PIQUA — Blanchester senior Joe Holcomb became the first Clinton County athlete to qualify for next week’s OHSAA state track and field championship meet at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
Competing at Piqua High School’s Alexander Stadium, Holcomb finished third in the Division II Region 8 discus competition with a throw of 143-5.
Holcomb will compete in Saturday’s shot put with a chance to qualify for the state meet in two events.
The top four in each event advance to the state meet. The Region 8 meet will continue Saturday at Alexander Stadium.
Several running events held preliminary heats and Clinton-Massie’s Luke Richardson advanced to Saturday’s finale in the 100-meter dash. Richardson, who came in to the regional with a district time of 11.4 seconds, was clocked in 11.36 seconds and was seventh overall. The fourth place time was 11.28 seconds.
The CM girls 4×100-meter relay team of Preslee Rolf, Courtney Gibson, Molly Lynch and Piper Hurlburt toured the Alexander Stadium oval in 52.19 seconds and finished fifth. They earned a place in Saturday’s final heat. The fourth place time was 52.11 seconds.
The Falcons 4×100-meter relay of the O’Bryon twins, Bailey Leforge and Richardson were eighth in 45.62 seconds and will run in the finals on Saturday. Their district time was 45.08 seconds.
While not qualifying for the state, the Blanchester girls 4×800-meter relay broke their own school record and lowered their district time by 25 seconds. The quartet of Mckenzie Hamm, Olivia Gundler, Savannah Rhodes and Emma Gundler ran 10:08.19 and finished ninth overall.
Their time from the district meet last week was 10:33.92 but BHS head coach Tony Blevins predicted his relay team would improve enough to battle for a place on the podium and improve their time considerably.
Clinton-Massie’s boys 4×800-meter relay team of Jacob Whitaker, Alex Hudson, Zach Chowning and Tanner Olberding was 10th overall in 8:44.4. They ran 8:26.31 last week at the district meet. The fourth place time on Thursday was 8:20.6.
In the girls shot put, Blanchester’s Regan Ostermeier was 11th with a distance of 34-11 while Clinton-Massie’s Jocelyn Burton was 14th with a best of 32-3.5. The fourth place distance was 37-0.5.
The Clinton-Massie boys 4×200-meter relay team of Devon O’Bryon, Cole O’Bryon, Christian Poynter and Richardson were ninth in 1:34.66. The top eight advanced to the finals and the eighth place time was 1:34.56.
Asia Baldwin of Blanchester was 12th in the preliminary heat of the girls 300-meter hurdles. She clocked a 49.11. The eighth place time was 47.16 seconds. Baldwin ran a 48.66 in last week’s district meet.
The Blanchester boys 4×400-meter relay quartet of Tanner Creager, Derick Bowman, Ricky Davis and Dylan Miller ran 3:41.84 and finished 14th on Thursday, failing to qualify for the finals. BHS ran 3:37.9 in last week’s district meet.
