The Rossford High School boys varsity track team finished third of 11 teams at the Division II district track meet at Oak Harbor last Thursday and Saturday.
The team scored 69 points–missing runner-up status by just one point, making it one of the best district finishes for a Bulldog boys team in years.
“The boys had a historic district meet,” Head Coach Todd Eckel said. “Our boys were able to finish first in several events and advance several individuals to regionals along with two relay teams.”
Leading the way were seniors Jamari Croom and Ethan Neblock.
Croom was electrifying in the sprints as he won both the 100m and the 200m dashes without much challenge, finishing with times of 11.10 and 22.64, respectively.
Croom lent his speed to the 4x200m relay team, which qualified by finishing in fourth place with a time of 1:31.95. He runs the second leg combined with teammates Nito Hernandez, Herb Eckhart and Nate Gladieux.
The same group attained a school record during the 4x100m relay in preliminaries Thursday with a time of 43.71; but in a highly competitive field, the team was unable to qualify in Saturday’s finals. While Croom led the
While Croom led the sprints, Neblock ruled the distance events.
He strode to a victory in the 1600m run in 4:29.94. Then he edged out his competition to grab the win in the 3200m run as well, running a 10:09.61.
Neblock anchored the qualifying 4x800m relay team with fellow runners Dylan McCann, Malachi Shugert and Ian Clark as they ran a time of 8:23.84 for a second place finish.
“With Neblock and Croom, it is possible that this could end up being the most dominant record-breaking season in school history,” Eckel said. “Six or seven all-time records could end up on our record board with the year 2021 next to it.”
Also qualifying as individuals for the Bulldogs was McCann in the 800m. He ran a 2:05.78, good enough for a fourth place finish; and Shugert took third place in the 3200m run with a time of 10:23.56.
The girls varsity team boasted one qualifier. Senior Madison Stacey raced to a third-place finish in the 200m dash in a time of 26.73.
As a team, the girls finished 10th, and fell short of qualifying by one place in several events.
“The girls team fought through several injuries this season,” Eckel explained. “It definitely didn’t go as planned, but we were able to salvage some things by the end.”
The coach was pleased that all three sprint relay teams qualified for the finals, and two–the 4x100m and the 4x200m teams–all ran season best times.
“I wish we had another couple of weeks to train as some of our athletes are just starting to get healthy again,” Eckel added.
The Bulldogs travel to Lexington High School for the regional meet today, May 27 for prelims and again on Saturday for the finals. The top four finishers in each event qualify for the state meet in Columbus.