PHOTOS by Marvin Foster / CLICK to enlarge

Fleming, 2 relays, Matthews in Friday finals; Rehm gets 9th in PV  

By Cort Reynolds

COLUMBUS – The Bluffton High School track and field team had several standout athletes compete well on day one of the Div. IV state meet at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus on Thursday, June 4. 

Pirate sophomore ace Maelee Miller and senior speedster Kain Wright both advanced to two final events Friday with strong showings in preliminary round heats.

MAELEE MILLER
Miller won heat two and posted the third-best time at 15.03 out of 17 runners in the girls 100-meter hurdles preliminaries Thursday afternoon. Her qualifying time was .16 behind the top two finishers in heat one. 

The 100-meter hurdle girls final is at 2 p.m. Friday. By virtue of winning her heat, she will be in lane five next to heat one winner Pazeley Whiteley of Union Local in lane four.

In the 400-meter semifinals on Thursday afternoon, Miller won heat two and finished second out of 17 sprinters with a time of 57.07. Only fellow soph Meena Abdul-Basser of Beachwood crossed the line ahead of her in 54.83.

The 400-meter girls finals are at 3:05 p.m. Friday. Miller will be in lane five at the final race next to Basser in four.

KAIN WRIGHT
Pirate senior speedster Kain Wright won heat one and captured second overall out of 17 sprinters in the 100-meter dash prelims with a time of 10.72. Nathan Lennon of Gilmour Academy, who captured heat two, was first overall at 10.68. 

The 100-meter dash boys finals are at 2:12 p.m. Friday. Wright will be in lane five next to Lennon in lane four.

In the 400-meter semifinals, Wright took first in heat one with a time of 48.32, and had the second-best time in a field of 16 runners. Only Beau Helser of North Adams was ahead of him in the prelim heats with a time of 47.09.  

The 400-meter boys finals are at 3:07 p.m. Friday. Wright will be in lane five next to Lennon in lane four.

LILIANA FLEMING
Pirate freshman Liliana Fleming came in fifth overall out of 18 runners in the 300-meter hurdles semifinal on Thursday. She posted a time of 46.21 to finish third in heat one and qualify for the 300 hurdle finals Friday.  

Fleming will be in lane two of the nine-girl finals Friday at 3:10 p.m. Hannah Watson of Columbus School for Girls is first after winning the prelims in 45.14.

NORA MATTHEWS
Bluffton junior middle distance ace Nora Matthews will run in the 1600-meter final Friday at 2:35 p.m. She qualified with the second-best time in the state field of 18 after registering a personal-best time of 5:02.1 at regionals.

Huron’s Rylie Towns has the number one qualifying time in the 18-runner state field at 4:59.71.

Matthews also competes in the 800-meter finals Friday at 3:20 p.m. She qualified with a season-best time of 2:16.86 at the Marion regionals. Her top time ranks sixth out of 18 qualifiers in the state finals.

Addyson Abner of Valley View has the top-seeded time of 2:10.29.

BOYS 4X400
The Pirate boys 4x400 relay foursome of Kohen Anderson, Wright, Calvin Derstine and Ethan Sprunger took fifth overall out of 17 teams in a time of 3:24.81. They took third in heat one to qualify for the 1600 relay finals Friday at 4 p.m.

Miami East crossed the line first in the 4x400 prelims in 3:20.81. The Pirate quartet will be in lane two of the nine-squad field.

GIRLS 4X200
The girls 4x200 relay quartet of Gracie Warren, Fleming, Aubrey Burkholder and Miller took ninth out of 18 teams in the semifinals Thursday afternoon to narrowly advance to the finals with a time of 1:45.26.

Coldwater’s Ava Schmitmeyer won the state pole vault crown with a best effort of 12-8.

The Pirate foursome finished third in heat two to qualify as the ninth seed in lane nine at the nine-team 4x200 finals Friday at 2:18 p.m.

TAYTE GIESIGE
Junior Tayte Giesige will compete in the long jump Friday at 9:30 a.m. he is seeded 11th out of 18 competitors.

BEKAH REHM
On Thursday afternoon, Pirate junior Bekah Rehm earned a ninth-place showing out of 16 competitors in the pole vault finals with a top effort of 11-0, tying her personal-best height clearance.

Rehm cleared 9-0 and 9-6 on her first try at each height. She missed on her first attempt at 10-0, but cleared 10-0 on her second try. She was then successful on her first attempt to surpass the 10-6 barrier.

At 11-0, Rehm missed on her first try but she equaled her personal-best by clearing 11 feet on the second attempt. At the next level of 11-4, she missed three times in a row to be knocked out.

BOYS 4X200
The Bluffton boys 4x200 relay quartet of Lleyton Miller, Xavier Navarro, Tayte Giesige and Kohen Anderson finished fifth in heat one and 11^th out of 18 teams with a time of 1:31.09. They missed making the nine-squad finals by two spots and .74.

GIRLS 4X800
In the 4x800 relay finals early Thursday afternoon, the Bluffton girls team of Phoebe Edwards-Leeper, Tessa Tarplee, Georgia Hagen and Nora Matthews finished 12^th out of 18 teams with a time of 9:55.57.

The foursome from Huron won the 4x800 relay title in 9:13.92.

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