team title, girls send qualifiers
Reporting by Jake Furr, Mansfield News Journal / Mansfield News Journal
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