Hail to the A (minus) team: Shelby plugs in new anchor, sets district record in relay race

ONTARIO – Luke Lesseuer doesn’t have much experience competing in the 4x800 meter relay, but he has something more important.

The complete trust of his coach.

With the march toward state beginning in earnest this week, Thursday’s Division II district track and field meet at Ontario High School might have seemed like a weird time to tell your best distance runner to chill during the 4x800.

But that’s exactly what Shelby coach Chris Zuercher did.

So while the Whippets didn’t put their A team on the track, their A minus team – as in minus Huck Finnegan – was more than up to the task, winning in a meet record time of 8:10.56.

Not only did Zuercher sub in Lesseuer for Finnegan, he also had Lesseuer run the all-important anchor leg – Finnegan’s usual spot in that relay.

“It was definitely interesting when I first heard I would be running,” Lesseuer, a junior, said. “I was like, OK, cool, I get to run in the 4x8 at the tournament. But then when (Zuercher) said anchor, I’m like, I guess I better run really well, then.

“It’s a great opportunity to come out here with this group of guys. We have such a strong team right now. It’s a blessing to be out there with these guys.”

Marshall Moore, Luke Dininger and Indy Mayer, in that order, carried the baton before Lesseuer and they made it as stress-free as possible for their surprise anchor runner, who crossed the finish line seven seconds before runner-up Ontario.

And, yes, there was a method to Zuercher’s madness.

“Luke has come so far and he’s been doing such a good job, a couple of weeks ago we talked to Huck, one of our big dogs, and said, ‘Huck, how about Luke jumps in for districts and you just rest, and we’ll sub you back in next week at the regional (in Lexington)?’” Zuercher said.

“We wanted to put Luke in where Huck would normally be and keep everybody else the same. You don’t learn unless you’re out there. I’ve never done this before, but I feel so confident with these guys. I wanted to give (Luke) the experience. You don’t learn without experience.”

Last week in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference meet, the quartet of Moore, Dininger, Mayer and Finnegan set a meet record and ran a season-best 8:05.82 as the Shelby boys and girls finished atop the standings.

That same relay crew qualified before the outdoor season for the Nike Indoor Nationals in New York City, finishing 12th.

So Lesseuer had a lofty standard to uphold when he was put in the lineup Thursday. And he came through, with flying colors.

“Luke and I, our times are too close for coach to say for sure that one of us has the spot (in the 4x8) and the other one doesn’t,” Mayer, a sophomore, said. “It’s really a good problem to have. To not have one of our top guys race and still get the district record really shows what Shelby is right now.”

In the girls 4x8, Lexington was second (9:36.94) and Shelby was third (9:48.8) to move on to the regionals at Lex.

The 4x8 was the only racing final contested on Thursday, with the rest slated for Saturday, starting at 11:30 a.m. Several area runners, however, made their mark in the prelims.

Clear Fork’s Joe Stupka continued his brilliant junior season by posting the best times heading into the finals in the 100 (11.28), 200 (22.48) and 400 (50.48).

In the girls sprints, Shelby sophomore Ava Bowman goes into Saturday’s 100 and 200 finals as the No. 1 seed, as does Ontario freshman Sasha Bulakovski and the Lex girls 4 x 200 and 4 x 100  relays.

Thursday’s session of this meet produced four other regional qualifiers from this area, including Ontario’s Bralen Boone in the shot put (third at 46-4.25), Shelby’s Issaiah Ramsey in the long jump  (fourth at 20-5) and Lexington’s Elyanna Weaver in the high jump (second at 5-2).

Galion junior Miranda Stone won the girls discus with a toss of 134-1, improving by nearly 25 feet from last year’s performance in this meet.

She is closing in on Bri Streib's school record of 136-10. Streib is now the throws coach at Colonel Crawford.

“I did a lot of off-season work,” Stone said. “I worked all summer and fall and tried to work through the winter with swimming.”

One of her mentors was her late grandfather Chuck Stone of Bucyrus. He finished sixth at the state meet in the shot put and played football for North Carolina State.

“My freshman year, I worked with him a lot,” Stone said. “Now I’m working with his coach (Tom Kottayan) that he had in high school.”

Stone soaks up as much knowledge as she can from as many sources as she can find, including Ashland University head coach/throws coach A.G. Kruger, a three-time Olympian.

“I went to two camps at Ashland University, working with A.G.,” she said. “It definitely helped a lot.”

Her background in swimming also helped prepare Stone for the success she is having this spring.

“I just think it helps with the mental aspects,” she said. “My sophomore year we went to state in the 200 free relay, so it helps get me ready for big meets like this.”

Division I at Toledo St. Francis: The Lexington boys had two regional qualifiers during Wednesday’s district action. The 4x8 team finished second in a time of 8:07.35. Carter Newman also moved in the long jump with a third-place leap of 21-7.75.

Division I at Findlay: Madison's Kayla Totman achieved a personal best in the shot put in Thursday's first day of the Division I district track and field meet in Findlay and has advanced to the regionals.

Totman tossed the shot put 34-10.5 to finish fourth, grabbing the last qualifying berth for regionals. Ashland's Aveline Wilhelm was runner-up with a throw of 37-2.75.

Also headed to the regionals with fourth-place finishes during Thursday's short list of finals were Mansfield Senior's Nate "Chunky" Haney in the long jump and the Ashland boys 4 x 800 meter relay team.

Haney's qualifying leap was 20-11.25. The Ashland crew of Cameron Arbaugh, Brody Blough, Andre Harrison and Luke Wash ran an 8:28.37.

The Mansfield Senior boys head into Saturday's finals seeded No. 1 in four races after Thursday's prelims.

Keontez Bradley is tops in the 100 and 200 dashes at 11.09 and 21.93, respectively. Aaron Thornton, seeded No. 2 in the 200, had the top prelim time in the 300 hurdles of 39.58, one of the top 25 times in Ohio this spring.

Bradley and Thornton are both on the 4 x 100 relay team that is seeded No. 1 for the finals. They collaborated with Ja'ontay O'Bryant and Christon Javier to run a 43.4.

Seeded No. 1 for Madison are Nevaeh Lewis in the 200 (26.2) and Callie Cyrus in the 800 at 2:26.88.

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Hail to the A (minus) team: Shelby plugs in new anchor, sets district record in relay race