Zane Trace boys, Unioto girls win Scioto Valley Conference track and field championships

BAINBRIDGE − Zane Trace boys coach Bryan Alley never has to worry about the effort his runners put into their events.

The Pioneers have shown out this year when lined up against other teams in the Scioto Valley Conference. The week prior to the SVC Championships at Paint Valley, the Pioneers took on five other conference opponents during the Ross County Meet at Adena and came out on top.

That success seemed to linger as Zane Trace cut a swath through the SVC Championships on Friday night. Zane Trace took first in seven events at George Knisley Memorial Stadium and amassed 156 points as a team to take home an SVC title.

"I'm just glad the kids came today and competed," Alley said. "I just told them, 'We'll just let the chips fall where they may, just come out and compete hard.' And I've been blessed this year with a lot of extra kids coming out, which has greatly enhanced our team, but they all competed well. That's what it's all about, is just competing."

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The Pioneers won three of four relay events. Brice Johnson, Riley Hartsaugh, Aaden Gigley and Aaden Dunn won the 4x100, Johnson, Hartsaugh, Dunn and Charley Clyne won the 4x200, while Hartsaugh, Clyne, Wyatt Vick and Peyton Dotson placed first in the 4x400. Vick also won the 800 with a final time of 1:59.19, beating out Westfall's Josh Trapp by a two-second margin.

In field events, Hudson Williams took home first for the Pioneers in pole vault with a final mark of 13-0. Spencer Brower and Noah Fetters also placed first in shot put and discus with respective throws of 56-1 and 167-6, respectively.

Zane Trace's girls earned fourth overall after ending the meet with 81.5 points. First-place finishers included Molly Prochaska in the 3,200 with a 12:10.37 and Kendra Detillion in shot put (38-8) and discus (126-5).

Unioto placed second in the boys' events with 146 points, while its girls team won its own conference title with 179 points as a team. Caden Larue had perhaps the best night among the Shermans, after placing first in the 1,600 run and the 4x800 relay alongside Jayden Lewis, Tanner Beam and Ethan Purtee, as well as placing third in two other events.

Larue's performance in the 1,600, however, stood out among the rest. After trailing Adena's Ryan Richendollar for the first three laps, Larue hit his stride. He eclipsed Richendollar and finished the race with a time of 4:31.97, falling a second shy of a personal record and beating out every other runner by at least five seconds.

"Ryan's a great athlete," Larue said. "He's a strong runner, tons of endurance. I knew if I was just able to sit, that last 400 was mine. I race more eights and fours than he does and that's where I'm really good at, that last lap."

Other first-place finishers for the Shermans included Will Fleck in the 110 hurdles (15.54) and Jack Winegardner in the 300 hurdles (41.62).

For the Shermans' girls team, Adeline Lloyd took home first in both the 100 and 300 hurdles with times of 17.29 and 50.40, respectively, and she earned the girls' meet medalist honors. Alexis Book, Grace McBee, Aidyn Danison and Ella Cutright won the 4x100 (53.04), while Cameron Walker, Gwyn Eldridge, Alexa West and Ava Rooker won the 4x800 (10:25.58). McBee also won the girls long jump for the Shermans with a final jump of 14-8.5.

"It's a group effort like from jumps to throws, and I mean, overall we had about 65% freshman or sophomore participating," Unioto coach Don Ooten said. "It's phenomenal knowing that you can come out and we've got such young kids come out, and you can trust them at this stage to do what they have to do."

Adena's girls team placed second behind Unioto with 130 points, and its boys team earned third with 85 points. Jacey Smith won the girls 100 with a 13.06 final, and she also helped Kamryn Sowers, Olivia Ferrell and Brooke Bossert to a win in the 4x200 relay (1:53.90). Katie Burns cleared a 5-2 mark to win the girls high jump for the Warriors, and Claire Robinson won the girls pole vault after clearing a 10-foot vault.

Bryson Smith earned boys' meet medalist honors thanks to taking first place in the 100 (11.13), 200 (23.07) and long jump (22-0.5). Richendollar earned the Warriors' other first-place finish after he cruised through the 3,200 in 10:05.11.

Huntington earned third place in girls events with 84 points and fourth place in boys events with 74 points. The team of Rachel Lute, Tori Smith, Arlene Duty and Meredith Hirsch won the girls 4x400 relay with a time of 4:21.85, Lee Rucker won the high jump after a 6-2 jump and Brooke Hopkins won the girls seated shot put with a throw of 11-5.5.

Westfall placed fifth in both boys and girls events with 65 points and 60 points respectively. Brody Williams won the boys 400 with a time of 51.28, and Caitlyn Shipley won both the girls 800 and 1,600 with times of 2:27.51 and 5:33.31.

Southeastern took home sixth place in the girls events with 51 points and seventh place in the boys events with 49 points. Both of the Panthers' first-place finishes came from freshman Karlie Peters, who won the girls 200 and 400 with times of 26.99 and 1:01.81. Paint Valley took sixth in boys events with 57 points and seventh in girls events with 41 points, and Piketon earned eighth place in both categories with 34.5 points for the girls team and 21 points for the boys team.

This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Zane Trace boys, Unioto girls earn titles at SVC track championships