By Ben Stroup
Zach Kreft won a trio of individual MOAC championships and Nina Hilt nabbed two of her own to lead the Buckeye Valley boys and girls track teams during Tuesday and Thursday’s MOAC Championships at Mount Gilead.
Kreft dominated the distance events, crossing the finish line well before the other runners in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200.
He won the 800 in 2:00.24 (three seconds ahead of the runner-up from North Union), the 1,600 in 4:36.49 (10 seconds ahead of the second-place runner) and the 3,200 in 10:16.22 (nearly half a minute faster than any of the other competitors).
Hilt won both hurdle events with relative ease, too. She picked up first-place points in the 100-meter event in 16.08 seconds while winning the 300-meter race in 48.19 seconds — a mark more than four seconds faster than her prelim time.
Other Baron standouts included Raquel Warner, who won the 200 (26.37 seconds) and the boys 4×800 relay team (Gavin Shearer, Bill Daily, Cameron Hurt and Kreft), which won its event in 8:26.8.
Team wise, Buckeye Valley’s girls finished third in the Red Division with 94 points. Galion won the title with 141.50 points while Pleasant nabbed runner-up honors with 109.50.
Mount Gilead’s girls won the Blue Division crown with 164.50 points.
The Baron boys, meanwhile, finished fourth in the Red Division with 80 points. Galion won the team title with 158 points, River Valley finished second with 117 and Marion Harding smoothed out the top three with 81.50.
Mount Gilead took top honors in the Blue Division with 157.50 points.
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Follow Ben Stroup on Twitter @delgazette_ben.
