COLUMBUS — The Shelby Whippets saw how amazing it can be when they are at full strength.
The 4×100-meter relay team of Brady Bowman, Renner Gano and Gavin Baker got Brayden DeVito back from a hamstring injury that sidelined him for much of the postseason and saw an instant boost as they won the Division III state championship with a new Division III state meet and overall Division III record time of 41.30. It is just the third relay state championship in Shelby boys track program history.
The Whippets came in as the No. 5 overall seed with an entry time of 42.17 posted at last week’s Division III regional meet. They dropped nearly an entire second in the state finals. How does that happen?
“This guy came back healthy,” Baker said. “That really is a huge difference. We were lucky enough to get Brayden back from his hamstring injury. He stepped up. All glory to God. We prayed before the race and he watch over us as he gave us this win.”
DeVito ran just his seventh relay with his teammates this season in the state finals and hadn’t attempted to run in a month. The runner-up for the Ohio Mr. Football award in the fall, DeVito wanted to come out and give it his all one last time.
“I knew the opportunity we had in front of us to go out with our brotherhood,” DeVito said. “I owed it to these guys to come back as strong as I could because they worked so hard to get us here. I wasn’t able to run in districts or regionals and Luke Blevins deserves a huge shoutout for running in my place. I knew I had to leave it all on the line in my very last race. I have been blessed with a lot of accomplishments, but a track state championship was missing and it feels great to get it.”
Bowman was the tone-setter of the race getting his team out to a commanding lead after the first leg. He was instrumental in the Whippets dropping their season-best time by 1.16 seconds.
“It was so important to break down that stagger and get us in good position,” Bowman said. “That’s all I was trying to do in the first leg and then trust my teammates to do the rest.”
The title came after a nearly four-hour weather delay to the start of the Division III finals. The Whippets didn’t take the track until around 10 p.m., but their race lit up the night sky over Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
“It was so difficult to remain patient and believe we were even going to run tonight,” Gano said. “When we got word the meet was happening, we got our stretches in and came out here and took off. There isn’t a better group of guys to do this with.”
The same quartet finished fourth in the state last year to earn back-to-back All-Ohio honors. The team brings back everyone except DeVito for a run at three straight and a repeat state title next season.
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Shelby Boys Track and Field Championship History
Individual State Champions: Dick Whitney, 1941, 440-yard run; Jason Mueller, 1997 and 1999, 3,200-meter run; Jason Mueller, 1998, 1,600-meter run; Austin Wechter, Robbie Lash, G. Evans, Andrew Wechter, 2003, 4×400-metee relay; Austin Wechter, 2003 and 2004, 110-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles; Andrew Wechter, 2004, 400-meter dash; Uriah Schwemley, 2018, High Jump; Caleb Brown, 2019, 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter run; Blake Lucius, 2019, 800-meter run; S. Logan, S. Swanger, Caleb Brown, Blake Lucius, 2019, 4×800-meter relay; Brayden DeVito, Renner Gano, Brady Bowman, Gavin Baker, 2026, 4×100-meter relay.
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Shelby boys 4×100 relay breaks Division III record, wins state title
Reporting by Jake Furr, Mansfield News Journal / Mansfield News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jake Furr, Mansfield News Journal | USA TODAY Network
