UTICA — The Utica High School boys track and field team defended its Utica Invitational title successfully on Thursday night. The Redskins beat out Loudonville and three other competitors on their home track. Lakewood took the girls title.
Propelled by seven first-place finishes, Utica (185) finished comfortably ahead of the Redbirds (145). Lakewood’s boys were third (88), Centennial fourth (59.5) and Centerburg finished fifth (86).
“We did pretty well for it being our first meet,” said Utica coach Dan Scholl. “It is a good learning experience for us. We had to learn where our strengths and weaknesses are.
“The competition was pretty good. The other teams were perfectly matched for us.”
The Lakewood girls won a much closer competition, edging Centennial, 146-121. Utica finished third (111), Loudonville was fourth (86) and a depleted Centerburg squad took fifth (53). Lakewood won just one event (4x800 relay), but took the overall title.
“I thought it went actually well,” said Centerburg coach Rob Wood. “The kids performed well individually. We had a lot of kids out on spring break, so I am pleased with how we did. … We weren’t going to place well as a team because we had so many kids gone, but we had a good performance.”
Utica’s strong outing started in the field events and carried over onto the track. Jake Torrens won the pole vault with a measurement of 11 feet. Travis Lee and Brandon Baker finished 1-2 in the high jump. Lee cleared 5-feet-9 while Baker cleared 5-feet-7. B.J. Douglas won the boys long jump, finishing with a leap of 19-feet-5, and Baker was third at 18-feet-7. Loudonville’s Mack Taylor won the boys discus with a toss of 127 feet. Utica’s Austin Boggs was second at 108-feet-4. In the shot put, Cooper Charlton of Loudonville took second with a throw of 42-feet-10 1/2, and Boggs was third at 38-feet-7.
On the track, the Redskins got first-place performances from Austin Morgan (110-meter hurdles, 16.85 seconds); Andy Moone (200-meter dash, 24.14 seconds); the 4x100-meter relay team of Matt Wilson, Cody Cline, Douglas and Moone (46.19 seconds); and the 4x200-meter relay team of Wilson, Cline, Toby Moone and Andy Moone (1:37.35).
Loudonville also had strong finishes in the 100-meter dash (Kyle Glasner, first, 11.78 seconds; Ryan McFadden, second, 11.99 seconds), 1,600-meter run (Bryan Derr, first, 5:03.17), 300-meter hurdles (Nick Kopp, first, 42.88 seconds), 800-meter run (Derr, first, 2:06.24), 200-meter dash (Glasner, second, 24.26 seconds) and the 4x800-meter relay (Kopp, Jace Wolford, Keith Lemke and Derr, 8:49.88).
The Centerburg Trojans weren’t totally devoid of strong performances either. Kyle Burke took second in the 800-meter run (2:06.91), and Eddie Fair had a third- and a fourth-place finishes in the 100-meter dash and 110-meter hurdles (12.32 seconds and 18.05 seconds), respectively. The 4x400-meter relay team also finished third (3:46.99).
On the girls side, the Utica girls won four events, but it was Centerburg freshman Kayla Bosworth that stole the show. Bosworth won the 100-meter dash (13.62 seconds) and the 200-meter dash (28.66 seconds), and was runner-up in the 400-meter dash (1:01.98). Cameron Walker also posted a victory in the 300-meter hurdles for the Trojans (53.34 seconds).
Leading Utica’s strong finish was Kristina Buena in the pole vault. Buena won by defeating Loudonville’s Sasha Morris and Lakewood’s Darrlynn Crook at a height of 6-6. Utica’s Calyn Rowley won the high jump at 4-feet-7 after Lakewood’s Chelsea Coon missed her attempt at 4-feet-7. Danielle Doup of Utica finished third (4-feet-6). In the discus, Alex Lorenza of Utica out-threw Loudonville’s Angela Mathie and Melina Brown with a toss of 87-feet-9. Mathie took second at 80-feet-10, and Brown was third at 78-feet-3. Mathie won the shot put with a toss of 31-feet-11 1/2. In the long jump, Loudonville’s Mary Rienthal took first place, leaping 15-feet-4.
On the track, Utica’s Amber Minton had strong finishes in both hurdle events. She won the 100 hurdles with a time of 18.12, and took second to Walker in the 300 hurdles (55.10 seconds).
“Kyle Burke improved; Kayla Bosworth continued to get better and she is only a freshman; and Cameron Walker had a good meet,” said Wood. “We had several others that performed well. Overall, we really ran well. … It is very, very important to continue improving. From what I saw tonight, we are improving dramatically, and that is really encouraging to me as the coach.”
Thursday’s meet was an inside look for the three Mid-Buckeye Conference teams. They were able to measure up the competition they will see later in the season.
“I really want our kids to be able to take their gifts and abilities and maximize those to their full potential,” said Scholl. “We have good numbers — 25 to 30 girls and 40-plus boys — so we can do some different things. We’ll just have to see how it goes.”
