Bloomer, Koch win Division II field event championships

During the Division II regional track meet in Lexington, Ohio, Oak Harbor senior Peyton Bloomer and Genoa senior Noah Koch came back with championships.
        Both qualified for the state meet at Ohio State University’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium this past weekend.
        Oak Harbor led the area with 10 girls state qualifiers in nine events and five boys state qualifiers in five events.
        The Oak Harbor girls finished as regional runner-up, out of 35 teams scoring, with 53½ points to place behind champion Norwayne (65).  Eastwood (7 points) was 26th and Lake (6) was 27th.
        In the boys regional, Genoa finished sixth, scoring 33 points, mostly behind Koch’s two championships. Out of 42 teams scoring, Shelby (77) was the champion. Oak Harbor (28) finished eighth and Eastwood (17) was 13th.
In the shot put and discus, Koch and Eastwood senior Erik Fertig placed one-two, both qualifying for Columbus. In the shot, Koch threw 57 feet, 7¾ inches and Fertig had a throw of 55 feet. Fertig won last year’s regional championship with a toss of 53-1¾.
In the discus, Koch won his second straight regional title, tossing 186-4 to beat last year’s mark of 171 feet. Fertig tossed 169-3. The regional record is shared by Eastwood’s Justin Welch and Fostoria’s Cory Echelberry, who both tossed 195-5 — Welch in 2010 and Echelberry in 1999.
In the girls meet, Bloomer won the high jump with a leap of 5-3, one inch short of what Eastwood’s Katelyn Meyer jumped (5-4) to win last year’s regional, and one inch more than second place Janiece France (5-2), an Akron Manchester junior. Oak Harbor sophomore Emma Zibbel cleared 5-1 to finish fourth and also qualified for state.
Other Oak Harbor girls qualifiers to state were juniors Sophia Eli (4x100 relay), Hope Sievert (800, 4x400), and Emily Wolf (discus, shot put), sophomores Abby Below (400, 4x400), Paige Clune (4x100), Emily Haar (4x400), Elayna Krupp (100, 4x100 relay, 4x400 relay) and freshman Hannah Schulte (4x100).
Wolf was third in the discus with a toss of 120-7, four feet short of champion Kaylyn Barnette, a Perkins junior, who tossed 124-7. In the shot, Wolf’s toss of 39-4 was good enough for fourth, just short of Bexley junior Nye Harris (40-2).
Krupp placed fourth in the 100 (12.74), less than a second behind the champion and new regional record holder, Beechcroft junior Makiya Montgomery (11.77).
Krupp was joined by Eli, Clune and Schulte on the 4x100 relay that finished in 49.42, less than half a second behind the championship team from Galion (49.03).
Below placed fourth in the 400, finishing in 59.75, which his less than a second behind Norwayne junior Sarah Schmidt, who won a regional title in 58.81. Sievert was fourth in the 800, crossing the line in 2:18.52, less than four seconds behind Shelby senior Makenna Heimlich, who won in 2:14.64.
Haar, Sievert, Below and Krupp teamed up for the 4x400 relay team that finished third, crossing in 4:03.52, less than three seconds behind the championship team from Norwayne (4:00.79).
The Lake 4x200 relay team, senior Mya Staczek, junior Colette Askins and freshmen Ava Ayers and Olivia Hayward finished fourth at the regional with a time of 1:46.32, just over three seconds behind the championship team from Norwayne (1:43.31).
 
Five more Rockets at state
Competing for the Oak Harbor boys team at state were seniors Brandon Elmes (110 hurdles, 300 hurdles, 4x100, 4x400), Nick Pfeiffer (4x200, 4x400), and Ajay Riechman (4x200, 4x100, 4x400) and juniors Aidan Barton (4x200, 4x100) and Tyler May (4x200, 4x100, 4x400).
At the regional, Elmes was runner-up in the 300 hurdles, finishing in 39.66, just over a second behind Huron junior Jimmy Harkelroad (38.04). Elmes finished fourth in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.06, a split second behind champion Keandrea Marlow, an Ontario senior (14.92).
Pfeiffer, Riechman, Barton and May teamed up on the 4x200 relay team that finished as regional runner-up, crossing the line 1:29.31, just over one-fifth of a second behind the championship team from Columbus Bishop Hartley (1:29.09).
The state qualifying 4x100 team consisted of Elmes, Riechman, May and Barton, which finished sixth at the regional with a time of 43.16, less than a second behind the champions, also from Bishop Hartley (42.62).
The 4x400 team consisted of Pfeiffer, May, Elmes and Riechman, placing fifth at the regional with a time of 3:26.26, less than three seconds back of the champions from Huron (3:23.41).
Genoa senior Sean Hoeft qualified for state in the 800, finishing fourth at the regional in 1:57.12, over four seconds behind Shelby senior Blake Lucius, who won in 1:53.6.
Genoa senior Christian Pearson qualified for state in the long jump after placing as regional runner-up with a leap of 21-3½, less than one foot short of Galion freshman Hanif Donaldson (22-4).