By Cort Reynolds
Friday results are at the bottom of this story -
Photos at bottom by Marvin Foster
COLUMBUS - A pair of Bluffton athletes competed in second day finals of the Div. III track and field state meet at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus on Saturday.

In the 300 hurdle finals, Pirate junior Xavier Dunifon finished ninth in a time of 40.65.

Dunifon qualified out of the preliminary heats Friday into the finals Saturday. He came in fourth overall in the preliminary field of 18 with a time of 40.13.

Pirate senior Jackson Steinmetz finished 12th out of 17 runners in the boys 3200-meter finals Saturday in a time of 9:56.43.

Boys 300 Meter Hurdles 36" Finals
Place     Athlete         Class School          Time
  1 Anthony Tyler             12 Africentric     38.73      
  2 Connor Kerr               12 Mogadore        39.10       
  3 Trey Gruet                12 Cedarville      39.50       
  4 Cameron Stine             11 Newton Local    39.69       
  5 Brayden Gray              12 Hiland          39.87       
  6 Justin Perry              12 Nelsonville     39.92       
  7 Dominick McFarland        11 Triad           40.17       
  8 Zach Huffman              12 F.F. Green      40.43       
  9 Xavier Dunifon            11 Bluffton        40.65

Boys 3200 Meter Run
Place     Athlete         Class School             Time
  1 Drew Roberts              12 Mapleton              9:25.74      
  2 Noah Fisher               11 Ayersville            9:29.48       
  3 Taylor Vallangeon         12 Worthington Chr.      9:29.77       
  4 Tanner Delk               12 Arcanum               9:43.19       
  5 Ethan Wallis              10 Cedarville            9:43.38       
  6 Eli Fullerton             10 Belpre                9:43.43       
  7 Jacob Poling              12 Elgin                 9:45.32       
  8 Brian DeWine              11 Summit Country Day     9:51.28       
  9 Ethan Supplee             11 Mount Gilead          9:54.77  
 10 Lincon Hopkins            10 Badger                9:55.10  
 11 Alex Albers                9 Minster               9:55.97  
 12 Jackson Steinmetz         12 Bluffton              9:56.43  
 13 Julian Shrock             12 Garaway               9:58.23  
 14 Noah Avendano             12 St. Paul              10:10.19  
 15 Braden Schaser            11 Lakota                10:12.29  
 16 Jackson Triplett           9 Tuscarawas C.C.    10:16.67  
 17 Tyler Clark               12 Gilmour Academy       10:32.68

FRIDAY RESULTS
Two Bluffton athletes and a 4 x 400 relay foursome competed in day one of the Div. III track and field state meet.

In the 300 hurdles, Pirate Xavier Dunifon qualified out of the preliminary heats Friday into the finals Saturday. He took second in his heat and was fourth overall in a field of 18 with a time of 40.13.

Anthony Tyler of Africentric took first in the 300 hurdle heats at 39.08.

Top nine finishers in each event advance to the finals Saturday, where the 300 hurdles final will be run at approximately 10:40 a.m.

Bluffton's Baylor Garmatter finished 13th out of 18 in the 400 meter prelims with a time of 51.34. Garrett Walker came in first in the heats in 49.34.

The quartet of Garmatter, Schriner, Young and Antrim ended up 14th out of 18 teams in the 4 x 400 relay prelims. They finished in a time of 3:31.62 Friday afternoon. Fort Recovery won the 4 x 400 relay heats in 3:24.97.

Dunifon did not start in the 110 hurdle prelims he qualified for, won by Mogadore's Connor Kerr in 14.91.

Pirate Jackson Steinmetz runs in the boys 3200-meter finals Saturday at 11:30 a.m. There were no preliminary heats for the 3200 Friday.