Perfect fit: Last piece to Lex relay leads to state berth, school record
LEXINGTON — He’s the lone senior on Lexington’s record-setting 4 x 400 meter relay team, yet in some ways Cam Crago feels like the neighborhood kid hanging out with the cool older dudes.
How did he get so lucky?
Maybe the better question is, how did Lex get so lucky?
At the midway point of this track and field season, the Minutemen were searching for someone to perfectly complement the three veterans in that relay: freshman third leg Latrell Hughes, sophomore lead-off runner Will Perkins and junior anchor Carter Newman.
Enter Crago, with only one other year of track in his background.
Given his light resume, he might not have seemed like the obvious choice then. But he sure looks like it now as the 4x4 team rides a regional runner-up finish and school record into the Division I state meet Friday and Saturday in Ohio State’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
With Crago running second leg, the Minutemen turned a 3:18.71 in last week’s regional at Amherst, shattering the school record (3:20.17) set by the 2017 state champion relay team. It was also a five-second PR for this foursome.
Five seconds.
“It’s a lot of pressure because those three (crew mates) are actually great runners for how young they are,” Crago said. “So for them to be younger than me, with more experience, is a little nerve-wracking.”
First-year head coach Mike Moore had been rotating three guys on that second leg but decided that Crago won the job by running a 52.97 at the Galion Invitational.
“We were trying some different pieces and it was nice to see Cam take control there,” Moore said. “He kind of made that his role. We knew he had it in him and I think he knew he had it in him. He just needed to go out and do it.
“It was fun to see him go out in that meet and own it, saying ‘This is mine.’”
If all goes well this weekend, Lex will help turn out the lights on this year’s state meet, figuratively speaking.
The gun will go off for the 4x4 finals at approximately 7 p.m. Saturday night, putting the wraps on a two-day extravaganza that showcases talent in three divisions.
DI is always last on the schedule, with DIII in the morning both days and DII in the early afternoon. The Lex girls moved down from DI to II this year and have 10 qualifiers for state, led by regional 800 champ Elyana Weaver.
Moore had his boys practicing this week at 6:30 p.m. to get them acclimated to running in the late afternoon in Columbus. The 4x4 team is on such a high right now it would probably compete at 3 a.m. if that’s what it took to win a state championship.
Lex is seeded fourth and Toledo St. John’s, the only team to beat the Minutemen at regionals, is seeded No. 1 at 3:16.52.
“It’s insane,” Crago said of the strides made by Lex in the 4x4, “but it’s all coach Moore. Last year, assistant coach (Dan) Wittmer helped me with some of the basics and got me up to speed. He got me here and then coach Moore took over and got us to state.”
Crago got cut off at about 200 meters on his leg at regionals and Newman got bumped by a runner who didn’t get off the track fast enough as Newman took off with the stick.
“There’s still more time to drop, if we can run a perfect race,” Moore said. “You don’t think that one’s getting touched (the school record in the 4x4), but our guys came out and blew it out of the water last week.”
Newman, who qualified for regionals in four events, including the 100, 200 and long jump, is the “heart and soul” of the team, according to Moore. He scratched from the 200 so he could be fresh for the 4x4. It obviously helped.
“As soon as I crossed the finish line, I saw that we ran a 3:18,” Newman said. “I knew the school record was 3:20, so I was pretty hyped after that.”
Moore was impressed with how his boys didn’t let an incident in the regional-opening 4x8 set the tone for the rest of the meet. While leading the race, Perkins got clipped from behind and fell. The official didn’t see how it happened, only that he was down on the track and impeding other runners, so Lex was DQed.
“That’s why I’m proud of these guys,” Moore said. “After a tough week, Latrell went to state in multiple events as a freshman, Carter got to regionals in four events and handled that. Will got trampled and came back with all that focus and did a great job, going 49 in the finals (of the 4x4).
“I know it was bad on Day One, but they really rebounded on Day Two and did something pretty unique.”
Perkins admitted he ran angry after the DQ.
“I did have a lot of adrenaline build up after that,” he said. “I just left it all out there on the track. We know we have something going and we know we have something going next year, too, with only (Crago) graduating.
“Our coach is great. He puts us through these great workouts that push us every day.”
Hughes, who has also qualified for state in the open 400, is one of those rare athletes who could run anything, every race from the 100 to the 3200. Last fall he led the Lex boys to their first Ohio Cardinal Conference cross country title since 2018 and now he’s running on one of the top sprint relays in Ohio.
That speaks volumes about his versatility.
“I really liked the 400 in middle school and I think that cross country really helps me at running track,” he said. “(The 400’s) a tough race for everybody and I really like to compete. You have to get out, but in some parts you have to contain it so that you’re not straight dead for the last 100.”
Lex girls sending 10 to state
Even though the Lex boys are one of the smallest DI programs, Moore said his guys like the challenge of competing against the big schools. On the flip side, the Lex girls are Exhibit A of how moving down a division can be rewarding.
They are sending their 4x8 and 4x2 relays to state, along with freshman Brailey Slone and senior Emma Wise in the 3200 and the aforementioned Weaver in the 800.
Weaver’s winning time in the DII Lex regional was 2:17.52.
“Coach (Denise) Benson (distance coach) has done an amazing job with her and just watching her in practice you knew she was going to have this breakout,” coach Michelle Smith said of Weaver. “The last week or two after the conference we were just waiting for her to peak and I just felt like she put it all together.
“Coach Benson was like, ‘You’re on Lex’s track. Defend your track.’ It was really cute. And I think Elyana took that all to heart and ran a beautiful race.”
Weaver also runs on the 4x8 with Sloane and seniors Kenley Miller and Lily Wolfe. On the 4x2 are senior Josalynn Patterson, junior Makenna Arnholt, sophomore Emily Thomas and freshman Allison Laury.
Sophomore Megan Harding is making a return trip to state and competing in two seated races: the 100 (30.37) and the 400 (2:15.17).
“Now it’s just a matter of doing what you need to do, survive and advance,” Smith said. “Try to keep your nerves intact and try to stay calm. When you walk in that stadium, it’s very overwhelming.
“You have to believe in your training and believe in what you’ve been doing and just go out and perform.”
Lex had a stretch where the girls won six straight invitationals – Milan Edison, Upper Sandusky, Marion Harding, Galion, Ohio Cardinal Conference and the DII district at Ontario.
“We just seem to be riding momentum,” Smith said. “We were getting points in events we normally wouldn’t get. When our discus thrower (Clarissa Cousart) made regionals, it was, wow. The old adage is that success breeds success. That was amazing.
“And for my long jumper (Olyvia Stoots) to get out of districts, at that point, everyone is stepping up. I think everyone works a little harder when they see other people succeeding”
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Perfect fit: Last piece to Lex relay leads to state berth, school record
