Eastwood boys, girls race to 14th straight league track titles

Eagles’ Snowden a winner in 2 events, 2 relays; Otsego’s Gorski, Rossford’s Clay have great days

5/18/2014

FOSTORIA — The third Northern Buckeye Conference track and field championships played out like the first two.

Eastwood departed with the boys and girls championship trophies. The Eagles boys and girls have claimed 14 consecutive league titles — three in the NBC and 11 in the Suburban Lakes League.

PHOTO GALLERY: Click here to view more photos from the meet

"I hope the guys never take it for granted," Eastwood boys coach Brian Sabo said. "We don't ever want to take it for granted and we definitely want to win the league and continue that tradition that has been built. We know every year you're going to get somebody's best."

Otsego, powered by standout Cole Gorski, pushed Eastwood to the limit and held a slight lead through 16 of the 17 events.

Tim Hoodlebrink, Joe Salinas, Gabe Fredericks, and Devin Snowden came through for the Eagles by winning the 1600-meter relay with a time of 3:24.53. It gave the Eagles the title with 172 points. Otsego placed fourth in the relay race and ended up with 162 to finish as runner-up.

Woodmore (74.5) finished third, followed by Lake (68), Elmwood (54), Genoa (49), Rossford (40.5), and Fostoria 40.

The Eagles girls team had another championship secured long before the final event. Eastwood placed first in seven of the 17 events and compiled 172 points, followed by Elmwood (116), Lake (92.5), Woodmore (85), Otsego (58), Rossford (52.5), Genoa (51), and Fostoria (32).

"I'm very proud of the efforts that they gave today," Eastwood girls coach Nikki Sabo said. "This group of people haven't won a league title. We have five freshmen competing that weren't part of the previous two years."

Plenty of meet records were set and Gorski, who was named the NBC male track athlete of the year, put on an impressive display of speed, strength and agility to claim titles.

He prevailed in the pole vault, 100 and 200, winning all three with meet records. He cleared 15 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault and posted times of 10.99 and 22.40 for the 100 and 200, respectively.

"I was really pleased with the performance," said Gorski, a senior, who will compete at Ohio State. "There was a lot of running to be done and I was able to step up and score some points for my teammates."

Eastwood's Joe Salinas ran a strong 110 hurdles race to win convincingly with a time of 15.28, and Eagles teammate Zach Jacoby placed second (16.36).

Snowden beat Salinas to the claim the 300 hurdles in 39.38, while Salinas was second at 39.51.

Snowden also won the long jump at 21-3. Hoodlebrink won the 800 with a time of 2:01.29.

Otsego's Brandon Avers claimed the distance events in meet records. He didn't have any trouble winning the 1600 in 4:21.62. He also won the 3200 in 9:43.48, while teammate Tyler Harroun was second (10:34.86).

Genoa's Logan Bryer earned league titles for the throwing events. He won the shot put with a meet-record toss of 56-6.25 and claimed first in the discus with a throw of 173-6.

Genoa’s Kyle Bihn leaped 6-2 to capture the high jump crown.

Lake's Brandyn Neal won the 400 with a meet-record 50.55.

In the girls competition, Rossford freshman Regan Clay showed why she was named the league's top female track athlete of the year.

Clay won the 200 and 400 in meet-record times. She turned in a time of 25.95 in the 200 and a time of 58.96 in the 400. She also ran a leg on the Bulldogs 800 relay team (Taylor Stolar, Jessica Pietrasz, Shelby Redway, Clay) that placed first with a time of 1:48.49.

"I expected the day to go pretty well because I had the fastest times coming in and our [relay] teams were pretty good," Clay said. "I think it definitely went good."

Eastwood's Elise Wolff had a strong showing which included winning the 100 hurdles with a time of 16.80 and the pole vault with a meet-record 10-6.

Hannah Sponaugle had two victories for Eastwood, taking the 1600 (5:29.56) and the 3200 (12:07.08).

Eastwood's Maddie Jackson scored a win in the 200 (2:22.03) and Brittany Brittian captured the discust with a throw of 119-11.

Jackson was also part of the winning 1600-relay with Alyssa Decker, Jolynn Nissen, and Meagan Kaminski (4:17.25).

Elmwood's Madison Sears made it clear who is the top hurdler in the NBC after sweeping those races. She turned in a time of 13.0 in the 100 hurdles and 48.86 in the 300 hurdles.

Elmwood's Liz Garner finished first in the long jump with an effort of 15-7.25.

Lake's Sara Dabney cleared 4-10 to win the high jump while teammate Lauren Ozuk won the shot put with a toss of 33-10.75.

Otsego's Dayna Fackler, Mallory Beach, Lauren Wynn, and Alex Wenig won the 3200 relay in meet-record time of 9:58.51.

Contact Donald Emmons at: demmons@theblade.com, 419-724-6302 or on Twitter @DemmonsBlade.