Zane Trace boys, Adena girls place first at annual Ross County track and field meet

FRANKFORT − Wyatt Vick competed in just one event for Zane Trace during the Ross County Meet on Wednesday night. The senior's been nursing a small problem with his hip, and Zane Trace coach Bryan Alley lightened up his workload to give him a bit of rest. The Scioto Valley Conference championships are on the horizon, and Vick wants to be in the best shape he can.

If his finish in the 800-meter run was any indication, Vick is doing great. The senior paced the rest of the field in his event by almost 11 seconds and clocked a final time of 1:59.30 − two seconds above his personal record in the event − to claim first in one of the final events of the annual Ross County Meet held at Bostic Field.

"It's my second time under two (minutes) this year, and it's what I was running last year at state and regionals," Vick said. "Just to be able to run that without that much pressure makes me feel good."

What we learned: Takeaways from the past week in area high school baseball and softball

Aside from Vick's first place finish, the Pioneers' boys squad cleaned house. They took first of the six teams present for the meet with a team score of 157 points. A Pioneer placed first in six events throughout the meet, and another six placed third or better in their respective events.

Peyton Dotson placed first for the Pioneers in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.85, winning by one-hundredth of a second. Charley Clyne finished the 400 in 51.99 for his own first-place finish, and the team of Dotson, Brice Johnson, Riley Hartsaugh and Aaden Dunn took first in the 4x400 relay with a time of 3:41.37.

The Pioneers also cleaned up in field events. Spencer Brower and Noah Fetters each took first in the shot put and discus, respectively, with throws of 57-0.5 and 160-1.

"I wanted to get everybody in because the guys know going into SVCs, some of the guys will no longer be competing for the rest of the year," Alley said. "We run right into the districts after that, so it was nice to get everybody in something tonight. The guys performed well."

Unioto's boys took second overall with 122 points and five first-place finishers of their own. Caden Larue won the 1,600-meter run with a 4:45.67 final, Will Fleck and Jack Winegardner completed the 110 and 300 hurdles with respective times of 16.03 and 42.09, Levi Beam won the pole vault with a 12-0 mark and the team of Isaac Martin, James Rinehart, Caden Cutright and Winegardner won the 4x200 relay with a 1:36.38 final.

Adena finished third with 84 points, Paint Valley had 65 points to place fourth as a team, Southeastern earned fifth with 50 points and Huntington took sixth with 48 points. Adena's Bryson Smith earned the meet medal after earning 28 points for the Warriors by himself. He placed first in the 100 with an 11.02, second in the 200 with a 22.86 and first in long jump with a 21-4.25 final jump.

Smith is no stranger to meet medals. Wednesday was his sixth on the year, in fact. Performances at the top level are becoming more and more commonplace for him. He set personal records in all three of his events Wednesday, as a matter of fact.

"I think it was the weather," Smith said. "I really had the backwind against me today. I put a lot on my time, because last year I was running 11.7s, and today I PR'd and ran 11.02, and it's almost a school record. I feel pretty good."

Other first place finishers in the boys events included Adena's Lucas King in high jump (6-0) and Ryan Richendollar in the 3,200 run (10:17.31), Paint Valley's 4x100 team of Dom Chambers, Bryson Dunham, Justin Pence and Trevin Tuttle (45.75), and Southeastern's 4x800 team of Gage Renison, Daniel Morgan, Carson Stepp and Grayson Roberts (9:27.34).

Adena also placed first among the girls teams after accumulating a team score of 155 points, and it had six athletes place first in their respective events. Jacey Smith won the 100-meter dash in 13.07, Vanessa Conley won the 1,600 by over 10 seconds with a time of 5:52.84 and Lylah Carter claimed first in the 300 hurdles with a 51.67 final. In field events, Claire Robinson won pole vault with a 10-0 mark, Katie Burns won the high jump at 4-10 and Kamryn Sowers won long jump with a 14-10.5.

Unioto's girls also placed second with 113 points and four first-place finishers. Briana Nelson claimed first in the 3,200 with a final time of 12:27.08, and Jozie Zickafoose completed the 100 hurdles in 17.95 for first place. The team of Eliana Myers, Grace McBee, Aidyn Danison and Ella Cutright won the 4x100 relay with a 53.54 final, while the 4x800 team of Nelson, Adeline Lloyd, Cameron Walker and Alexa West put up a 10:41.41 for first place.

Zane Trace took third with 94 points, Huntington placed fourth with 89 points, Southeastern earned 54 points for fifth place and Paint Valley slid into sixth with 18 points. Huntington's first place finishers include Rachel Lute in the 800 (2:35.63), the 4x200 team of Arlene Duty, Meredith Hirsch, Hayden Magill and Tori Smith (1:57.48) and the 4x400 team of Duty, Hirsch, Lute and Smith (4:23.31).

Southeastern's Karlie Peters earned both first place finishes for her team after winning the 200 in 27.91 and the 400 in 1:02.57. Zane Trace's Kendra Detillion placed first in shot put and discus with respective throws of 36-8.5 and 121-8.

This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Zane Trace boys, Adena girls place first at Ross County track meet