By Cort Reynolds

DAYTON __ Several Bluffton High School athletes competed in the Div. III state track and field meet at Dayton Welcome Stadium Thursday, May 30. Two more will compete on Friday.

BOYS 4X200 RELAY
The Pirate boys 4x200 relay foursome of Gavin Bogart, Kizer Young, Carson Kruse and Griffin Stackhouse finished a solid 10th out of 18 teams in the preliminary heats Thursday.  

The Bluffton quartet finished fifth in heat two, just behind local rival Allen East (1:30.59), in a time of 1:30.925. 

The AE four qualified for the finals by finishing eighth in the prelims. The Pirate foursome missed a spot in the finals by two places and .34.

SPRINTER STACKHOUSE
Pirate junior Griffin Stackhouse ended up 13th out of 18 sprinters in the 100-meter dash preliminaries with a time of 11.23.

He crossed the line in fourth place during heat one. Tree of Life junior Gabe Oppong won that heat in 10.88, which was the fastest qualifying time in all three heats.

Stackhouse also came in 16th out of 18 runners in the 200-meter dash preliminary heats.

Stackhouse finished sixth in heat two with a time of 22.78. The speedy Oppong also won the second heat in 22.10.

BOYS 4x100 RELAY
The Bluffton boys 4x100 relay quartet of Noah Bricker, Hayden Dearth, Kizer Young and Griffin Stackhouse finished 16th of 18 teams overall. The foursome took fifth in the second of three heats with a time of 44.77. 

Black River won their heat and compiled the best preliminary time of 43.44 out of all 18 teams. 

Only the top eight in an event made it to the state finals Friday.

RUNNING FRIDAY
Pirate freshman Nora Matthews runs in the girls 800-meter finals Friday at 7:45 p.m. 

Bluffton senior Theo Andreas competes in the 3200-meter boys finals run Friday night at 8 p.m.

The Div. III state meet finals are Friday, May 31 at Dayton’s Welcome Stadium.