Local Athletes Compete at the Regional Meet

If you remember the Wide World of Sports show from back in the day, they mention the joy of victory and the agony of defeat. The Dixie boys track team got a flavor of both extremes this past week. For the second time in two weeks there would be a rare rerun of an event and again it would concern hurdles. This time around it was the 300m hurdle event was where there was a disqualification and rerun.

Local track teams sent their athletes to the South West Ohio Regional track meet in Troy. Several of them responded to the challenge of a tough regional meet and qualified to participate in the state track meet in Columbus. Athletes finishing in the top 4 places were tapped to continue the season for one more week. Here is a list of qualifying athletes: 1600m run George Holman TVS 3rd, 4X100 Relay Dixie 2nd (Andrew Barnet,Tony Prater, Ryan Jordan, Billy Hauser); Discus Myranda Schoen TCN 3rd; High Jump Skylar Reckers TVS 4th; Pole Vault Jordan Krickenbarger TVS 2nd.

Going into the 300m hurdle finals Dixie’s DeAaron Isaac looked like a shoe-in to qualify for state. He had the second fastest time in the preliminaries. And as the runners came around the curve and came down the last 100 meters, young Isaac had the lead. But as he crossed the next to the last hurdle, he clipped it. That may have thrown his stride off, because as he crossed the last hurdle he had a horrendous fall. He tumbled out of control and attempted to recover. He ended up crossing the finish line last – and since he crossed into another lane while attempting to recover, he ended up being disqualified completely. The race was rerun at the conclusion of the meet since the officials determined that another runner had been interfered when Isaac went into their lane.

So that certainly was an agonizing moment for DeAaron Issaac. The camera was on auto during that last 10 meters and it captures frame by frame an athlete desperately trying to get to the finish line, then agony as he realized that it is all for naught. But the young man is a junior and something tells me he will be back next season with more determination. There was joy for Dixie however as their blazing fast 4X100m team were Regional runnerups. This is an event where timing is everything as a slow hand off can drop a team off the victory podium. Billy Hauser stretched over the finish line 1/100 of a second faster than the Mechanicsburg anchor for the second place photo finish. Look for them and other local athletes to do well in Columbus next week.

Local teams fared as follows: TCN girls 23rd, TVS girls 34th, Dixie Girls 42nd.
TVS boys 8th Dixie boys 22nd.

Other local athletes that placed: 110m hurdles DeAaron Isaac Dixie 8th. Girls 4X100m relay TVS 6th (Hayley Glander,Jessica Hickey,Katherine Leach,Laura Ingram); 3200m run Josh Hemmelgarn TVS 6th. Long Jump Jacob Hemmelgarn TVS 7th; Shotput Jesse Koeller TVS 8th; Pole Vault Megan Uzzel Dixie 8th;

This years high school sports season is almost over. Pictures from this entire year are available at: http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=christ77&p=4010 Due to space limitations only a few pictures are selected for publication. So all pictures from an event are posted there. Past stories and other links of interest to local sports fans can be found at: http://christ77.tripod.com/sports.html. Comments: chrisaukcam@gmail.com

South Wins District Title
J. C. Tilton

To me this an exciting time of year, when young athletes are giving it their all in hopes of getting a district win and a chance to qualify for state. Local athletes had some outstanding performances in Welcome Stadiums Division III District track meet. South’s boys track team has been fighting injury all season, but were able to bring it all together when it counted to capture another District Title. Coach Fahrenholtz attributed the title to team work and a strong showing in the field events.

During the meet there was a rare runoff involving South’s Jordan Krickenbarger. He tied for 4th place in the 110m hurdles with a runner from Cedarville. The photo finish showed a tie between the two of them. Since the top 4 go to regionals, the officials stopped the meet and had a runoff between the two runners. It was a close duel until Krickenbarger clipped a hurdle about ¾ thru the race, throwing him off stride. Although he lost the runoff, Krickenbarger will still be attending the regional meet since he won in the pole vault.

Some highlights from the meet - DeAaron Isaac of Dixie had an outstanding day, qualifying in 3 events for the regionals. First in the 110m & 300m hurdles, 2nd in the 4X400m relay. Dixie’s 4X100mteam was a winner. North’s Myranda Schoen qualified in two events – winning the discus throw and runner up at shot. Dixie’s girls team sent 2 girls in the pole vault, Megan Uzzel, the district champ, and Lindsay Seim 3rd place. South’s boys team did the same on the boys side with Krickenbarger winning and 3rd place Ryan Burns qualifying. South’s Skylar Recker won the high jump. South’s George Holman was a two even qualifier – winning the 1600m run and placing 4th in the 800m run.

“It was a total team effort” stated Coach Fahrenholtz of South, “We scored in every field event. In fact every field event will have at least one person going to regional. Reckers won the high jump which was an upset over the jumper from Cedarville. George Holman had a tremendous meet – the key was the 800. He had won the 1600m and came back and scored high enough to put us over the top. He did it in 2:01 which is a super time. And in the 1600m run our freshman, Josh Perry, got a 6th place. Every time we can score two kids in an event like that, it helps put us on top. That’s how you win championships, its not always the guys that get first place, it’s also the guys that go out and get 5th and 6th places. That’s what makes it a good team effort”

Coach Via of Dixie was pleased with her pole vaulters. “Both of them were excellent today, one tied her personal best and the other set a personal best. Sherry Myers qualified for regionals in the high jump. A surprise was freshman Adrianna Frizzel, she qualified in the discus, we knew that she was capable and today she went out and did it. The 4X100 team had a heartbreaker, the 4th thru 7th place teams were with a few hundredths of a second. Overall I was happy with the teams performance.”

Jack Sturgill boys coach from Dixie was pleased with the athletes that are going to regionals. “Our relay teams did well today. Stapleton had one of his best times and qualified in the 1600m run. Several athletes had their best times all year. DeAaron Isaacs had one of his best meets this year with two firsts in the hurdles. We are looking forward to see what we can do in the regionals.”

Other local teams fared as follows: Girls – Dixie 6th, TCN & TVS 7th (tie). Boys - Dixie 4th. TCN – no points.

Local Results, top 4 finishers go to the Regional meet next week in Troy: Girls 4X800m relay TCN 4th; Boys 4X800m relay TVS 5th , Dixie 8th; 110m hurdles DeAaron Isaac Dixie 1st, Jordan Krickenbarger 4th(tie). 100m dash girls Jessica Hickey TVS 3rd, Katherine Leach TVS 6th; 100m dash boys Ryan Jordan 6th. 4X200m dash Girls TVS 4th. 4X200m dash boys Dixie 5th.

1600m run girls Abbey Schlater TCN 4th; Boys 1600m run: George Holman TVS 1st,William Stapleton Dixie 4th, Josh Perry TVS 6th. Girls 4X100m relay 2nd (Hayley Glander, Jessica Hickey, Katherine Leach, Laura Ingram), Dixie 7th. Boys 4X100m Dixie 1st (Andrew Barnett, Tony Prater, Ryan Jordan, Billy Hauser), TVS 7th.

400m dash girls Abby Voge TVS 6th. 400m dash boys Zach Grubb Dixie 8th. 300m hurdles boys DeAaron Isaac Dixie 1st. Jacob Hemmelgarn TVS 5th, Jon Nygen Dixie 8th. 800m Run girls Makayla Conley TCN 4th,Hayley Glander TVS 5th.Boys 800m run George Holman TVS 4th. Girls 3200m run Morganne Hammaker TCN 6th. Boys 3200m run Josh Hemmelgarn TVS 2nd,William Stapleton Dixie 7th. Girls 4X400m relay TVS 4th. Boys 4X400m relay Dixe 2nd(Doogie Hauser, Toney Prater, DeArron Isaac, Billy Hauser), TVS 8th.

Girls Discus Myranda Schoen 1st, Adrianna Frizzel Dixie 3rd, Bailey Judd TCN 4th. Boys Discus Dylan Steffy TVS 4th, Girls High Jump Sherry Myers Dixie 2nd(tie), Haleigh White Dixie 6th, Jordan Hickey TVS 7th. Boys High Jump Skylar Reckers TVS 1st. Girls Long Jump Emily Robbins TVS 6th, Sherry Myers Dixie 8th. Boys Long Jump Jacob Hemmelgarn TVS 2nd, Steve Balthis TVS 6th