Blue Devils win D-II Region VIII title

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PIQUA — Brookville’s boys track and field team won the Division II, Region VIII track title, but the Blue Devils’ victory was marred by controversy during the final race.

The last event of the day was the boys 4×400 meter relay. Brookville clocked the fastest time at 3:24.78 with Indian Hill taking second in 3:25.26.

After the race event officials huddled near the finish line. Athletes from each of the eight teams congregated on the football field near the awards podium. Suddenly an athlete from Miami East looked at the grandstands and yelled, “We got it!”

Apparently one of the top four finishing teams that qualified for state got disqualified. When that happens, track officials summon the head coach of the disqualified team to the truck at the finish line to explain the ruling. That did not happen.

Instead, Brookville Athletics Director Brian Sprada looked toward a crowd gathering near the timing truck by the finish line and said, “I think we might have been disqualified.

Sprada and Brookville Superintendent Jason Wood made their way to the timing truck where Brookville coaches were gathered.

Apparently a pair of runners got entangled along the back straight when Brookville was in the lead and a Carroll athlete tripped. An official working that portion of the track said a runner wearing a white top was responsible for the collision.

Brookville wears a blue and white top, Valley View an all-white top, McNicholas a dark blue top with white on the back, and Indian Hill has a dark orange top with white on the back.

An official cited Brookville as the guilty party. A coach from another team told officials that was impossible because Brookville was leading the race at the time.

That, and other protests, fell on deaf ears. Someone even recorded a video that proved Brookville was not guilty of the infraction. Officials refused to look at the video. Why? The answer was, “Because we don’t do that.”

Well, maybe that needs to be changed.

A coach from another school was also in a heated argument with officials at the same time about a different race. He argued, “We weren’t in that lane. How could we be disqualified?” Again, the officials stood by their ruling.

When asked how the officials could come up with this ruling, Brookville coach Melissa Ross responded, “I don’t know. My kid said he got clipped from behind, so I don’t know how he clipped someone else. I didn’t even know anything was going down. There was never any flag. I was never even called to the truck. I had no idea.”

A representative of the Ohio High School Athletics Association told coaches from both schools disputing the officials’ ruling how to file a formal complaint. He added, “That is all it will be. It will not change anything.”

Great system.

Despite the weird finish the Devils tallied 49 team points to win the Division II, Region VIII crown with Carroll second with 43.

State qualifiers

Kory Davis placed 2nd in the 110 meter hurdles in 14.81 seconds.

Coy Hyre placed 2nd in the 100 meter dash in 11:13 seconds.

The 4×200 meter relay team of Walt Adams, Keegan Mehr, Kory Davis, and Tim Davis placed 3rd in 1:29.75.

The 4×100 meter relay team of Tim Davis, Alex Kidwell, Kory Davis and Coy Hyre took 1st place in 42.98 seconds.

Tim Davis placed 2nd in the 300 meter hurdles in 39.50 seconds.

Coy Hyre placed 2nd in the 200 meter dash in 21.980 seconds, edged out by Masen Switzer of Napoleon in a photo finish time of 21.973 seconds.

Other results

Bronson Stacy placed 8th in the shot put at 44-feet, 4.5-inches and was 16th in the discus at 116-feet, 9-inches.

Lucas Tipton finished 13th in the 800 meter run in 2:05.90.

The Lady Devils 4×100 meter relay team (Molly Luebke, Grace Taylor, Grace Hinton, Leah Neff) placed 7th in 51.50 seconds.

The state track and field meet will be held Friday, June 2 and Saturday, June 3. Semifinals for running events begins at 2 p.m. Friday. Finals begin at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Reach Ron Nunnari at [email protected].

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