Area track athletes ready for regionals

0

Area athletes will be taking to the track and field for regional competition this week, with a state berth waiting for any able to seize the opportunity.

Urbana and Graham will compete in Division II at Lexington beginning on Thursday, with a trio of boys in action.

Nick Johnson will barrel his way down the straight in the 100-meter dash for Urbana, while Graham’s George Bugg will compete in the 110-meter hurdles. The Falcons’ Tyler Powell will run in both the 400 and 200 dashes.

In Division III, West Liberty-Salem will be the local team to watch at Troy beginning on Wednesday, although Triad and Mechanicsburg also have athletes in action.

For the Tigers, the girls advanced high jumper Janie Kopus and vaulter Lydia Moell to the meet, along with all four relay teams and both Reghan Bieleski and Grace Adams in the 3,200.

“Obviously, when you make it to the regional level, you want to advance to state. The girls definitely put themselves in the thick of things and have the opportunity to advance to state in several events,” WL-S Girls Coach Ann Vogel said. “We are striving to keep our focus on being effort driven and not outcome driven. If we focus on the little things, the outcome will take care of itself.”

The WL-S boys will have Christian Parker in the 100, Raiph LeVan in the 200 and 400 and Noah Smith in the 3,200, as well as the 4×200 team of Parker, Konner Smith, Ian Wolfe and LeVan and the 4×800 team of Michael Conley, Jordan Lewis, Isaac Smith and Sam Strickland.

“For every one of our regional qualifiers, the goal is to place in the top four. Our sprinters have to go through a prelim race to do that, so they are focused on advancing to the finals,” WL-S Boys Coach Joe Taylor said. “We have nine guys competing at the regional meet and none of them have ever had the chance to compete at this level in track, so there is a chance that there could be some nerves.”

Mechanicsburg’s Bryce Waring will join Parker in the 100 and Triad’s Eli O’Brien will join LeVan in the 200. The Indians also have a 4×100 relay team in the field, as well as vaulters Joey Mascadri and Frank Magyar and long jumper Emily Wilson.

BOSS summer run

The 2017 BOSS 5K Summer Run and 1 Mile Big Orange Fun Run for runners 10 and under will be held Saturday, Aug. 19 at Lions Park in West Liberty. The fun run will begin at 8:30 a.m. and the 5K race at 9 a.m. The entry fee for the 5K is $20 if registered by Aug. 12 and $25 on race day. The fun run entry fee is $5. All participants registered by Aug. 12 will receive a race shirt. Cash prizes will be awarded to the top 3 male and female finishers. Gift certificates will be awarded to age group winners and all runners will receive a race medal. Online registration is available at RunSignUp, with all proceeds benefiting the West Liberty-Salem cross country program. For more information, contact Ann Vogel at [email protected] or (937) 465-0931.

By Justin Miller

[email protected]

Reach Justin Miller at 652-1331 (ext. 1776) or on Twitter @UDC_Miller

No posts to display