'It's brought me so much joy'

COLUMBUS – Marek Donaldson gave some credit to his parents Saturday.The Bluffton senior – a 1,000-point scorer in basketball – had never run track before this spring.But his mother and father encouraged him to give the sport a shot."They've always thought I had some good endurance," Donaldson said while standing in the infield of Jesse Owens Stadium at the OHSAA Track and Field Championships in Columbus. "I didn't think it was this good until I started running. I'm thankful they pushed me to do it."He's probably not the only one.Donaldson raced to a 1:52.41, winning a state championship in the Division II boys 800, and putting an exclamation point on a tremendous weekend for the Bluffton track program.The Pirates – in their first season as a Division II school – racked up 27 points and finished fifth overall in the boys team standings. Donaldson – who is going to Bowling Green State University in the fall but doesn't plan to compete in athletics – gave credit to the Bluffton coach Jason Diller and his staff for molding him into a champion."Our coach (has us) build up a lot of endurance at the beginning of the year, but not much speed," Donaldson said, "so these past 3-4 weeks we've been focused a lot on my speed, and when I focused on the 800, and worked so much on my speed, I just became that much faster."He needed every bit of it to beat London's Cameron Carn to the finish line in the 800. Carn, the runner up, finished in 1:52.47, six-hundredths of a second behind Donaldson.Just before heading to the top of the podium, Donaldson called the choice to join the track team in his senior season "the best decision I've ever made."It's brought me so much joy, and made me a better person," he said. "It's perfected my drive and dedication to everything I do. I have so much belief in myself that I can do anything I put my mind to."Griffin Stackhouse, another of Bluffton's seniors, also had a strong day in Columbus.He finished second in the 200 (21.73) and sixth in the 100 (10.95).Stackhouse was nearly on the podium three times. He was part of the Pirates 4x200 team with Carson Kruse, Tayte Giesige, and Kain Wright that ran in the third-best time (1:27.61), but was disqualified."It was a great way to end my track career," Stackhouse said of the day and the season. "A ton of ups and downs. A lot of things haven't gone our way, and a lot of things have. I think just keeping our foot in the ground, and (to) keep on working...It's really all paid off."Wright saw his work pay off in the 400, where he finished third in 48.3.The junior – who like Donaldson is running track for the first time – said the competitive atmosphere at Bluffton has helped key his performances."(Stackhouse) has definitely pushed me in a lot of my events," Wright said. "Our 4x2, they're really fast, too, so, my whole team pushes me."Wright said he was also pushed by the competition at state."Those runners out there, they're all running consistent 48s the whole season," he said. "I've got to go out and run the same pace as them."Bluffton had one other boys competitor Saturday, in high jumper Noah Bricker. He cleared 6 feet and finished 17th.All in all, a pretty good Division II debut for the Pirates."I was eating lunch one day, and my coach comes down to me and says, 'Hey, we're Division II for track.'" Stackhouse remembered. "I said, 'Oh, boy.' I was a little upset, but I knew it was gonna be a challenge."I couldn't be more proud of my teammates."