Oak Harbor's Hayden Buhro among athletes in Michael K. Bosi series

Hayden Buhro gained 20 pounds of muscle, then trimmed 20 back off.

The Oak Harbor graduate again gained 20 pounds before his senior year. With a heavy heart, but clearer vision, he gave the Sandusky Bay Conference something to remember.

He was honorable mention all-state at receiver as Oak Harbor football finished first, third in Ohio on the wrestling mat and among the top sprinters in the state for track. He continues his track career at Tiffin and is one of this year's athletes in the Michael K. Bosi series.

"Start of junior year, things kicked off," he said. "All three sports. I started playing more for football. I was scoring touchdowns. I led the league in interceptions. We were second in the 4x100. We placed in the 4x200.

"Everything kept going up from there into senior year."

Buhro earned limited varsity football experience as a sophomore. He advanced to state in wrestling and track, but wanted more in every sport.

"Getting in the weight room," he said. "My [wrestling] skill was the same since I was a kid. It was the same thing with George Bergman for 12 years. I gained 20 pounds. I was bigger. I put on muscle. I was eating calories and lifting six days a week.

"I had a strict diet, I didn't do it all at once to weigh in to my body wasn't tired."

He maintained his weight class, but he was stronger and more lean. He wrestled at 152 pounds as a sophomore and 150 when classes changed the next season.

Buhro used to be a running back.

"I wasn't big enough," he said. "I worked all summer on technique, what routes to run and when not to run them. I gained another 20 pounds to take a few hits. It was a good fit, how fast I was. I was technically sound and didn't know it.

"I'm glad I made it, no regrets."

He established a single-season program record with 46 receptions as a senior. He had 621 yards and eight touchdowns receiving, and 452 yards and 11 scores rushing.

He averaged 25.4 yards on eight kickoff returns and 24.6 yards with six punts. He had 66 tackles and recovered two fumbles on defense.

Oak Harbor shut out Toledo Bowsher 56-0 on September 16. Former teammate Kenyon Adkinson died the same day.

"That hit the whole team," Buhro said. "We hung 56 on Bowsher in the first half. We just lost one of our best friends. People were crying after every touchdown. It was an emotional time. We got through it as a team."

Buhro switched his number to 82. Adkinson wore it the year before but didn't play last season.

"Things changed for me when I lost my best friend to suicide," Buhro said. "You have to make every moment last. You don't know when your last moment is. I went out and made sure I gave everything I had every meet or game.

"I played for him, but that wasn't the main goal. Sports can be taken away. I don't have much time, so I gave it everything I had."

Buhro keeps Adkinson with him.

"We were best friends, wrestling and football since were were 4," he said. "The friendship never changed. Our families were close for 14 of the last 18 years. I'd look up, I didn't realize it. I made Kenyon proud that day.

"Maybe I did something small for another person. A big thing on the football field."

Anything that might involve someone with a grin.

"It's nothing for school or sports," Buhro said of Adkinson. "It was the way he smiled. He always smiled. If you don't remember anything else, sports or pigs at the fair. He had an effect on people. If one person is happy, everybody is happy and you look past what bad happened in a day, and smile."

Oak Harbor beat Genoa 47-36 in the postseason.

"We ended their season on our field," Buhro said. "I scored three touchdowns. I had a bunch of tackles, a few pass break ups. It was my best game of the season in a big moment."

He intercepted two passes in a loss to Genoa as a junior. He scored three touchdowns against the Comets in Week 2 as a senior.

Despite a 28-25 loss, it helped set the tone for Buhro's impact.

"They were a good team," he said. "I was scoring touchdowns on good teams."

Buhro had six catches as Oak Harbor beat Huron 29-28 in overtime. It topped visiting Port Clinton 25-21 for the outright conference crown.

"We knew they were the team to beat in the league," Buhro said of the Tigers. "We hadn't beat them in a few years. We knew if we beat them, the SBC was in front of us. I'd just caught two passes. I went in motion and Carson Ridener ran in for the touchdown.

"Michael (LaLonde) and I made the call to go for it. I ran in motion to the left and three [defenders] went with me. I knew it was over. Carson caught a pass and walked in."

Buhro beat Lakota's Braxton Quaintance in his final match at state. He wrestled 165 in the postseason as a senior and 175 prior.

"That last match in front of 1,000s of people," he said. "I made my goal of placing at state. I already wrestled that kid the last four weeks. My family was there. I looked up and saw them and realized my wrestling career was officially over after that match.

"It was a good way to go out."

Remarkably, most of Oak Harbor's athletes exited in similar fashion. The Rockets join the Northern Buckeye Conference next season.

"Winning the SBC in the last year was the entire goal for the school," Buhro said. "We all tried to do that. Football, track, wrestling, softball, swimming, tennis. Soccer. That was school wide. It's our last year. The gym will look different next year and none of it says SBC.

"It will be different. That was the goal."

Buhro established school records in the 100 (10.73) and 200 (21.67) in the state finals and state preliminaries, respectively, as a senior. Buhro, Jaqui Hayward, Hayden Hower and Isiah Miller set Oak Harbor's record at 42.15 to finish second in the 4x100 at state when Buhro was a junior.

Buhro, Judson Overmyer, Garry Brooks and Owen Miller established the Rockets' mark at 1:29.21 in the state final in the 4x200 last season.

"All of them are special," Buhro said. "The 100 was my coach's [Cole Weirich]. The 4x100 finished second. The 200. It was 30 years old. Nobody touched it. I knew I could blow it out of the water. I knew it would be mine by the end of high school.

"I trained for that and it was in the back of my head. I completed my high school goals."

His new objectives include a national championship at Tiffin and qualifying spot on the USA under-20 roster.

He was fourth in the 200 and seventh in the 100 in Columbus as a senior.

"We never had somebody at Oak Harbor place in the 100 and 200 at the same meet at state," he said. "I wasn't supposed to make the finals in the 100."

He didn't have time to think about track in the offseason. He was busy with other sports.

He came early and stayed late as a senior.

"Getting my form down so I don't have to try as hard," he said. "I can relax. I had to hit the ground running. Get more explosive."

He suffered from food poisoning at regional.

"Another day training," he said. "Get fluids in me. If I throw up after every race, it's my last year, make the best of it."

He vomited after three of four races.

"I wasn't feeling my best," he said. "I threw that mindset out and went out and got it."

He's never had a week like the next week.

"The whole community was behind us," he said. "At the beginning of the week, we found out who will be there. We'd get our bodies loose and do some technical work. Practice is short, your body feels and you feel like you're on top of the world that whole week."

Buhro spent his senior year above the field in three sports. He brought a friend.

mhorn@gannett.com

419-307-4892

Twitter: @MatthewHornNH

This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Oak Harbor's Hayden Buhro stands out in three sports as senior