Bluffton boys finish fourth in team standings

COLUMBUS — It probably felt a little weird for Bluffton's boys track team to sit back most of Friday. The Pirates did pick up a bronze medal in the 3,200-meter relay with a time of 8:01.25. But, except for Ethan Bogart — who ran a prelim-best 39.49 in the 300-meter hurdles—no Pirate runner individually competed. By the end of Saturday, that probably didn't matter as Bluffton picked up a fourth-place finish as a team at the D-III state meet at the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus. Headlined by a second-place finish by the 4x400 team consisting of Bogart, Eden Antrim, Justin Good and Landon Armstrong, the Pirates picked up 30 points as a team. The Pirates ran a time of 3:23.25, which was one-tenth off the first-place mark set by South Central. Even so, it's been a long time coming — especially for the lone senior in Bogart — to finish that race. And at Jesse Owens, where the meet hadn't been since 2019. "I was here my freshman year, watching a ton of my teammates and we hoped we'd back that next year and I'd be here on that 4x4," Bogart said. "We never got to do that and it kind of left a sour taste, so ever since then, I've wanted to get back here and fight for what I thought we should've gotten." He got things started for Bluffton with the silver-medal finish. "I wanted to get us a really strong lead and go from there," he said. "I was out here with a purpose." A second-place finish is even more impressive considering this quartet has only been together since last week. "I started the year a little bit, but then I had some tendinitis in my knee," Antrim said. "So I was fighting that, but just to come back in regionals and continue through it, I was happy with that." Antrim, Bogart and Armstrong all picked a pair of medals for the Pirates. Antrim kicked off the day for Bluffton, finishing with a personal best time of 4:21.32 in the 1,600-meter run on the way to a fifth-place finish. "To start out the race, I was just gonna trail behind somebody, up top, try to get myself in a good spot, and I think I did that pretty well. Then, the last lap, you just let it loose." "I remember last year, I came in here, and ran a slower time and got, like, tenth or something. I'm so happy. I know last year, we weren't in Columbus, so I'm happy just to be at the stadium." Bogart took third in the 300 hurdles final with a time of 39.10 to pick up six more points for Bluffton. It helps that he comes from a family full of great hurdlers. His cousin, Trevor Bassitt, was an All-American for Ashland University and excelled at Bluffton High as well. "He said 'Just go out, go be the man and leave it all on the track,'" Bogart said. "I try do that the best I can. I kind of have an unfair advantage in that I can call him if I need anything." Armstrong ran a time of 1:55.22 in the 800-meter run on the way to a fourth-place finish. "I was coming in with a pretty solid time, and I was hoping. (I'm) not sure, I think I was seeded fourth or fifth, maybe," Armstong said. "So, I was pretty happy where I finished." A culmination of those three's work came together in the last event of D-III Saturday, which couldn't have gone better for this group. "I'm really happy with the team we brought here, this year, to state," Antrim said. "We've got two-milers, we've got 800, 4x8, 4x4, so, I'm just really happy with who we've got here." Erik Nygaard took 10th in the 3,200-meter run with a personal best 9:48.23 to round out the Bluffton contingent on Saturday.