They are scoring machines: Crestview boys, Shelby Grover score big points at regional track
HEATH — Tim Kuhn was already crunching the numbers before he left the Heath High School track and field complex Friday night.
He believes that it will take between 40 and 55 points to win a Division III state championship next weekend in Columbus and considers his Crestview boys a serious contender.
Why wouldn’t he? After scoring 153 points to win their fourth straight district title a week ago, his Cougars scored 74 points to double the output of runner-up Shadyside for a 3-peat regional crown.
Over the two-day meet, Crestview produced automatic state qualifiers in seven individual events, including a 1-2 finish in the pole vault, and also won a regional title in the 4 x 400 meter relay.
“Last year there weren’t really any question marks on the team,” Kuhn said. “They were all proven. They had all performed before. This year we had a lot of unknowns.”
The Cougars lost state-caliber thrower Wade Bolin for the entire season to injury. Their best sprinter, Adison Reymer, has been hampered by injuries each of the last two springs. The 4x4 has had a different look each of the last three weeks And what really can you expect from a freshman pole vaulter when it comes to complementing a senior state medalist?
Apparently, plenty.
Liam Kuhn, the coach’s ninth-grade son, won a regional title in the vault on Wednesday, clearing 13-4, while his more celebrated teammate, Shawn Bailey, took third and earned a return trip to state by jumping 13-0.
Crestview’s other regional title came from its 4x4 crew, which has shuffled the deck the last two weeks because of injuries.
Two weeks ago the team of Reymer, Malachi Spoerr, Logan Friges and Hayden Kuhn set a Firelands Conference record with a 3:27.58, breaking the meet mark set last year by South Central’s state championship crew.
Last week, Reymer was experiencing hamstring issues, so Caden Cunningham subbed in as the Cougars won the race again at districts.
And this time around, Reymer was back but the unit lost Kuhn because of a pinched nerve. And still they continued to hum along with a first place time of 3:23.77.
These Cougars appear to have more ways to score than the 2021 team that finished fifth in the state meet with 24 points. Those Cougars were led by Kuhn’s oldest son, Ross, the state champ in the 800.
And now it's his youngest son, Liam, who is helping to lead the way.
“I would have never expected in a million years that Liam would qualify for state,” Kuhn said, “But the way he grew from the beginning of the year to the end was huge. Hayden (Kuhn’s middle son) came down with the pinched nerve, which stinks. But Friges is a true talent. I think he has a chance to break Ross’ school record (in the 800).
“This was a team effort. The guys really stepped up and performed when they needed to perform.”
There’s an easy way to make a state title a foregone conclusion for Crestview. Sneak Shelby Grover into the lineup.
The Lucas senior continued to dazzle, winning three regional titles and setting a PR in the 100 hurdles with Wednesday’s prelim time of 14.48.
She’s a state qualifier in four events for the second year in a row and heads to Columbus as the odds-on favorite to win the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles after finishing second and third, respectively, in 2022, behind only seniors.
Her 5-6 high jump and 18-8.5 long jump, both achieved in last week’s district meet at Colonel Crawford, also put her in the state title conversation. She was state runner-up in the long jump last year without cracking 18 feet, like she has each of the last two weeks.
On Friday, Grover made only two jumps before shutting it down. She went 18-1 and then popped her winning leap of 18-2.25. That preceded her firsts in the 100 hurdles (14.58) and 300 hurdles (44.84).
One inch kept Grover from being a quadruple winner. The winning high jump on Wednesday was 5-4. She jumped 5-3.
“I didn’t put a lot of pressure on myself getting (back) to state, but about a month ago I was in a real bad mental state,” Grover said. “My foot started hurting. I wasn’t running and jumping the way I wanted to. And then I talked to a life mentor of mine, Rachel Miller, and she really helped me.”
Miller was a state champion hurdler for Ontario and an All-American in the 400 for Ashland University. They met when she was Grover’s 4-H camp counselor. And that friendship blossomed when Grover attended a lot of Ashland U camps.
“(Miller) and my whole family have been there for me,” Grover said. “They’re such a great support system. I’ve had a way better mindset. If I get worried and anxious I just pray about it and try and have a positive attitude.”
Each week the state meet gets closer, it has gotten harder for Grover to focus on anything but what could be her grand finale, especially since she has already finished high school and earned an associate degree in business from North Central State College on May 9.
“I graduate (from Lucas) the day after the state meet and I haven’t even thought about graduation,” she said. “It’s been all state, state, state.”
Grover is thrilled to have company in Columbus this year. Lucas sophomore Rebekah Case finished third in the vault at 10-0.
Case joined Grover at the Adidas Indoor Nationals in Virginia Beach earlier this year and it seems to be paying off.
“It really prepared me for the atmosphere (of a big meet),” she said. “At nationals, there were a lot of people there watching and you have to keep the adrenalin down, so you don’t do anything to hurt yourself.”’
Case missed six weeks with a sprained ankle and just returned a couple of weeks ago.
“My best (vault) is 11 feet indoor and 10-6 outdoors,” she said. “I want to get back to 11.”
Noah Stuart has been a sure thing in the field events all season for Crestview. He was regional runner-up in the shot put (53-0) and discus (171-1). He’s really hitting his stride, especially in the discus, where last week at districts he had two tosses over 170 and one over 180 where he fouled.
“I had a really bad disc practice the day before (the regional competition), so I’m really happy with throwing over 170,” Stuart said. “I’m excited, but I'm still not done yet. My goal is to place in both.”
Given all the physical hardship he’s been through the last two years, Reymer is glad he’s able to represent Crestview not only in the 4x4 but also in the 100 and 200. He was third in the former (10.96) and fourth in the latter (22.41).
“It definitely feels good,” he said. “I have to give credit to the Lord. I was going through difficult times and it was testing me mentally, watching my peers and everybody I wanted to run with. It’s awesome to be experiencing what I wanted to do last year.”
Friges was second in the 800 for Crestview (1:58.5) and it looks like Cunningham, who was fifth in the long jump, will get an at-large berth into the state tournament. Jace Hill also has a chance for the Cougars after finishing fifth in the 300 hurdles.
Top four finishers in each event automatically advance to state. At-large berths are also awarded to the next two best finishers from all the meets statewide.
St. Peter’s Peyton Bodnar had a season PR in the 400, finishing third at 50.47. He was an eighth-place state medalist last year.
“The goal is state finals – and not 8th anymore,” he said. “I want top 5. I want to prove myself, that even though I took the summer off, I can get back to the 49.7 I ran last year at regionals. I can get back there; I just need to work on it, and I will.”
Even though Caiden Allen may or may not get back to state in the 100 after his fifth-place finish, he ran the second leg on Plymouth’s regional champion 4x1 team (43.6), joined by Gavin McClary, Layne Bushey and Riley Ramey.
“Our last anchor had a hamstring (injury),” Allen said, “but in our first meet with (Ramey) we broke the school record, so we’re like … OK.”
Ramey originally grew up in Shelby, then moved to Kentucky before coming back to north central Ohio.
“I had no clue we were going to be close to the record,” Ramey said. “I said, ‘If we mess up coach, I’m sorry.’ Me and Layne didn’t have our hand-offs down. But we were told just do the best you can.”
DIVISION I AT AMHERST: Mansfield Senior’s Aaron Thornton was fourth-seeded going into Friday’s finals, but he came away with the DI regional title in the 300-meter hurdles at Amherst.
Thornton’s winning time was 38.58.
Joining him at the state meet will be Tyger teammate Keontez Bradley. A medalist last year in the 400, Bradley is headed south this year in the 200 after finishing third in 22.45.
Lexington freshman Latrell Hughes took third in the 400 in 49.0 and Ashland’s Aveline Wilhelm was fourth in the shot put (39-7) to round out the area’s DI qualifiers.
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: They are scoring machines: Crestview boys, Shelby Grover score big points at regional track
