OLIVESBURG — The Cougars are on the hunt.
Crestview will head to Dayton’s Welcome Stadium on Thursday for the start of the Division III state track meet with a team title in its crosshairs.
The Cougars finished fifth in the final team standings last spring with 25 points — 13 behind state champ Minster. This year’s seven-man state-qualifying contingent could pile up more than 25 points on opening day of the two-day event, which concludes Friday.
Wade Bolin is on a short list of favorites in both the shot put and discus. He’s seeded first in the shot after winning the Heath regional title with a throw of 58 feet and second in the discus (178-4).
Crestview’s 4×800 relay crew of Cooper Brockway, Bransen Hider, Everett Smith and Logan Friges is seeded second. That team won a regional title in 8:05.96.
“I’ll put our team up against anybody’s,” Crestview coach Tim Kuhn said after the Cougars won their fourth straight regional team title at Heath last week. “I think our guys are ready and … I’m excited for the opportunity that we have and for what we can do. I think it should be fun.”
Kuhn’s son, Liam, won a regional pole vault title last week with a vault of 14 feet. Crestview’s 4×400 crew of Brockway, Smith, Friges and Ayden Reymer placed fourth at Heath last week in 3:28.46. Friges was a member of last year’s state-championship 4×400 crew.
Liam Kuhn will have plenty of local company in the pole vault competition. Mapleton’s Hayden Kidney and Loudonville’s Braden Carr both qualified in the pole vault out of the Norwayne regional. Both cleared 12-8, with Kidney finishing second and Carr fourth.
Meanwhile, Hillsdale’s Adalyn Tipton was second in the girls pole vault at Norwayne with a vault of 10 feet.
Loudonville’s Tess Shultz qualified for state in both the 1,600 and 3,200 runs, breaking schools records in both events at last week’s Norwayne regional. Shultz finished third in the 1,600 in 4:59.43 and earned an at-large state bid after finishing fifth in the 3,200 in 11:14.47.
Mapleton’s Isaik Schoch qualified in the 1,600. He finished fourth at Norwayne in 4:31.79.
Division I
Ashland will send six boys to compete in four events in the Division I state meet, which begins Friday and concludes Saturday.
Jayden Goings qualified in 110 hurdles, finished fourth at the Port Clinton regional in 14.47. Braydon Martin was fourth in the 300 hurdles in 38.04. Going and Martin teamed with Jacob Holbrook and Ayden Behrendsen to finish fourth in the 4×200 relay (1:28.43). Goingsand Behrendsen joined Gavin Hoffman and Tyler Sauder to place fifth in the 4×400 in 3:21.77. That crew earned an at-large state bid.