PICKERINGTON — Sara Borton and Grace Frye picked up regional titles to lead the Olentangy Orange girls track and field team to a top-three showing at the Division I regional championship meet Friday in Pickerington.
The Pioneers finished third with 51 points. Gahanna Lincoln won the team title with 89 points while Westerville Central closed second with 54.
Borton picked up her second straight championship in the pole vault, following up last week’s district title in Hilliard with a regional crown at Pickerington North.
The two efforts yielded the same end result — first-place points and a trip to the next round — but the similarities ended there. Borton, who secured district bragging rights by clearing 11-0, missed three straight at 11-04 a week ago. After passing on the first height at the regional, she cleared the next four heights without any trouble.
It was then, with the bar again sitting at 11-04, she hit her first hiccup. The junior missed her first attempt at the hight, but cleared it on her next. She then cleared 11-08 and 12-0 on back-to-back vaults to take the title.
Frye and Anna Grabau, meanwhile, advanced to he upcoming state showcase in the same event, finishing first and fourth, respectively, in the discus. Frye won the regional title with a toss of 137-09 while Grabau secured the fourth and final spot with an effort of 125-06.
Orange had some highlights on the track as well. Allison Guagenti finished third in the 1,600 (5:00.36); the 4×100 relay team of Brenda Agyekum, Frye, Maya Patterson and Ava Musgrove finished fourth (48.49 seconds); and the 4×800 quartet of Lindsay Ott, Abby Schroff, Quinn Shannon and Guagenti crossed the line fourth (9:23.18) to keep its season alive.
Other area state qualifiers on the girls side included Big Walnut senior Kaley Rammelsberg, who won the high jump with an effort of 5-06; and Olentangy senior Alexis Brookshire, who nabbed runner-up honors in the 3,200 with a time of 10:49.23.
As for the boys, Orange had the top area finish as a team, closing second with 50 points. Pickerington Central won with 101 while Canal Winchester smoothed out the top three with 44.
The Pioneers’ Jaeschel Acheampong led the charge in the field, winning the long jump with an effort of 23-09.75. Jonathan Petersen was also solid, earned second-place points in the pole vault with a mark of 14-04.
Andrew Schroff won a regional championship in the 1,600 (4:16.34) and Alex Kenish finished third in the 800 (1:51.92) to pad Orange’s point total. They teamed up with Lincoln Weber and Kyle Stringer to advance in the 4×800 relay as well. The Pioneer foursome finished third (7:56.98).
Other area state qualifiers included Olentangy Liberty’s Luke Bendick, who won the pole vault with an effort of 16-04.75; and Olentangy’s Cade Carter, who was fourth in the pole vault after clearing 13-04.
Division II Lexington Regional
With one day to go, Buckeye Valley and Olentangy Berlin already have a handful of state qualifiers to their credit at the Division II regional championship meet.
The Barons’ girls 4×800 relay team of Chloe Dawson, Jia Radloff, Bailey Kreft and Ashley Beatty finished third in Thursday’s final (9:47.49) while the Bears’ Luke Walden became the school’s first state qualifier by closing third in the boys pole vault (14-04).
The meet, with running event finals and some field events yet to be contested, is slated to wrap up today in Lexington.
Division III Lancaster Regional
Delaware Christian’s Lyssi Snouffer and Village Academy’s Amelia Cameron punched tickets to the upcoming state showcase with solid showings at the Division III regional championship, which wrapped up Friday at Fairfield Union.
Snouffer was her usual self in the jumping events, winning both. She picked up first-place points in the long jump with an effort of 17-05 and won the high jump with a mark of 5-06.
Cameron, meanwhile, finished third in the 3,200 in 11:45.54.
