While the bulk of finals action in the high school track and field regional championships will take place Friday for local qualifiers, Wednesday’s Day 1 featured its share of big moments for Ashland-area standouts.
In Division I competition at Port Clinton, Ashland junior Frankie Rupsis followed last week’s district title in the high jump with a regional crown, qualifying to state with a clearance of 5 feet, 4 inches.
The Arrows had another junior state qualifier in Dakota Kruty, whose PR of 22-5.25 in the long jump secured him sixth place and a spot in Columbus.
Also landing on the podium Wednesday for AHS was junior Kelsey Kaeser, whose shot put of 35-11.75 was a PR and good enough for eighth place.
Meanwhile, the area loaded up on state-qualifying efforts in Division III boys competition at North Royalton.
The biggest waves came in the pole vault, where – for the second week in a row – Crestview’s Liam Kuhn ran away with the crown by more than a foot with a new meet record. After a 15-8 clearance at districts, Kuhn bested 15-6 on Wednesday to claim gold.
In that same event, Loudonville advanced two competitors to state, as junior Braden Carr (third at 14-0) and freshman Cooper Sage (fourth at 13-4) survived the regional.
Crestview’s 4×800-meter relay of Cooper Brockway, Bransen Hider, Everett Smith and Logan Friges finished as runner-up in 8:00.40 – a time 21 seconds faster than the quartet’s district effort.
Also advancing to state out of North Royalton for the area was Hillsdale junior Hayden McFadden. He stretched the tape to 21-4.5 in the long jump to secure second place and will be in action again Friday in both the 200 meters and the high jump.
For the Loudonville girls at the same site, the 4×800 relay of Sophie Shultz, Brynn Bitner, Kylar Staten and Tess Shultz turned in an eighth-place clocking of 10:12.02 one week after setting a school record at the district meet in 10:05.41.