Chad Johnson sets two meet records; Colin McCullough sweeps hurdles races

BUCYRUS — It was cold and wet, but the show went on at Bucyrus High School for the annual Elks Invitational on Saturday.. The squads from Galion and Colonel Crawford were in competition against some respective league opponents and the elements and fared well.

Galion made the team race tight in the boys meet, but finished second overall with 96 points, behind Lexington, with 103. After that it was 3. Harding- 78; 4. COLONEL CRAWFORD- 73; 5. Crestview- 58; 6. Ontario- 53; 7. Upper Sandusky- 50; 8. Pleasant- 28; 9. Bucyrus- 27; 10. Mohawk- 25; 11. Wynford- 21; 12. Western Reserve- 18; 13. Plymouth and River Valley- 15 and 15. South Central- 2.

The big story on the day was Colonel Crawford’s Chad Johnson. Johnson would breeze to victories in the 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs. In the 1,600, Johnson won the event in 4:20.57 and shattered the meet record. Johnson ran the 3,200 in 9:42.25 to also set a new meet record. Nick Studer of Crawford finished fourth in the 1,600 while Galion’s Braxton Tate took eighth. The Eagles’ Brad Bauer earned third overall in the 3,200 on the day.

The Tigers’ Colin McCullough was almost as dominant in the hurdle events McCullough ran to a first place finish in the 110-meter hurdles in a time of 15.33 and first in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 40.85. Dylan David (Crawford) finished eighth in the 300-hurdles.

The 4×800-meter relay team from Crawford took fifth in the event to begin the relays for the day. In the 4×200, the Eagles would finish third with Galion right behind them in fourth. The Tigers would flip the script in the 4×100 event, winning the race in 45.62 with the Eagles taking second. Galion earned second in the 4×400 behind Lexington and Crawford finished fifth overall in the event.

A pair of Galion teammates would place in the 100-meter dash. Takoda Crisman grabbed third and Caleb Ivy took the final point at eighth. Evan Barker was the only placer from the area in the 200, finishing in fifth.

In the remaining running events, Harrison Ivy of Galion would win the 400-meter dash in a time of 53.16. Brody Martin from Crawford finished in eighth in that event.

In the field events, Kelby Knight (Galion) was the only event champion. Knight finished with the top height in the boys pole vault, clearing 11 feet for the win. Teammate Tanner Crisman finished in third place.

Jaret Tinkey finished in second in the discus and fifth in the shot put for Colonel Crawford. Galion throwers Noah Atkinson and Mason Weldon took seventh in the discus and sixth in the shot, respectively.

Colonel Crawford’s Harley Shaum was the top-finisher in the area in the high jump, finishing third. Galion’s Takoda Crisman was right behind Shaum in fourth. Zhamir Anderson (Galion) saw his first action of the year in the long jump and finished in fourth place overall.

Up next for the Tigers will be a trip to Lexington on Tuesday April 4 to meet up in a dual-meet with the Minutemen. Colonel Crawford will also be in action on Tuesday. The Eagles will travel to Carey to compete in Northern-10 Athletic Conference action with the Blue Devils and the Upper Sandusky Rams in a tri-meet format.

On the girls side of the meet, Galion and Crawford tied for fifth. The official scoring was: 1. Lexington- 133; 2. Ontario- 94; 3. River Valley- 79; 4. Upper Sandusky- 67; 5. Galion and Colonel Crawford- 50; 7. Pleasant- 42; 8. Mohawk- 27; 9. Harding and Western Reserve- 25; 11. Crestview- 18; 12. South Central- 15; 13. Bucyrus- 10 and 14. Plymouth- 8.

Starting things off was the 4×800-meter relay. In the event, the Lady Eagles would take third place and Galion would grab the final point-scoring spot at eighth. In other relay action, the Lady Tigers would win the 4×100 in a time of 53.81 and take sixth in the 4×400.

Kristen Vehrs of Colonel Crawford earned second place (17.30) in the 100-meter hurdles and grabbed third in the 300-meter hurdles. Vehrs’ teammate, Claire Ehmann, was the only other runner to place in the hurdles for the two teams, finishing fourth in the 100-meter version of the event.

In the sprints, Galion’s Kerrigan Myers ran her way to first place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.30. Vehrs would take fifth place and Reegyn Goyer finished in seventh for the Lady Eagles.

Courtney Britt of Colonel Crawford was the highest placing runner in the 800-meter run for the two teams, crossing the finish line in eighth place.

Anna Reffey and Emily Kemper represented the Eagles well in the distance events. Reffey finished second in the 1600-meter run while Kemper took sixth. In the 3200-meter run, Reffey crossed the line in third and Kemper right behind her in fourth. Airyona Nickels of Galion earned a seventh overall finish in the 3200.

Bri Streib and Anna Court anchored the Galion throwing teams in Bucyrus. Streib would take second overall in the discus event and Court finished eighth. Streib finished in seventh in the shot put.

Marisa Gwinner won the high jump with a final height of 5’05” and teammate Myers snagged second place with 5’00”. Sam Mutchler of Crawford finished third at 4’10”. Gwinner would also finish fourth in the girls long jump.