PIQUA, TROY — A trio of Eaton athletes are headed to Columbus next weekend for the state track and field championships.
Senior Mallory Deaton claimed a regional title in the discus with a personal best throw. She will be joined at state by sophomore Lauren Guiley, who placed second in the 800 and senior Ryan Brooks, who also set a PR in the pole vault to finish fourth.
The Division II regional track meet was held Thursday, May 27 and Saturday, May 29, at Piqua High School. Athletes from Eaton and Preble Shawnee competed.
The Division III regional meet was held Wednesday, May 26 and Friday, May 28, at Troy High School. Athletes from National Trail, Tri-County North and Twin Valley South competed.
“Qualifying four relay teams and seven individuals to the regional championships already made it a special accomplishment,” McKinney said. “Placing in one relay and four individual events, breaking a school record and qualifying three individuals to the state championships next week makes it a great meet for our program.”
Deaton captured an individual regional championship in the women’s discus with a throw of 124 feet, six inches, outdistancing her closest competitor by 10 feet, six inches.
Guiley placed second in the women’s 800 meter run with an excellent race, finishing in a time of 2 minutes, 19 seconds, just 1.5 seconds out of first.
Brooks set a personal best vault of 13-04.00, placing him fourth overall, earning a trip to the state meet.
Junior Clayton Kiracofe placed sixth overall in the men’s shot put with a throw of 47-11.25.
Junior Amyah Thacker placed eighth overall in the women’s 200 meter dash with a time of 27.06.
The girls 4×800 Meter Relay team consisting of sophomore Kaili Hewitt, senior Cari Metz, sophomore Kiera Elliott and Guiley placed seventh with a time of 9:52.82, breaking the school record by nine seconds.
“I’m very proud of all the athletes that qualified and participated in the regional championship meet. I’m happy for those who placed at the regional meet and excited for the three that have qualified on to the state championships,” McKinney said.
Kylee Kidwell was 10th in the 100 hurdles. The girls 4×200 relay team of Camryn Bates, Kidwell, Maddie Haynes and Thacker finished 14th, and the 4×400 relay team of Hewitt, Metz, Elliott and Guiley finished 12th.
Haynes cleared 9-06.00 to finish 10th in the pole vault.
For the boys, Preble Shawnee’s Johnnie Harris was 11th in the 110 hurdles and finished 10th in the 300 hurdles.
Eaton’s boys 4×200 relay team of John Short, Brady Cooper, Jacob McIntosh and Logan Cottle finished 12th.
In Division III, Tri-County North’s girls 4×100 relay team of Sophia Brunk, Amiya Singleton, Alondra Singleton and Azia Singleton was 13th. The boys team of Dakota Timmons, Joshua Hopkins, Dominic Lynch and Darryn Shellabarger was 15th in the 4×200 relay.
Aaron Cole of Twin Valley South was 16th in the 1,600 meter-run. South’s boys 4×400 relay team of Jake Sarver, Tyler Wright, Cadian Maples and Cole was 14th.
Twin Valley South’s Christian Loveless finished 13th in the discus and teammate Jacob Clark was 14th.
National Trail’s Cait Gilland was ninth in the discus.
National Trail’s Jacob Ray just missed qualifying for state with a fifth place finish in the long jump with a leap of 19-09.75.
In the pole vault, Tri-County North’s Jon Landis was 11th and Matthew Cornett of Twin Valley South was 12th. For the girls, Olivia Campbell of South was 15th.
The Division II state meet will be held on Friday and Saturday, June 4-5 at Pickerton North High School.
