Northview boys capture first title

Perrysburg's Cameron Gardner, right, nips defending league champ Erika Schmidt of Anthony Wayne at the finish of the 100-meter dash. She finished in 12.29 seconds.

Jeremy Wadsworth

Perrysburg's Cameron Gardner, right, nips defending league champ Erika Schmidt of Anthony Wayne at the finish of the 100-meter dash. She finished in 12.29 seconds.

The Northern Lakes League track championships played out as an evening of firsts last night at Maumee.

For some, it was a good thing. For others, not so much.

Practically all proved good for TJ Bowens and his Northview teammates.

Bowens, a junior, swept the 200 and 400 to lead the Wildcats to their first boys league track championship in school history.

Northview's Josh Madden claimed first in the shot put with a throw of 47 feet, 10 inches and teammate Will Hinton won the discus with a throw measuring 156-4.

The Wildcats' Josh Boileau won the 100 in 11.49.

"It was pretty good today and I tried to give my all to help the team," said Bowens, who won the 200 in a time of 23.10 and the 400 in 50.13.

Southview Junior Shaun Joplin clears 6-9 to set a Northern Lakes League high jump record.

The Northview boys tallied 154 points to claim the championship after going undefeated in dual meets against their NLL foes.

Southview finished second with 150.25 points, followed by Bowling Green 85.5, Perrysburg 79, Rossford 72, Springfield 46.25, Anthony Wayne 39.25 and Maumee 32.5.

The Perrysburg girls also delivered an impressive performance to claim the league championship.

Freshman Kaitlyn Llewellyn paced the Yellow Jackets to their first league title since 1992 by sweeping the 1600 and 3200.

However, the Yellow Jackets' only other individual running event win was the most surprising. Cameron Gardner won the 100 by holding off defending league champion Erika Schmidt of Anthony Wayne at the finish line. Gardner crossed first in 12.29 with Schmidt timed at 12.36.

"I told myself to stay with her and at the end, lean," said Gardener, a sophomore who lost to Schmidt earlier this season.

Josh Boileau beats the Jackets' Ian DeWalt and the Bobcats' Taylor Southall in the 100 meters.

Perrysburg totaled 154 points while defending champ Anthony Wayne finished as runner-up with 145 points, followed by Southview 98, Northview 75, Bowling Green 74, Maumee 50, Rossford 40 and Springfield 26.

Northview's boys and Perrysburg's girls weren't alone in producing impressive results. Four meet records were broken on a sunny Friday evening.

Southview's Shaun Joplin won the high jump by clearing 6 feet, 9 inches, which is three inches better than the old record.

"I knew I could get the

record," said Joplin, who entered as the defending league champion and had already successfully defended his long jump title during Wednesday evening's session.

Rossford was responsible for establishing two meet records. Bulldogs hurdler Ricardo Ross not only swept the 110 and 300 hurdles, he won the shorter of the two events by streaking to a meet-record time of 14.31 before winning the 300 with a solid time of 39.46.

Rachael Clay engineered the Bulldogs' other meet record when she dashed to victory in the 400. She crossed the finish line in 57.15, which was also a personal best.

"I was so shocked that I couldn't believe it," Clay said of her 400 effort.

"I didn't know I could run that fast at this point in the season."

Anthony Wayne's JaNeisha Galloway, Brittany Green, Alecia Zaper and Schmidt accounted for the fourth meet record when they claimed first place in the 400 relay with a stellar time of 49.81.

Schmidt, a state finalist sprinter, did rebound from the loss to Cameron in the 100 by winning the 200 with a time of 25.42.

Gardner ran second with a time of 25.72.

"I'm just waiting for my times to go down," Schmidt said. I'm OK with how I did today. My goal is to peak at state."

Anthony Wayne's Alecia Zaper won the 100 hurdles (15.21) and her twin sister, Ashley, claimed first in the 300 hurdles (45.17). Ashley also cleared five feet to win the high jump. The Generals' Marissa Chlebowski won the shot put at 38-11 1/4.

Bowling Green's Andrea Renny won the 800 (2:25.61) and teammate Lywanna Melvin took first in the discus (122-7).

Springfield's April Daugherty won the pole vault (9-6) and Perrysburg's Kirsten Goins claimed the top spot in the long jump (16-2 3/4).

In the boys competition, Southview's Kyle Fitzpatrick swept the 800 (1:59.39) and the 1600 (4:28.69) and teammate Kyle Forrester finished first in the 3200 (9:56.91).

Springfield's James Howe won the pole vault (13-6).

Contact Donald Emmons at:

demmons@theblade.com

or 419-724-6302.