O-G girls use strong relays to claim crown

TRACK OTTAWA – Always strong in the relays, Ottawa-Glandorf set meet records in two of those events, won three of them, and was second in the fourth in winning the girls team title on its home turf at the O-G Gold Medal Meet on Friday.Gracie Lammers, Alivia Grothause and Savannah Recker ran on two record-setting relay. Madeline Liebrecht joined that group on the top 400 relay team that won in 49.45, with Emma Heringhaus rounding out the 800 relay team that ran a record time of 1:543.67.Brea Recker, Liana Fortman, Maci Maag and Heringhaus won the 1,600 relay (4:03.07), and Maag, Kayt Croy, Morgan Ellerbrock and Alivia Schroeder placed second in the 3,200 (10:21.16).O-G got individual firsts from Grothause in the 200 (25.71), Savannah Recker in the long jump (17-5½)and a 1-2 finish from Fortman (2:23.54) and Brea Recker (2:23.71) in the 800. Heringhaus was second in the 400 (57.92) and Maag was runner-up in the 1,600 (5:34.17).Bluffton's 800 relay foursome of Gracie Warren, Liliana Fleming, Lauren Dearth and Maelee Miller was a close second (1:48.92) to O-G in that race. Miller won the 400 (57.55) and was second in the girls 100 hurdles (15.13). Nora Matthews and Bekah Rehm were meet champions as well, with Matthews winning the 3,200 (11:21.34) and Rehm the pole vault (10-0).Van Buren's Kami Bowman was fastest in the sprints, winning the 100-meter dash in 12.58 and placing second in the 200 (26.25).Easton Wymer was a double champion for the Black Knights, winning both the shot (37-5 ½) and the discus (124-8).O-G won the girls meet with 123 points. Otsego (78) edged Bluffton (73) for second, Van Buren was fifth (52) and Liberty-Benton eighth.The battle for the boys title was a bit closer with Liberty-Benton outlasting O-G 115 to 99 for the hardware. Pandora-Gilboa (59) and Bluffton (51) rounded out the top four. Van Buren was ninth (19½).Liberty-Benton also got off to a fast start in the boys meet, scoring 24 quick points when Lane Fannin, Hudson Day, Aiden Lee and Jackson Hochstettler won the 3,200 relay (8:12.54), followed shortly by Karson Griffin (11.19) and Jonas Frederick (11.41) placing 2-3 in the 100 behind the sizzling time of 10.81 of Bluffton's Kain Wright.L-B capped its boys meet championship by winning the 1,600 relay behind a time of 3:26.91 turned in by Griffin, Hochstettler, Bradan Bell and Day.Griffin and Frederick joined Fannin and Bell on L-B's second-place 800 relay (1:30.09), and Griffin was second (22.59) and Bell third (22.97) in the 200.L-B scored well in the throws, earning 18 points in the shot put alone with Will Granger placing first (53-5 and Wyatt Myers (46-43¾) edging Pandora-Gilboa's Caleb Doty (46-2) for second. L-B's CJ Barbara (159-2) edged Doty (152-11) in the discus.Lee won the 3,200 (9:46.49) and Hochstettler was second in the 1,600 (4:39.54).In addition to his victory in the 100, Wright, a top three state placer last spring, added a Gold Medal victory in the 400 (48.64).Ottawa-Glandof won the boys 400 relay with Drew Ormsby, Gage Bellman, Jesse Ruhe and Oscar Salsbury posting the top time of 43.91. Salsbury also won the 110 hurdles (15.26) and was second in the high jump (6-2), Deegan Miller won the 200 (21.79) and Connor Johnson, Cooper Fischer, Braylon Hunter and Wyatt Croy were second (8:23.32) to L-B in the 3,200 relay.P-G's Ben Burkholder was the Gold Medal long jump champion, leaping 21-11½ to beat Bluffton's Tayte Giesige (21-5½) by six inches. Camden Verhoff won the 300 hurdles (41.68) and led off P-G's runner-up 1,600 relay (3:31.04) that include Chase Meyer, Andrew Webster and Landen Moore. COLLEGE BASEBALL HILLSDALE, Mich. – The University of Findlay baseball team split a pair of games at Hillsdale on Friday, the first two of four games against the Chargers this weekend. The Oilers took advantage of 12 bases on balls in Game 1 and beat Hillsdale 21-2. In the second game, the Charger scored all five of their runs in the first inning, and beat Findlay, 5-3. In Game 1, seven was the Oilers' lucky number. They scored seven runs in the first inning and another seven in the seventh, pounding Hillsdale despite the offense only producing seven hits. Gavyn Smith led the offensive attack, tripling and driving in three runs. Luke Senften added pair of doubles, three runs scored and two RBIs. Casey Maruniak, who also doubled, plated three runs. Riverdale graduate and two-time BVC Player of the Year Evan Reiter pinch hit in the Oilers, walked and scored. That was more than enough offense for the Oilers pitching. In the seven-inning contest, starter Ethan Mohr worked five innings, allowing two runs on six hits. He struck out four and walked one, improving to 5-1. Hillsdale's Will Lehman homered and doubled. Starting pitcher Brendan Smith took the loss. In Game 2, Hillsdale jumped on starter Carson Mellott for five runs in the bottom of the first, though only two of the runs were earned. Mellott (5-2) gave up five hits in 5 2/3 innings, but Hillsdale took advantage of those hits – all singles – and two Oiler errors to pick up the win. Carson Tucker had two hits, scored a run and drove in a run for the Chargers. Hillsdale starter Jacob Pallo kept the Oilers off the scoreboard until the top of the fourth, when Mason Myers doubled and plated two runs. Nick Palm, who also doubled, drove in a run in the fifth. But Pallo got through the fifth, then turned things over to reliever Josh Novak, who recorded his fourth save by pitching two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out two. The Oilers are 25-15, 16-6 in the G-MAC. They are still leading the conference's North Division, but Ashland is charging, having won six in a row and sitting at 15-8 in league games. Findlay will play Hillsdale (18-20, 12-10 GMAC) at 2 p.m. today, which the second game scheduled for 5 p.m.