McComb's Bailey, other athletes ready for last -- and biggest -- meet of season

Ka'Von Bailey has found success on every field — or track — he's stepped on. The McComb senior won a state championship in football in 2018, and last year, he took third place in the 2021 Ohio High School Athletic Association D-III state track meet. "He's just a special athlete," McComb head track coach Kris Alge said. "Last year, he just really excelled, and he had football to look forward to his senior year, so he really hit the weight room hard, especially in the winter time. "He just loves to compete." He and three other Panthers will get one more chance this school year to compete as Bailey, Andrew Swisher, Cam Glaser and Braxton Althauser made it to the 4x100 and 4x200-meter relays, qualifying with regional times of 43.97 and 1:31.70, respectively. Bailey — who won his regional with a long jump of 21-3 3/4 — will partake in the event this weekend as well. "In the 4x1, we won our region. So, we were real happy with that and it was one of our goals by our kids. In the 4x2, we ended up third. Not quite as high as we would've liked, but we still made it to state," Alge said. "Last year, we went down with three of the guys, placed tenth and didn't advance to finals. We ran pretty well and we thought with the guys coming back — if we could find that other leg — that we had a chance to be pretty good." McComb found that other leg in Swisher. "He's a very dependable starter for us, and he kind of filled that void that we were missing," Alge said. "Having Ka'Von and Braxton — our second and third legs — back, along with Cam Glaser anchoring…last year, Glaser started but we really like him anchoring, it's just been a really good group for us. "The biggest concern for us is that we got placed in the second heat of the 4x1, then the first heat in the 4x2. So the biggest factor for us is going to be the rest factor. We were really hoping to get the second heat in the 4x1 because we're basically going back-to-back with about an eight-to-ten-minute break with the way the timetable is. So the question is, 'can we recover from that?'" McComb won't be the only quartet in Columbus this weekend as Columbus Grove (4x200, 1:32.10; 4x4, 3:26.62; 4x800, 8:08.06), Hopewell-Loudon (4x200, 1:30.56), Hardin Northern (4x400, 3:32.84) and Bluffton (4x400, 3:26.54; 4x800, 8:07.05) boys all have relay teams at the D-II state meet. In girls, Riverdale and Columbus Grove clinched a state spot in the 400 and 800-meter relays. Now it's just a matter of putting your best 'foot' forward with just one more meet left. "It's hard to tell because you just don't know who's falling out of events from regionals, or who's running more events than they normally do," Bluffton coach Jason Diller said. "But I still think our guys have some time to drop, so the only thing I know is that other guys will drop time, too. But I feel pretty comfortable we're going to run some pretty solid races this weekend." Bluffton will be well-represented at the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium this weekend — it had six athletes make it in individual events, in addition to the relay teams. Especially in the mid-to-long distance events. Landon Armstong (800m), Eden Antrim (1,600m) and Erik Nygaard (3,200) all will showcase their talents this weekend. In the field, Trey Boblitt (high jump) and Hayden Dearth (long jump) will don the red and black. Anthony Bell (Carey) and Evan Kreais (H-L) also made the high jump, clearing 6-4 and 6-2, respectively. Ethan Bogart made in the 300 hurdles for Bluffton, with a time of 39.83. CG's Zach Reynolds (41.34) made it as well. "We had some soccer kids come out this year and go out for mid distances, which is where they kind of excel as well. In our shorter and field events, we have a lot of basketball and football athletes," Diller said. "I really think track is one of those sports where you can take all those different groups, combine them all together and you'll make a really nice track team." Bri Taber (11-0) rounds it out for Bluffton, who made it in girls pole vault. Diller expects big things from her this weekend. "She had been kinda close to breaking our school record all season — she'd been up in the nine, ten-foot range," Diller said. "For the last couple of weeks of the season, she's made some adjustments, got her a new pole and we were pretty confident she'd break the record and be in the tens someplace. But for her to clear 11-0 was something that was exciting for her and exciting for us. I think it's a possibility she has more too." Going into this weekend, Taber is seeded fifth. Columbus Grove's Lauryn Auchmuty (10-8) also made it to state in the pole vault and is No. 7. In the boys' pole vault, Pandora-Gilboa's Andre Suter (13-0) and CG's Noah Goecke (13-0) both made it to state. There will be plenty of area athletes on display, too. Like Sherron Jones from Hopewell-Loudon. Jones, a University of Findlay track signee, will run in the 100 (10.96), 200 (22.62) and 400-meter (48.56) relays. He's a part of H-L's 4x200 relay team as well. Or Arlington's Elijah Evans, who's running in the 100 (11.36) and 200 (22.99) "I'm happy for kids like Elijah, who's worked hard all four years to get here. Same with the hurdler from Van Buren (Andrew Parsell)," Alge said. Parsell made it in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.26. "They've all worked so hard in their careers and to end it at the state meet, there's no better place than that." Hardin Northern's Zeb Wilson (1:58) will run in the 800-meter run this weekend, while Grove's Anden Blankemeyer (51.94) will run in the 400. On the girls' side, Leipsic's Peyton Heitmeyer — also a UF signee — will run in the 100, 200 and 400 this weekend. She is seeded second in the 400 with a time of 57.76. In the 800, H-L's Alivia Roerdink is seeded eighth with a time of 2:17.62. Van Buren's Ella Webster (5:11.30) and Carey's Sarah Reinhart (5:12.63) will run this weekend in the 1,600. Elmwood's Anna Barber (123-7) will throw Friday in the discus finals In girls high jump, Carey's Lexi Plott (5-5), Arcadia's Paige Massie (5-3) and H-L's Hope Kreais (5-2) round out the local contingent. Needless to say, there are several athletes being showcased one last time this spring. "As we progressed through the year, we started seeing those schools like Grove, Arlington and McComb a lot and you'll see these kids all year," Diller said. "You might see them when you're competing against them in regionals, you might see them maybe at districts. Then you take a school like Riverdale, which goes down to Chillicothe for regionals and you won't see them again until state. "But, it is fun seeing how all these schools bring forth their best as the season goes and it is fun, it's exciting because I feel like our schools here in the northwest are very well-represented down in Columbus."