Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Oak Harbor senior Tyler Thompson was named the Northern Buckeye Conference's Athlete of the Year, while his teammate, Wyatt Augsburger, earned the distinction of being the Athlete of the Meet as the duo led the school’s boys track & field team to a league title on May 16.
It was the third consecutive conference championship for the Rockets, and the second in a row in the NBC. Oak Harbor finished with 139 points, just ahead of Eastwood, which came in second with 133 points. Lake finished third and Genoa came in fifth.
"I was very pleased with a lot of guys on relays who really stepped up —the 4x100, 4x200, 4x400 and 4x800 that weren't in an open event, but really came out there and (succeeded)," Oak Harbor coach Andy Augsburger said. "We know we have fast kids. We fought through a little bit of adversity at that meet.
“On Wednesday in the prelims, some field events didn't go our way, which happens, and for the guys to step up and take ownership and try to earn another NBC title, I was extremely proud of them for doing that. On Friday night, it showed how well some of them had been training. I was very happy with the performance. Wednesday was good, but you never know when things aren't going to go your way."
Thompson won the 100 meters in 11.3, and he took second in the 400 in 49.78, where he broke the meet record, as did the winner Genoa's Nathan Kesler, who ran a 49.71. And in the 200, Thompson was third in 22.95. He leaves the NBC with four league records. In addition to winning the 400, Kesler came in second in the 200 in 22.93, and teammate R.J. Adkins was third in the 100 in 11.49.
"(Thompson) has had a phenomenal season. I think he's had four or five meet records," Andy Augsburger said. "He's an NBC record holder, he nearly broke the NBC record in the 400. Kessler barely beat him out in the 400.
"I asked (Thompson) to do something for the team, which was run the 100, 200 and 400 and possibly the 4x400 relay, and that's the way we could earn the most points. He probably could've run the 4x100 and been Athlete of the Meet."
Wyatt Augsburger, a junior, broke two records that had stood for at least a decade. He won the 110 hurdles in 14.28, which followed him breaking a 10-year record held by Eastwood legend Devin Snowden. Augsburger also finished first in the 300 hurdles in 38.12, which broke a record held by Snowden for 12 years.
Augsburger finished second in the 100 in 11.21 and was part of the winning 4x100 relay team that included Micah Miller, Ayden Gaskalla and Zavier Hess and finished in 43.60.
Eastwood's Andre Lewis had a good showing, finishing third in the 300 hurdles in 40.14 and third in the 110 hurdles in 15.65.
In the shot put, Eastwood's Hunter Lauer had a throw of 52-01.50, and was followed closely by Lake's Matt Nietz, who had a toss of 51-05.50. The two flipped spots in the discus with Nietz winning (154-09) and Lauer coming in second (152-05). Oak Harbor's Travis Bouyer was third with a throw of 147-01.
Genoa's Colby Ralston finished second in the long jump with a leap of 21-08.00, followed by Lake's Brady Hayward (21-04.00).
In the pole vault, Eastwood's Hayden Hoelter finished first with a jump of 13-00.00, followed by teammate Cullen Shank, who had a jump of 12-06.00. Oak Harbor's Blake Nickel lost a tiebreaker to Shank and finished third.
Hayward came in second in the 110 hurdles in 15.49, and Eastwood's Lewis finished third in 15.65. Lewis was also third in the 300 hurdles in 40.14.
Lewis' teammate, Dayquan Oliver, won the 200 in 22.65.
Lake's Micah Balsmeyer won the 3200 in 10:06.18 and came in third in the 1600 (4:40.67), 12 seconds behind his teammate, Luke Steep, who won in 4:28.76.
Oak Harbor's Bodee Miller finished second in the 800 (1:58.40) and Eastwood's Henry Howard was third in 2:02.94.
In the relay, the Rockets took first in the 4x200 in 1:31.85 with Nickel, Zavier Hess, Kason Marshall and Micah Miller getting the job done. The Eagles finished first in 8:13.13 in the 4x800 relay and the Comet quartet of Kesler, Luke Schimmoeller, Sam Buehler and Adam Knight were first in 3:24.77.
Roberts, James place first for Clay
In the Northern Lakes League Cardinal Division Championship, Ben Roberts and Barack James each finished first to help pace Clay, while Evan Harvey and Derek Harmer had runner-up finishes. The Eagles finished third in the division as a team behind Fremont Ross and Southview.
Roberts won the 800 in 1:55.50 and James took first in the 110 hurdles in 14.71. Harvey was second in the 300 hurdles in 41.92 and Harmer finished second in the high jump with a leap of 6-2.
Logan Davis, Cash Mahr and Justin Lajti all finished third respectively, in the pole vault (12-0), the discus (142-2) and shot put (47-5.75).
The 4x400 relay team from Clay also finished first with a time of 3:26.73.
Wilson, Greene stand out in TAAC
Local standouts King Wilson of Cardinal Stritch and TaeVe'ion Greene of Northwood had great showings at the Toledo Area Athletic Conference Championship.
Wilson won the long jump with a leap of 20 feet, 8 inches, took first in the 200 in 23.14 and was second in the 100 in 11.67. As for Greene, he was first in the 110 hurdles in 15.90, second in the 300 hurdles in 43.75 and third in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 4 inches.
Northwood's Gabe Lewin won the pole vault with a leap of 12 feet, and teammate Nick Reinhart was third (10-6). Four more Rangers finished in third place — Brayden Lagrange (56.76 in the 400; 108-9 in the discus); Jeremy Watts (24.76 in the 200); Konnor Moyer (2:17.66 in the 800); and Julien Chappell (36-4 in the shot put).
Woodmore, Gibsonburg nab top 3 finishes in SBC
Lakota won the Sandusky Bay Conference River Division championship with 163 points, followed by Woodmore (89) and Gibsonburg (83) in the 10-team field.
The Wildcats got a first-place finish from Drake Blausey in the 400 (49.83), Landon Rich was second in the 100 (11.47) and Brady Thatcher took second in the 300 hurdles (44.68). The 4x400 relay team of Blausey, Thatcher, Coleton Shaner and Adyn Smith won in 3:30.41 as did the 4x200 relay team of Blausey, Rich, Ish Nagy and Myles Byrd, which finished in 1:32.33, just 0.02 of a second ahead of Lakota.
"We knew finishing in the top three was a possibility going into the week, but Lakota was probably going to run away with it, so second was a great finish," Woodmore coach Lacy Seamans said. "It was also the best finish by the boys team since 2005 when we were in the SLL. We scored in every event area and the boys relay teams really over-performed.
"Drake had a bit of pressure on him coming in as not the top seed, but a returning champ and he came away with three golds and snuck some points in the 800. He was feeling a little questionable after the 400, where he set a school record, but really tied up in the last few meters. Landon is a kid that always wants to win and that showed on Friday. He was probably a little upset with his times and places in the open races but the coaching staff was thrilled with the meet he put together. Both of them are real leaders on our team.
“Other standouts would be Brady Thatcher taking second in the hurdles. He just started hurdling a few weeks ago and he also scored in the long jump in his third meet attempting that. He's a kid we can put in almost any event and he'll score. Ryan Maynard in the shot put taking fourth was a big improvement from his placing last season."
For the Golden Bears, Anthony Caprara won the 1600 (4:28.41) and the 3200 (9:44.01) as he continues to shine.
"I was extremely pleased to say the least,” Caprara said. “I've been happy to see how the cross country season's success has rolled into track. It's been a dream come true to see how the adversity I went through last year has manifested into triumph in the postseason."
Teammate Grant Dawson won the high jump with a leap of six feet and was second in the long jump with a leap of 21 feet.
"I can 100 percent agree with the coaches in saying that the entire team excelled beyond what was expected of them at the league meet," Caprara said. "You could tell everybody was hungry for success as the postseason began and wanted to perform at their peak. That drive showed in every athlete."
Waite’s Valdez dominates
Waite senior Elias Valdez won three races at the Toledo City League Championship.
For the third consecutive season, Valdez won the 1600 in 4:49.58, the 800 in 2:02.53 and the 3200 in 10:45.23. He also competed on Waite’s 3200 relay team that finished in second place.
