Unioto boys, Adena girls take home first at Ross County Meet

FRANKFORT − Ashton Beverly was gunning to keep his 3,200-meter run at the Ross County Meet under 10 minutes.

For much of the penultimate event at Bostic Field on Tuesday evening, Beverly was pushing both himself and his closest competition to break under the 10-minute threshold. He and Adena senior Ryan Richendollar held firm control of the lead throughout the race, and both were looking to shave time off their runs in one of their final meets before the Scioto Valley Conference preliminaries.

In spite of cold temperatures, frequent winds and occasional sprinklings of rain that dotted Bostic Field, Beverly pushed to the finish line with a time of 10:12.31 to inch out a first-place finish. With his win, the senior helped thrust Unioto's boys team into first place.

"It all comes down to the wire when we're about six laps in and two laps to go," Beverly said. "Ryan and I, we were both shooting for getting under 10 today, and that's why most of the race we were trying to help each other out a bit. Those last two, when you get down to that last 800, you really just have to kick it in. That's what it is."

Unioto's boys made their mark on multiple occasions Tuesday. Including Beverly's win in the 3,200-meter run, the Shermans placed first in three events and finished in the top three in all but three running events. The 4x800 relay team of J.J. Larue, Gideon Tennant, Seth Ogan and Rowen Lloyd crossed the finish line with a comfortable lead and notched the Unioto boys' first win of the day. Will Fleck took home the 110-meter hurdles title in 17.75 seconds as well.

On the girls' end, the Shermans claimed second place after winning eight events, including two individual wins from Addison Mohan. The senior cruised to victories in both the 100-meter dash and long jump, as well as acting as the third leg in the Shermans' 4x400 relay team.

To Unioto coach Don Ooten, Unioto's success is indicative of both the size of its boys and girls teams as well as the initiative of those involved. With the sheer size of its roster, Unioto can use both depth and experience to its advantage.

"We've got the largest team we've had in probably 10 years," Ooten said. "I've got 70-plus kids in the program, and every one of these kids are stepping up and doing what they're supposed to do."

Adena, on the other hand, managed to get the jump on the Unioto girls, and it inched ahead with 165 total points to claim the meet victory by a two-point margin. Six total events belonged to the Adena girls by the end of the evening, including three field events. Grace Townsend and Claire Robinson picked up first place in the high jump and pole vault respectively, and Sydney Foglesong powered through to a win in shot put with a throw of 36 feet, 10.75 inches.

That wasn't all. The Warriors also claimed both first and third place in the 100-meter hurdles between freshman Kaelyn Knisley and sophomore Kayla Grooms respectively. Juniors Bailey McGarvey and Brenna Bossert took first and third in the 200-meter dash, and freshman Lylah Carter and Grooms picked up second and third in the 300-meter hurdles.

The Adena girls team had a solid foundation of high placements to work from, and much of that came from its bevy of underclassmen. Adena girls coach Susan Glandon has a menagerie of freshman and sophomores eager to step up this season, and they provided plenty of help on Tuesday. Of the eight Warriors that placed third or higher in a girls event, four of them were underclassmen.

"I'm just very proud of my ladies," Glandon said. "They've been asked to step up and to do some things that they're not always comfortable doing. But they're there to help out the team, and so I'm really happy to see that."

Glandon saw plenty of impressive results from the Warriors on Tuesday, and she's hoping that success translates to the SVC preliminaries next Monday. The fine details aren't completely ironed out, but the results from Tuesday will help the Warriors lock down their decisions when the conference meet comes knocking.

"Not all of them have had a chance to really step up and show me what they can do, because with the nature of track you can only enter two kids in each event," Glandon said. "I'm still trying to figure out exactly what we're going to do in the SVC, but today I did see some things that are helping me make that decision a little easier."

ROSS COUNTY TRACK AND FIELD MEET RESULTS

BOYS

Team: Unioto 126, Zane Trace 122, Huntington 100, Adena 95, Paint Valley 50, Southeastern 24

Individual winners

100: Cole Miller (Paint Valley), 11.35

200: Cole Miller (Paint Valley), 23.02

400: Wes Brown (Huntington), 53.74

800: Wyatt Vick (Zane Trace), 2:10.51

1,600: Ryan Richendollar (Adena), 4:38.98

3,200: Ashton Beverly (Unioto), 10:12.31

110 hurdles: Will Fleck (Unioto), 17.75

300 hurdles: Jordan Powell (Zane Trace), 45.02

4x100 relay: Andrew Payton, Riley Hartsaugh, Wyatt Vick and Charley Clyne (Zane Trace), 46.83

4x200 relay: Andrew Payton, Riley Hartsaugh, Wyatt Vick and Charley Clyne (Zane Trace), 1:36.26

4x400 relay: Andrew Payton, Riley Hartsaugh, Wyatt Vick and Charley Clyne (Zane Trace), 3:37.46

4x800 relay: J.J. Larue, Gideon Tennant, Seth Ogan and Rowen Lloyd (Unioto), 9:07.74

High jump: Logan Morris (Zane Trace), 5-4

Long jump: Wes Brown (Huntington), 18-8.5

Pole vault: Zane Pickerrell (Zane Trace), 11-0

Shot put: Spencer Brower (Zane Trace), 51-8.5

Discus: Nalin Robinson (Zane Trace), 156-2

GIRLS

Team: Adena 165, Unioto 163, Zane Trace 99, Huntington 63, Paint Valley 26, Southeastern 11

Individual winners

100: Addison Mohan (Unioto), 13.92

200: Bailey McGarvey (Adena), 29.82

400: Ella Pelfrey (Unioto), 1:06.61

800: Cameron Walker (Unioto), 2:29.97

1,600: Cameron Walker (Unioto), 5:18.02

3,200: Briana Nelson (Unioto), 12:33.71

100 hurdles: Kaelyn Knisley (Adena), 18.97

300 hurdles: Arlene Duty (Huntington), 54.59

4x100 relay: Jacey Smith, Katie Burns, Grace Townsend and Bailey McGarvey (Adena), 56.39

4x200 relay: Hannah Kempton, Magnolia Holbert, Ella Cutright and Jaelyn Himes (Unioto), 2:01.45

4x400 relay: Alexa West, Ella Pelfrey, Addison Mohan and Cameron Walker (Unioto), 4:29.36

4x800 relay: Molly Prochaska, Marie Souther, Mary Helber and Kailee Johnson (Zane Trace), 11:05.43

High jump: Grace Townsend (Adena), 4-6

Long jump: Addison Mohan (Unioto), 14-11.75

Pole vault: Claire Robinson (Adena), 9-0

Shot put: Sydney Foglesong (Adena), 36-10.75

Discus: Kendra Detillion (Zane Trace), 112-1

Seated shout put: Brooke Hopkins (Huntington), 11-6

This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Unioto boys, Adena girls take home first at Ross County Meet