Gutman, Stechschulte lead Findlay at district meet

DISTRICT TRACKFINDLAY -- Findlay's Natalie Gutman won a pair of races, the Trojans' girls 4x100 squad won a district title, and FHS finished second overall at Day 2 of the Division I district meet at Cooper Tire Track and Field Complex Thursday.The Findlay girls qualified seven entries for next week's regional at Port Clinton.On the boys side, Findlay finished fifth in the standings, and were led by Adrian Stechschulte, who won the 1,600, took second in the 800, and was part of the runner-up 4x200 team.The top four teams in each event advance the the regional meet.Gutman took home titles in the 1,600 (5:24.12) and the 800 (2:21.87). Findlay's other first-place finish came when the 4x1 squad of Josey Weihrauch, Olivia Gayheart, Katelynn Carpenter and Mya Hammer registered a 50.7.The Trojans got a runner-up finish from Lexie Steffen in the pole vault; she cleared 10-8. Weihrauch also punched a ticket for the regional in the 400, registering a 1:00.81 and finishing third.Findlay's girls 4x400 team finished third, with Weihrauch, Hammer, Lilly Zaciewski and Olivia Gayheart running in 4:12.83,Carpenter advanced in the long jump, registering a a 16-1 1/4 and placing fourth.For Findlay's boys, Stechschulte ran the 1,600 in 4:22.4, the 800 in 1:57, then teamed with Conner Hermiller, Jack Zoll and Brandon Woodward to finish in 3:29.06.One more of Findlay's relays had a runner-up finish. That came in the 4x100, when Israel Moore, Greyson Geiser, Jacob Ragland and Dominic Smith registered a 43.1.Ragland qualified in two more events Thursday. He took fourth in the 100 (11.1) and teamed with Moore, Hermiller and Geiser to take third in the 4x200.Finally for Findlay, Russell Stine advanced in the 3,200 by placing fourth in 9:53.87. DISTRICT TENNISPORT CLINTON -- Findlay's Sam Swisher missed out on qualifying for his third straight state tennis tournament with his third partner Thursday.Swisher, a senior, first made state as a sophomore with partner Arda Dastan. Last season, Swisher made the state meet with partner Aaron Miller.On Thursday, Swisher and partner Owen Vick played at the Division I district tournament in Port Clinton Swisher and Vick went 1-1.In the tournament opener, Vick and Swisher knocked off Ashland's Grant Koleno and Krish Patel, 6-0, 6-0. In the quarterfinal, the Findlay duo was stopped by Southview's team of Isaac Vens and Landon Vens, 6-0, 6-0.The two finalists at the district meet advance to the state meet in Wooster. In the singles tournament, Findlay senior Luke Williams lost his first match to Celina's Jack Zhang, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.