WCAL Track: Morlock leads Norwayne to win despite tough conditions

DALTON — Not even Mother Nature could stop Dillon Morlock — or Norwayne’s boys track team — Saturday at the Wayne County Athletic League Championships.

Less that 24 hours after resetting his personal (and area-best mark) in the shot put, Morlock was back in the ring, this time in a rain storm that went from a steady drizzle to a torrential downpour.

Despite it all, however, Morlock was able to not only capture his second title in as many days but reset his area- and state-leading mark on the very last throw of the competition.

“It was more about not letting the rain being a determining factor,” said Morlock, who won the discus with a distance of 203-feet-9. “It really sucks when you have to throw in the rain, the grip is the hardest thing, but luckily, I found a way to deal with it.”

While waiting his turn, the senior would hide the discus — and his throwing hand — in his sweatshirt to keep both as dry as possible before his name was called. He would then step into the ring, quickly pull the discus out, and go right into his spin.

And after a couple of modest throws in the prelims, Morlock continued to build and build before his final toss of the day sailed into the record books.

“Once I had that grip, I knew I could work through it,” said the Michigan State recruit, who entered finals with a relatively modest 174-foot mark, before a 194-footer leading into the record toss. “I was flat throughout prelims; I wasn't getting the disc up; but that last one I was able to get it up and got out it out.”

More importantly, Morlock’s record-breaking two days of work, along with a handful of wins on the track, helped the Bobcats to another WCAL title. The team, which also got a pair of victories from Connor Preattle in both the 110- and 300-meter hurdles races and a first-place finish by Kyle Olszweski in the 400 in final-day action, compiled 184.5 points for the 86½-point victory. Waynedale was runner-up with 98, followed by Dalton (97.5) and Rittman (92).

Preattle opened his day with an efficient win in the 110 hurdles, beating teammate Jack Maibach in 16.25, before having to dig deep in the 300s to beat Chippewa’s Braydan Braswell in 41.98.

Both Preattle and Braswell were shoulder to shoulder going over the final hurdle and then, after matching each other’s steps, the lanky junior leaned over the finish line for the win in 0.06 seconds.

“Braswell is a good runner and typically he's a bit better than me on that last straightaway because he's a little bit stronger,” Preattle said. “I knew I could push hard and try to win it back.”

Olszweski used a surge with 150 meters to go, winning in 52.50, ahead of Waynedale’s Connor Reich (52.97) and fellow Bobcat Jon Graham (52.99).

Rittman’s Luke Snyder swept all three races he competed in on Saturday as the sophomore locked-up the 1,600, 800 and 3,200 races.

The All-Ohioan showed off his endurance in his final event of the day as he and Jackson Varner of Waynedale led the race until the final 450 meters when Varner pulled into the lead. Snyder than worked his way back to Varner’s inside shoulder before passing him with 250 to go for a win in 9:45.83.

“He passed me and I knew he was a strong runner and if I didn't stay within two meters of that kid he was going to be gone,” said Snyder, who also clocked winning times of 1:58.71 and 4:35.29 to take the 800 and 1,600, respectively. “With about 250 left, I thought about all of my friends on the team, and I needed to lead, find something, they were over there yelling encouragement every time he tried to pass ... I couldn't let up.

“I hoped it would be enough, and it was today; it was a great race.”

Dalton’s sprinters used their home-track advantage to put together an impressive day as Sammy Tomlinson (100) and Colin Pearson (200) both won, along with the 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams.

Along with anchoring both of those relay units to victory, Tomlinson opened the day with an 11.54 in the 100, the only sprinter in either heat to break 12 seconds in downright frigid conditions that followed the early morning rain showers.

“It feels pretty good,” he said. “I've got some momentum going into districts, so we should do really well.

(Dalton) coach (Seth) Sullivan has been pushing me hard in practice, so all props to him.”

Pearson was equally as strong in his win, crossing in 23.18.

“It feels nice knowing that it's all on you,” he said, referring to his own personal win after the two relay victories. “It's nobody else’s fault except yours, it's an accountability thing. It's fun; just different.”

The Bulldogs’ 4x1 clocked a 45.07 for the first-place finish, while the 4x2 checked-in at 1:35.10. Norwayne was the winner in the 4x4 in 3:37.29.

Outside of Morlock’s win in the discus, Waynedale’s Dylan Adams also faced inclement weather in his field-event final for the high jump, picking up the victory with a leap of 5-10.

In first-day action on Friday, Norwayne has a pair of wins with Morlock breaking his own area record in the shot put, thanks to a mark of 71-1, while the 4x8 team beat Waynedale with a time of 8:16.84.

Rittman’s Evan Rastorfer had the top mark in the long jump with a 21-1½, while Dalton’s Carson Steiner cleared 13-feet to win the pole vault on least amount of attempts.

WCAL Championships

Boys

Team standings: 1. Norwayne 184.5, 2. Waynedale 98, 3. Dalton 97.5, 4. Rittman 92, 5. Smithville 79.5, 6. Hillsdale 56.5, 7. Chippewa 30, 8. Northwestern 18.

Shot put: 1. Dillon Morlock (N) 71-1, 2. Brandt Morlock (N) 56-11½, 3. Ian Sarver (W) 53-6. Discus: 1. D. Morlock (N) 203-9, 2. B. Morlock (N) 154-6, 3. Tyler Sustar (S) 130-6. High jump: 1. Dylan Adams (W) 5-10, T-2. Hayden McFadden (H)/Jake Hershey (S) 5-8. Long jump: 1. Evan Rastorfer (R) 21-1½, 2. Jace Eberly (D) 20-2¾, 3. McFadden (H) 19-8.  Pole vault: 1. Carson Steiner (D) 13-0, 2. Trei Durstine (S) 13-0, 3. Jon Graham (N) 12-0. 4x800: 1. Norwayne 8:18.84, 2. Waynedale 9:19.30, 3. Rittman 8:32.44. 110 hurdles: 1. Connor Preattle (N) 16.25, 2. Jack Maibach (N) 16.47, 3. Hershey (S) 17.41. 100: 1. Sammy Tomlinson (D) 11.54, 2. Owen Sloan (H) 12.03, 3. Rollin Hendrix (W) 12.11. 4x200: 1. Dalton 1:35.10, 2. Waynedale 1:36.19, 3. Norwayne 1:39.30. 1,600: 1. Luke Snyder (R) 4:35.29, 2. Jackson Varner (W) 4:38.26, 3. Bryen Valerio (R) 4:42.43. 4x100: 1. Dalton 45.07, 2. Rittman 48.40, 3. Northwestern 49.68. 400: 1. Kyle Olszweski (N) 52.50, 2. Connor Reich (W) 52.97, 3. Graham (N) 52.99. 300 hurdles: 1. Preattle (N) 41.98, 2. Braydan Braswell (C) 42.04, 3. Gavin Martin (S) 44.44. 800: 1. Snyder (R) 1:58.71, 2. Tripp Wingate (N) 1:59.98, 3. Nick St. John (W) 2:00.31. 200: 1. Colin Pearson (D) 23.18, 2. Graham (N) 24.12, 3. Braswell (C) 24.17. 3,200: 1. Snyder (R) 9:45.83, 2. Varner (W) 9:48.69, 3. Trenten Woodall (N) 10:07.69. 4x400: 1. Norwayne 3:37.29, 2. Smithville 3:39.83, 3. Waynedale 3:40.75.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Boys Track and Field: Morlock re-sets own discus record