Pirate track excels at Div. IV northwest district meet

By Cort Reynolds

FINDLAY__The Bluffton High School girls track and field team finished second and the boys came in a strong fourth at the 14-team Div. IV northwest district meet in Findlay on Wednesday and Friday, May 22. 

Sophomore standout Maelee Miller captured first in the girls 400 meters with a time of 58.8 to seize the district title.

Miller also won the 100-meter hurdles (15.22) race by .35.

Pirate senior Kain Wright qualified for the 100-meter dash finals with a school-record time of 10.73 in the preliminary heats on Wednesday. Wright then won the 100-meter finals Friday in a new record time of 10.72 by a quarter of a second over second-place Liberty-Benton sprinter Karson Griffin. 

Liberty-Benton cruised to the boys team crown with 136 points. Defiance Tinora (75) nipped Coldwater (74) and Bluffton (71) for second place.

Coldwater edged Bluffton to win the girls team title 104.33 points to 95 amid the 13-team field. Patrick Henry was a close third at 89 points.

Bluffton junior Owen Scoles took second in the discus with a best toss of 146-4.

Pirate junior Tayte Giesige also came in second in the long jump with a best leap of 21-10.5.

The Bluffton boys 4x400 relay quartet of Lleyton Miller, Xavier Navarro, Giesige and Kohen Anderson finished second with a time of 3:28.53.

The girls 4x200 relay quartet of Gracie Warren, Liliana Fleming, Aubrey Burkholder and Miller captured first place in 1:46.22.

Junior Nora Matthews took second in the 800 meters (2:17.76). The middle distance ace also came in second in the 1600 meters (5:23.87).

Senior thrower Lizzy Suter took fifth in the discus with a best throw of 104-9.

Freshman Liliana Fleming came in fifth in the 300 hurdles (46.55), while senior teammate Aubrey Burkholder finished fifth (46.71).

The Pirate girls 4x800 relay team of Phoebe Edwards-Leeper, Tessa Tarplee, Chloe Nycz and Matthews took third place in 9:56.72.

Sophomore Xandra Gatchel ended up fifth in the 3200 meters in 12:32.45.

Bekah Rehm finished fourth in the pole vault with a top effort of 9-6.

Junior Gracie Warren took seventh in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.52.

The Bluffton girls 4x40 relay took fifth in 4:10.9.

Top-four finishers in the district meet advance to the regional meet at Marion Harding High School next week.