‘It’s gonna be a rush’: Plymouth rides record-breaking sprint relay into state meet
PLYMOUTH — It turned out to be the perfect belated Christmas present - one that keeps giving and giving.
Riley Ramey, anchor of Plymouth’s regional champion 4 x 100 meter relay team, enrolled at the school just after the holidays. He was moving back to the area from Kentucky after growing up in Shelby.
He should have come gift-wrapped.
Thrown into the 4x1 at the last minute by sprint coach Steph Lewis because of an injury to freshman anchor Ethan Keefe, Ramey and his running mates broke the school record that day in a small meet at home.
Since then the Big Red have broken the record again and again, riding their historic streak to the state meet Friday and Saturday in Ohio State’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
Their success has been a surprise to no one, apparently, except Ramey.
“I wasn’t even an alternate (on that relay),” he said. “I was watching the high jump and coach Lewis came over and said, ‘I know you’re in three events, but we really need you.’”
Next thing Ramey knew he was part of a record performance, finishing what seniors Gavin McClary and Caiden Allen and junior Layne Bushey – in that order – had started.
“I said to coach Lewis, ‘If we mess up, coach, I’m sorry. Me and Layne don’t have the handoffs down yet,’” Ramey said. “She was like, ‘Be safe, not sorry. Do as good as you can.’”
He and the rest of that crew did better than that.
Not long after first setting the record, they really opened some eyes by doing it again at the Firelands Conference meet, in the process breaking an FC mark that had stood since 2009. That paved the way to a Division III district championship and then the foursome re-broke the record at regionals with a winning time of 43.66 seconds
That’s more than a second faster than the old school record heading into this spring of 44.69.
“I actually ran against Riley last season at Shelby,” said Allen, who earned a third-place state medal last season in the 100 meter dash. “He ran the second leg of the 4x1 and he kept up with me the whole way. I was like, dang, this kid is kind of fast.
“So when he came over here (to Plymouth), I was hoping he would run track because I knew we could be dangerous.”
Lewis, in her fifth season as sprints coach, liked what she saw when she watched Ramey during open gym-like sessions.
“It was indoors in February but watching his running technique I knew he was going to be a strong competitor,” Lewis said. “Starting out the season I saw him more in a 400 position. I really didn’t envision him in the 100 range. I knew he had the speed, but I was looking at him more as a 200 or 400 runner. And the freshman (Keefe) had good potential and I wanted to see where he went with it.
“Ethan is a phenomenal athlete. I’m going to need someone in that relay because I’m losing (McClary and Allen), so I was hoping he would improve. Unfortunately, he didn’t have that option (because of injury), but it all played out the way we wanted it to.
“I can’t imagine a better combination of four guys.”
Allen is the head-turner of the group as one of the top sprinters in Ohio. He has always run the second leg on the 4x1 because he’s the one with the baton in his hand the longest.
“When they extended out the exchange zones, that was my strategic move,” Lewis said. “To have your fastest runner running the longest leg makes the most sense.”
Allen had dealt with lower leg issues most of the season, but he did earn an at-large state berth in the 100 with his fifth-place finish of 11.05. That was actually .01 faster than his third-place time in last year’s state finals but the four automatic qualifiers in front of him at the Heath regional all cracked 11 seconds.
“I was talking to Adison (Reymer, Crestview’s state-qualifying sprinter) and he was telling me it was the fastest regional,” Allen said. “I’m definitely glad I can continue running. It will be interesting to see what I can do. It’s my last track meet so I’m definitely going to leave it all out there.”
Bushey (high jump) and Ramey (200) have also qualified in their individual specialities. But it’s the 4x1 that occupies most of their thoughts this week.
Plymouth goes into Friday’s prelims seeded fifth. But its regional title time is only .33 slower than top-seeded Youngstown Valley Christian School. So it appears to be anybody’s race.
“Caiden’s been saying since February, ‘I want to go fast, I want to go fast,’” Lewis said. “What I’ve been telling him is, ‘Caiden, I don’t need you to be fast now.’ But now we’re here. This is the week I need him to be fast.
“As coaches, we want them to peak right now. They showed that last week. Caiden PRed in the prelims and finals. Riley, same thing (in the 200). The 4x1 PRed by almost a full second. Either it’s adrenaline or as a coach I’m doing what I’m supposed to.”
McClary is Plymouth’s relay specialist, running lead-off on the 4x1 and 4x2 and some on the 4x4. He doesn’t do individual events.
“(Relays) are my thing, I guess,” he said. “I guess I’m just good at leading off. Me and Caiden have very good handoffs. We’ve practiced it a lot and we’re just so smooth with it now.”
All but Ramey were part of the 4x1 that got DQed in last year’s district prelims, and they have used that disappointment to charge their workouts and meet performances.
“Especially at districts this year,” Bushey said. “I had so many people come up. Obviously they were joking, but they made little jokes about last year’s districts. Everyone remembers. It was a big thing. So I was pretty nervous, but after we got through that it was easy sailing.”
Bushey and Allen high jumped together last season, so Lewis wanted to keep that connection together when assembling her 4x1 lineup.
“One of the reasons I put them together (on the second and third legs) is their relationship,” she said. “They have a (bond), and I thought putting Layne in that (third) position would help because of their trust. The 4x1, it’s got to be there. You’ve got a split second to get the baton and keep rolling.
“All four of these guys are fighters. They will battle the person next to them. I truly believe in these guys in all four events. It’s going to come down to who wants it more and who fights for it.”
Allen is the unquestioned and unspoken captain of the relay. As the only one of the four with state meet experience he’s earned the right to dole out advice – and even criticism.
“(Bushey) was really slow last year,” he said. “Last year I would get the lead and he would lose the lead. But he’s worked really hard in the off-season and got a lot faster this year.”
Bushey laughed when those comments were relayed to him.
“He’s straight-up, big time,” Bushey said. “He’s even said that to me a couple of times this year.”
The constructive criticism has worked.
“ We had to change our steps (on exchanges) from what we did last year,” Bushey said, “because of the speed difference from last year to this year.”
The school record in the 4x1 was always on Allen’s radar.
“I memorized all of the records I thought were breakable,” he said. “Ever since I started high school, I was looking at that 4x1 record and thought, man, if we can just get our relay team close to it, we could be pretty dangerous.”
You can drop the “pretty” now.
“I’m excited to see how the other three perform at a meet this big and important,” said Allen, who will continue his track career at Wittenberg University. “I’ve been talking to them ever since this post-season started. ‘Listen, we got this far already. We literally dropped a second in a couple of weeks.’ I never let them look at (opponents’) times. I tell them, ‘Just do what you can do and we’ll be fine.’”
McClary is looking forward to it all, from the atmosphere inside the stadium to what promises to be a hotly-fought battle in the 4x1.
“You never know, other teams could mess up. It’s only .3 seconds,” he said, when reminded of the sliver of time separating Plymouth from the top seed.
“Caiden said when we walk across the infield to sign in for the 4x1 it’s gonna be a rush because of how many people are there.”
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: ‘It’s gonna be a rush’: Plymouth rides record-breaking sprint relay into state meet
