Which records fell during the first night of competition at the MOAC Championships?

MARION — Cooper Miller wanted to bring the record back home.

"It was a couple years ago when I watched it be broke. Before that it was a River Valley vaulter. I told Coach (Kevin) Keller that I’m getting that back, and I’m just happy to be able to keep my word with it," the RV senior said following the first night of competition at the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships held at Harding Stadium where field event finals and track preliminaries were held on Tuesday.

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When Miller was a sophomore in 2022, Shelby's Garrett Baker went 14 feet, 10 inches to set the MOAC boys pole vault record, breaking former RV state champ Bryan Chard's 14-5 set in 2004. Tuesday night, Miller topped Baker's record, going 14-10.25 to claim the league championship, too.

"I definitely know I can jump higher than that," Miller said after missing his attempts at a personal record 15-2.

He's gone 15-1 indoors and 15 feet outdoors this season. Miller won last year's league meet at 14-4, was a runner-up in 2022 at 13 feet and took sixth as a freshman at 10 feet.

"I was just trying to stay focused coming into today," he said. "I had a hurdle race (preliminary) to run, and I wanted to get done with that and run the time I needed to get in the finals and score some points. Tonight (it was) have fun down the runway and take some good jumps in. I took a lot of jumps tonight. It’s not as many as I’d like to take to stay energized."

Moran sets record, too

Earlier in the evening inside Harding Stadium, River Valley junior girls pole vaulter Eva Moran not only won the event, but set the MOAC record, too.

"I love jumping here. It’s always so fun in this environment. I love it here," she said.

A few weeks earlier she set her PR of 12-0.25 during the Marion Night Invitational. On Tuesday, she went 12-0.5 to reset her PR and break the meet record of 12-0.25 held by RV's Savannah Amato since 2015.

It is her third MOAC title in the vault, winning as a freshman at 10-6 and last year at 11-0.25.

"I don’t like to limit myself. I feel like if you put limits on yourself, then you can’t surprise yourself. I listen to my Christian music and Christian rap, and then I feel really good, and I just go. It’s limitless," Moran said.

Another record falls

River Valley senior Ethan Lyon nearly set the MOAC record in the boys shot put with a heave of 57-4, six inches away from tying the record held by RV's Quinn Levering since 2011. It was his third straight MOAC title in the shot.

He had better luck in the discus when he tossed it 167-11, beating the record of 165-2 held by RV's Austin Levering since 2007. It was his second discus championship in a row in the league.

"I saw the meet records for shot and disc, and I really wanted that shot but wasn’t able to get it," Lyon said. "I was close, but sometimes I think I’m more relaxed in the warmups than in the meet. I throw way better before I actually have to throw, which gets frustrating."

Other area winners, placers

The first night of competition was for finals in the field events and 4x800-meter relays, plus preliminaries for some track events. The track finals will resume Thursday night at Harding Stadium.

The top three in all finals earn first team, second team or honorable mention spots in the MOAC depending on where they place.

Pleasant's Hudson Warner won the boys long jump in 21-5.5, while Highland's Darren Styer was the boys pole vault runner-up at 12 feet, and RV's Ben Isler was third at 12 feet as well. Marion Harding's Alex Stokes was third in the boys high jump at 5-10 as was Harding's Bre Card in the girls high jump at 4-10.

Highland's Ava Fichtner was third in the girls pole vault at 8-6, and teammate Audrey Weaver was third in the girls long jump at 16-1.25, while Kenzie Green was runner-up in the girls discus at 111-11 for the Scots. Highland's Ladon Hayes was third in the boys discus at 138-9.

In the girls 4x800, Highland was second in 10:26.9 and Pleasant third in 10:33.01. River Valley was third in the boys 4x800 in 8:20.84. Ontario and Shelby both broke the previous boys record set in 2022 by Shelby in the boys 4x800 as Ontario won in 8:02.22 to beat the Whippets at 8:02.57.

Galion's Miranda Stone broke the league record of 132-3 held by Pleasant's Jennifer Hardesty since 1992. Stone went 137-10 and also won the shot put in 39-5.

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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Three RV competitors break records at MOAC Meet Tuesday night