Pirates win 5 events

By Cort Reynolds

BLUFFTON__The Bluffton High School track and field teams competed well at the 11-team Ottawa-Glandorf Gold Medal Invitational meet on a warm Friday, April 17.

The Pirate girls finished a strong third, while the Bluffton boys came in fourth.

Host O-G won the girls meet with 123 points. Otsego finished second with 78 points, followed closely by the Pirate girls (73) and Oregon (61).  

Liberty-Benton won the boys meet with 115 points. O-G came in second with 99 points. Pandora-Gilboa finished third (59), while the Pirate boys nosed out Bowling Green for fourth place, 51-50.   

Several Pirate girls and boys scored and won five of the 34 individual events. Seven Bluffton relay squads finished highly.

Senior speedster Kain Wright won the 100-meter dash in 10.81. He also captured first in the 400 meters with a time of 48.64.

Junior Tayte Giesige came in second in the long with a best leap of 21-5.5.

Kohen Anderson came in fifth in the 400 at 52.28.

Junior Owen Scoles finished fifth in the shot put with a best toss of 44-1. He also ended up fifth in the discus with a top throw of 138-10.

Lleyton Miller took seventh in the 200 meters (23.75).

The Pirate boys 4x100 relay team ended up second in 44.71. Kizer Young, Miller, Ethan Sprunger and Taye Giesige comprised the quartet.

The Bluffton boys 4x200 relay squad of Young, Anderson, Giesige and Wright came in third (1:30.78).

The Pirate boys 4x400 relay foursome of Young, Anderson, Calvin Derstine and Wright finished fifth in 3:33.85.

Bekah Rehm captured first in the pole vault with a best vault of 10-0.

Pirate sophomore ace Maelee Miller won the girls 400-meter run in a time of 57.55. She also took second in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.13. Teammate Aubrey Burkholder took fourth in the 100 hurdles in 16.72.

Junior Nora Matthews also won the 3200 meters in 11:21.34. Teammate Xandra Gatchel was seventh in the 3200 (13:17.79).

Phoebe Edwards-Leeper finished third in the 800 meters in 2:30.36. 

Burkholder ended up fourth in the 300 hurdles (47.55), while Liliana Fleming came in seventh (49.15).

Gracie Warren crossed the line sixth in the 100 meters in 13.14.

The Pirate girls 4x200 relay foursome of Warren, Fleming, Lauren Dearth and Miller finished second in 1:48.92.

The Pirate girls 4x100 relay squad of Mallory Blackburn, Carli Wise, Ava Smallcombe and Warren came in third in 52.56.

The Bluffton girls 4x400 relay of Miller, Fleming, Dearth and Burkholder ended up fourth in 4:15.44.

The 4x800 relay quartet of Edwards-Leeper, Chloe Nycz, Tessa Tarplee and Georgia Hagen finished fifth in 10:43.47.

Pirate thrower Lizzy Suter captured seventh in the discus with a best throw of 99-4.