Both FHS 4x1 teams qualify for state

DIVISION I AT HUBER HEIGHTS WAYNE HUBER HEIGHTS – Findlay High's boys and girls 400 relay teams both ran their way to state on Saturday.Findlay's boys 400 relay team of Carter Imke, Dominic Smith, Soni Hines and Greyson Geiser won a heated battle for second place in the Division I regional meet held at Huber Heights Wayne. Wayne won the event with a time of 41.57, with Findlay (42.24), Miamisburg (42.36), Olentangy Berlin (42.43) and Dublin Jerome (42.45) in a near photo finish for second.The top four teams and relays qualified for this week's state meet in Columbus.Findlay's girls 400 relay earned that fourth and final state bid, with Josey Weihrauch, Olivia Gayhart, Katelyn Carpenter and Mya Hammer posting a time of 49.12, half-a-second ahead of Clayton Northmont.Senior Natalie Gutman qualified for state as well by placing third in the 800-meter run with a personal best time of 2:13.56.A number of FHS athletes just missed state placings or were on the bubble for possible at-large bids. Madison Wheeler placed fifth in the discus (107-9) and Lexie Steffen was fifth in the pole vault (11-0). Gayhart tied for sixth (5-0) in the girls high jump.Distance runner Russell Stine had already qualified for stated after placing second in the 3,200. In other regional results on Saturday, Hines finished eighth in the 100 (10.80), Neeti Barot was eighth in the pole vault (10-0) and Tyler Strabley was 12th in the 800 (2:00.12). DIVISION V AT FOSTORIA (boys) FOSTORIA – The high jump approach and long jump runway became a launching pad for some high-flying jumpers when the Division V regional track meet was contested at Fostoria's Memorial Stadium.With bids to this week's state meet in Columbus on the line, some talented athletes soared to impressive heights. In the boys long jump, three athletes leapt past 23 feet. Columbus Grove's Trevon Baxter placed first with a mark of 23 feet, 8½ inches, with McComb's Carter Frater (23-2¾) and Columbus Grove's Gavin Baxter (23-2¼) a close second and third.Arlington senior Calvin Willow soared 6-8 in the high jump. Grove's Preston Ellerbrock also cleared that height, with Willow winning the regional title on makes and misses criteria.Competition on the track was intense as well.Carey's Tripp Phoenix placed second (11.17) and Trevon Baxter was fourth (11.28) in a 100-meter race where half a second separated the top seven runners.In the 200, where Trevon Baxter was third (22.29) and Arlington's Lucas MclLroy fifth (22.67), the fourth, fifth and sixth positions were divided by just .03 of a second.In a photo finish in the 110 hurdles, Gavin Baxter was first and Frater second. Both were timed in 14.36 seconds.In addition to his long jump victory and state-qualifying finishes in the sprints, Trevon Baxter ran a leg on Grove's regional championship 400 relay (42.99) with Gavin Barazza, Brody McCluer and Gavin Baxter.Phoenix, Dalen Walter, Mace Puckett and Lucas Smith-Hayward also qualified for state in the 400 relay (3rd, 43.47), with Phoenix, Walter, Smith-Hayward and Lincoln Ritter also advancing in the 800 relay (5th, 1:30.96).Pandora-Gilboa qualified two distance relays for state. Landen Moore anchored both relays to runner-up finishes, the 1,600 (3:24.95) with Camden Verhoff, Andrew Webster and Chase Meyer, and the 3,200 (8:08.99) with Adam Buell, jack Buell and Gavino Barrera.In other on-track events, Ada's Kayleb Hickman was second (49.74) and Hardin Northern's Riley Newton fourth (49.82) in the 400, Carey's Landyn Miller was second (1:56.53) and P-G's Adam Buell sixth (1:58.54) in the 800, and Grove's Caiden Squillante was second in the 1,600 (4:23.87). Cory-Rawson's Nathaniel Gregorowicz placed seventh in the 300 hurdles (40.54).Hopewell-Loudon's Aiden Ewald was a force in the weights, winning the shot put (60-1¾) and placing second in the discus (178-6) with his best throws of the season in both events. Patrick Henry's Grant Smith in the discus (170-7) and Jude Hudson in both the shot (53-10 and discus (161-7) had advancement throws as well.Also qualifying for state, according to regional site results, will be Phoenix (6-2) and Vanlue's Owen Roszman (6-2) in the high jump, Willow (21-6½) and P-G's Burkholder (21-6¼) in the long jump and Burkholder (13-8) and Grove's Conner Amstutz (12-6) in the pole vault.Columbus Grove swept regional titles on both the boys and girls sides. In a repeat of the Northwest Conference meet, Grove (70) defeated Allen East (42) for first place. Grove's girls (84) had an edge over Minster in a repeat of last week's district standings. DIVISION V AT FOSTORIA (girls) FOSTORIA – Columbus Grove placed first or second in all four relays and got a regional title from Kendal Palte in the 300 hurdles (45.04) in piling up enough points to win the Division V girls regional championship at Fostoria.Palte also anchored the first place 800 relay (1:43.75) that included Jade Roeder, Davinie Pingle and Liv Mayberry, and was on the second-place 400 relay (50.05) with Roeder, Brynn Halker and Allison Thompson.Roeder, Pingle and Mayberry also teamed with Lydya Sarka to capture the 1,600 relay (3:57.63), with Mayberry and Pingle placing second in the 3,200 relay (9:33.36) with Lily Montgomery and Sarah Kamphaus.Mayberry was second (2:17.90) and Pingle fourth (2:19.32) in the 800, Kamphaus was fifth in the 3,200 (11:41.84) and Bree Closson earned bids to the state meet with fifth-place finishes in the 100 hurdles (15.93) and 300 hurdles (46.64). Nicole Nesby was regional runner-up and a state qualifier in the shot (39-1½).Riverdale's Marissa Bonham qualified for state in four events, placing second in the high jump (5-4) and fourth in both the 200 (26.26) and 400 (58.43). Bonham also anchored the third-place 1,600 relay (4:01.52) that included Paige Vent, Emma Kammere and Tamijah Altvater. Vent, Annalese Woodruff, Summer Boutwell and Grace Driskill added a sixth in the 3,200 relay (10:10.09), finishing just ahead of North Baltimore (10:21.59) in that event.Van Buren's Kami Bowman earned her state bid by placing third in the 100-meter dash (12.70). North Baltimore's Ady Reynolds advanced with a fourth place finish in the 1,600 (5:15.67).Van Buren's Easton Wymer and Arcadia's Shai Watkins will be competing at state in two events. Wymer, with a throw of 137-9, edged Watkins (137-0) and Leipsic's Sydney Apple (125-2) to win the discus. Watkins also placed fourth (37-10¼) and Wymer sixth (37-1) in the shot.Qualifying for state with fourth place finishes were McComb's Makenah Hepperly in the high jump (5-2) and Hopewell-Loudon's Lily Brickner in the long jump (16-8¾). DIVISION V AT CUYSHOGA HEIGHTS CUYAHOGA HEIGHTS – Arlington's Alexis Grieser continued her lightning-bolt kind of season on Saturday when the freshman sprinter won regional titles in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and anchored a runner-up relay at the Division V track met held at Cuyahoga Heights.Grieser raced to winning times of 12.48 in the 100 and 25.83 in the 200. She also anchored the second place 400 relay (50.32) that included Paige Clevenger, Callie Hartman and Olivia Pepple.Grieser will represent Arlington in a fourth event at this week's state meet in Columbus and teaming with Clevenger, Hartman and Izzy Kretz to place fourth in the 800 relay (1:47.57).Carey's Elysa Holsinger punched her ticket to state in two events, placing second in the 300 hurdles (45.90) and fifth in the 1,600 relay (4:07.66) with Addison Baldrige, Bela Phoenix and Ema Ritter. DIVISION III AT PIQUA PIQUA – Ottawa-Glandorf's Alivia Grothause was a two-event individual champion and four-event state qualifier when the Titans competed in the Division III regional track meet in Piqua.Grothaus captured both sprints, winning the 100-meter dash in 12.10 seconds and running a time of 24.74 to nip Kettering Alter's Johanna Washington (24.77) at the wire in the 200.Grothause also teamed with Emma Heringhaus, Savannah Recker and Gracie Lammers on the championship 800 relay (1:41.86), and with Lammers, Recker and Madeline Liebrecht on the regional runner-up 400 relay (48.76).Brea Recker, Lammers, Liana Fortman and Heringhaus also qualified for state by placing fourth in the 1,600 relay (3:59.47). Upper Sandusky just missed advancing as well, finishing seventh (4:03.92).Savannah Recker leapt 18-0½ to place second in the long jump. Heringhaus was fifth in the 400 (56.87) and Fortman was eighth in the 800 (2:19.90).In Saturday's boys competition, O-G's Wyatt Croy was fifth (1:55.19) and Upper Sandusky's Franklin Arnold ninth (1:56.91) in the 800.O-G's Oscar Salsburey was sixth in the 110 hurdles and ninth in the high jump (6-0). Cooper Fischer was ninth in the 1,600 run (4:35.06).