PIQUA — Blanchester’s Joe Holcomb added to his state resume and Clinton-Massie’s Chris Demler authored a return trip effort Saturday at the Division II Region 8 Track and Field Championship at Alexander Stadium.
Demler, a senior, was runnerup in the high jump competition at the regional meet and will be going to Columbus for the state meet for the second straight year.
Holcomb, who qualified for state in the discus earlier in the week, was fourth in the shot put on Saturday. His first appearance at the state meet will be in two events.
The top four in each event at the regional meet advanced to the state meet.
Holcomb will compete in the shot put 9:30 a.m. Friday in the Div. II state then return at 9:30 a.m. Saturday for the discus competition. Demler also will compete 9:30 a.m. Saturday in the high jump.
The Clinton-Massie girls 4×100-meter relay team set a school record of 50.98 seconds. The quartet of senior Preslee Rolf, senior Courtney Gibson, freshman Molly Lynch and senior Piper Hurlburt finished sixth overall. The fourth place time was 50.22 seconds.
In the girls 3,200-meter run, Blanchester junior Savannah Rhodes finished in a school record time of 12:13.49, eclipsing her own BHS mark by 13 seconds set earlier in the season. While Rhodes finished 11th, the fourth place time was 11:21.21.
Clinton-Massie junior Luke Richardson was sixth in the 100-meter dash in 11.21 seconds. The fourth place time was 11.04 seconds.
The foursome of Cole O’Bryon, Devon O’Bryon, Bailey Leforge and Richardson were eighth overall in the boys 4×100-meter relay. The Massie squad clocked in at 44.79 seconds. The fourth place time was 44.27 seconds.
In the girls discus, a trio of Clinton County athletes were among the 16 competitors in the region. Blanchester sophomore Regan Ostermeier was ninth overall with a best of 107-8. Clinton-Massie senior Jocelyn Burton was 11th with a distance of 101-10. Camille Hughes, East Clinton freshman, did not place. She fouled on all three attempts. The fourth place distance was 116-10.
Rolf started her day Saturday in the pole vault and finished 11th by clearing 9-6. The fourth place height was 10-6.
Blanchester freshman Tanner Creager ran 2:02.26 and finished 14th in the 800-meter run. The fourth place time was 1:57.36.
Clinton-Massie freshman Patience Chowning qualified for the regional 1,600-meter run but chose not to compete in the event, CM coach Dean Richardson said.
Demler, who cleared 6-0 at last year’s state meet, reached a personal best of 6-4 at the Region 8 meet Saturday at Piqua High School. Demler cleared 5-8, 6-0 and 6-1 on his second attempt at each height but was clean at 5-10, 6-2 and 6-3. He then missed at 6-4 on his first attempt before clearing it on his second try.
Holcomb went 49-8.5 on his first attempt of the meet then 48-10.75 on his second. He then fouled on the next four tries but the first effort (49-8.5) was good enough to finish fourth and earn the BHS senior another event to continue practicing in the coming week.