DAYTON — Bellbrook’s McKenna Kramer won the high jump competition finals, Jay Drennen won the boys discus crown, and the Beavercreek boys and girls 3,200 relay teams also claimed district titles at the first day of the Division I district track and field championships at Perc Welcome Stadium.
Kramer cleared the high jump bar’s 5-foot height with fewer attempts than Centerville’s Jermea Lyle, who also cleared the 5-foot mark on a very windy, blustery day.
Fresh off his win in the Greater Western Ohio Conference championships last week, Drennen heaved the discus 160 feet to win by nearly 12 feet over his next closest opponent.
Field event finals were contested in the boys discus, pole vault and long jump, and the girls discus and high jump, on Wednesday. The two running event finals were the boys and girls 3,200 relays, and Beavercreek won them both.
First, the Battlin’ Beaver foursome of Jodie Pierce, Jordan Grant, Taylor Ewert and Stephanie Pierce grabbed the lead, fell behind about midway through the race, and then powered past Centerville’s finest to win the girls 3,200-meter race in 9:41.54.
Then, the boys quartet of Jacob Benigno, Riley Buchholz, Ian Johnson and Ben Ewert won their 3,200 district final with a time of 8:09.37. The team stayed on the outside shoulder of a solid group of Lebanon runners, then Ewert kicked into the lead on the final leg.
The top-eight fastest times in Wednesday’s preliminary heats advanced to Friday’s May 19 finals at Welcome Stadium.
Beavercreek’s Damien Bonds (boys 110 hurdles), Jalen White (100 dash), the girls 800 relay team of Alexandria Applin, Emily MacLean, Kendall Hobbs and Ndea Witcher, Taylor Ewert (girls 1,600), the girls 400 relay team of Applin, MacLean, Witcher and Kara Fisher, the foursome of Cameron Paisley, Jalen White, Bonds, and Matthew Rieckens (400 relay), 400 dasher Hobbs, Benigno and Sam Pearl (both in the 400), the girls mile relay team law firm of Pierce, Pierce, Hobbs and Lauren Shuman, and the boys mile quad of Benigno, Pearl, Johnson and Ewert advanced to Friday’s finals.
For the Golden Eagles, Bellbrook’s Sydney Hollingsworth and Maria Mescher (both in the girls 100 dash), the Golden Eagles’ 800 relay group of Bailey Sedlak, Lydia Travis, Hollingsworth, and Kylee Parker), the boys 800 team of Sedric Ferguson, Justin Sloan, Cameron Brittain and Ethan Reigelsperger, girls miler Lauren Kemper, the girls 400 relay team of Hollingsworth, Mescher, Travis and Sedlak, Golden Eagle boys 400 relay runners Sloan, Deandre Barker, Reid Heppner and Ferguson, Kylee Parker and Maddie Crane (300 hurdles), the girls mile relay four of Kylee Parker, Kalli Kramer, Madison Pelfrey and Natalie Stein, and the boys mile relay squad of Kasen Stephenson, Brittain, John Gallagher and Justin Boreman all advanced to Friday’s finale as well.
In Tuesday’s Division III district track & field meet, the Legacy Christian girls 3,200 Relay team (Estepp, Nelson, Fear, Sweeney), Yellow Springs discus thrower Amani Wagner, Legacy high jumper Renee Fear, the Cedarville boys 3,200 relay team of Sheridan, Salisbury, Sandlin, Williams, and Long jumpers Joe Plumer of Yellow Springs, and Wesley Williams of Cedarville each qualified to regionals during the first day of the D-III meet at Welcome Stadium.
Saturday’s final Dayton D-III events will take place starting with field event finals at 10 a.m., then running finals starting at 11:30 a.m.
The opening day of the Dayton District Division II meet starts Thursday, May 18 at Welcome, with spectator gates scheduled to open at 3 p.m. and field events starting at 4 p.m. The D-II meet concludes on Saturday May 20, with field event finals under way at 1 p.m. Dayton’s D-II running finals start at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Greeneview is one of the area schools expected to compete in that meet.
Xenia and Fairborn are competing at the Division I district meet at Huber Heights Wayne. No Xenia or Fairborn athletes advanced to the regionals on Wednesday, but several others will have their shot when the Wayne district meet resumes on Friday, May 19. Field events start at 5 p.m. with running finals scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.