Home Notice Box Sports Inaugural Greene County meet a success

Inaugural Greene County meet a success

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By John Bombatch

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FAIRBORN — The inaugural Greene County Invitational track and field meet beat the threat of rain and left smiles on lots of faces on Friday at Fairborn High School.

Big schools battled the little schools, and many friendly rivalries were made.

Host Fairborn and fellow Greater Western Ohio Conference schools Beavercreek and Xenia, along with Greeneview and Cedarville out of the Ohio Heritage Conference, the Metro Buckeye Conference’s Xenia Christian and Yellow Springs, and Southwestern Buckeye League school Bellbrook were all on hand.

Each of the eight schools finished the day with at least one event winner.

Yellow Springs high jumper Oluka Okia became the first winner at the inaugural event with a winning leap of 5 feet, 10 inches, well under his personal-best leap of 6-4. He went to jump 6-2 to establish a higher meet record, but barely clipped the bar coming down each time.

Host Fairborn claimed the boys team title with six event wins. Gracen Barnhart claimed an individual win in the 200 dash and was part of the winning 200-meter relay and 400 relay teams, to lead the Skyhawks.

“Mother Nature cooperated. That always helps. I know they did this meet way back in the day, but I think it was fun to get this thing kicked off with a little energy and fun for Greene County track and field,” Fairborn coach Roy Thobe said.

Bellbrook claimed five wins (they won the 3,200-meter relay, 100 hurdles, mile run, mile relay, and the pole vault) in the girls meet to claim the team title. They scored 165 points — most by any of the teams on Friday — to easily outdistance Greeneview for the team trophy.

“This meet put a lot of our kids out of their comfort zone today,” Bellbrook coach Blake Barnes said. “They either met the challenge, or else they were chasing the challenge. … We had a lot of our kids throwing, jumping and even running their personal bests today, so it’s been a great meet all around. And it was a very nice change of scenery. We don’t compete with other schools in the county very often, so it was really nice to see the competition from our area.”

Tatum Washington was the top performing female competitor on Friday. The Xenia sprinter claimed wins in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, then teamed with fellow Buccaneers Ahzjai Files, Konni Lorenz and Shali Morris to win both the 400- and 800-meter relays.

The idea for the event originated with Fairborn’s girls coach, John Barr, who was looking to add another track meet to the Fairborn team’s schedule. Barr suggested the Greene County Invitational, and Fairborn Athletic Director Micah Harding ran with the idea.

“I started emailing the other ADs in the area, and they talked to their track coaches, and everybody was all for it,” Harding said. “I think they had an event back in the 1990s, but not all of the Greene County schools were able to compete. To my knowledge, this is the first time that every Greene County school has been represented.”

The event is expected to be an annual traveling event for Greene County teams. Harding wasn’t certain, but thought the 2017 event would be hosted by either Beavercreek or Greeneview.

OVERALL TEAM POINT STANDINGS: 1. Bellbrook 250; 2. Fairborn 186.5; 3. Xenia 181; 4. Greeneview 162.5; 5. Yellow Springs 150.5; 6. Beavercreek 147.5; 7. Cedarville 130; 8. Xenia Christian 99.

BOYS FINAL POINT STANDINGS: 1. Fairborn 132; 2. Xenia 107; 3. Cedarville 94; 4. Beavercreek 85.5; 5. Bellbrook 85; 6. Greeneview 60.5; 7. Yellow Springs 51; 8. Xenia Christian 38;

GIRLS FINAL POINT STANDINGS: 1. Bellbrook 165; 2. Greeneview 102; 3. Yellow Springs 99.5; 4. Xenia 74; 5. Beavercreek 62; 6. Xenia Christian 61; 7. Fairborn 54.5; 8. Cedarville 36.

EVENT WINNERS

GIRLS

3,200-meter Relay — 1. Bellbrook (Lauren Kemper, Natalie Stein, Elise Kemper, Kayla Parker) 10:17.11; 100 Hurdles — 1. Casey Murphy, Bellbrook 17.36 seconds; 100 — 1. Tatum Washington, Xenia 12.65; 800 Relay — 1. Xenia (Ahzjai Files, Washington, Konni Lorenz, Shali Morris) 1:50.15; 1,600 — 1. Madison Pelfrey, Bellbrook 5:24.63; 400 Relay — 1. Xenia (Files, Washington, Lorenz, Morris) 51.57; 400 — 1. Ocean Morris, Greeneview 1:02.60; 300 Hurdles — 1. Julie Roberts, Yellow Springs 48.06; 800 — 1. Rachel Sweeney, Xenia Christian 2:27.19; 200 — 1. Washington, Xenia 27.10; 3,200 — 1. Molly Bernhard, Beavercreek 12:32.09; 1,600 Relay — 1. Bellbrook (Maddie Crane, Parker, Stein, Kalli Kramer) 4:14.39; Shot Put — 1. Jasmine Davidson, Yellow Springs 32 feet, 7.75 inches; Discus — 1. Hannah Ferrell, Greeneview 95-2; Long Jump — 1. Kristen Combs, Greeneview 16-1.5; High Jump — 1. Combs, Greeneview 4-10; Pole Vault — 1. Riley Allen, Bellbrook 9-0.

BOYS

3,200 Relay — Beavercreek (Lewis, Vargas, Vargas, Moore) 8:42.12; 110 Hurdles — 1. Kaner Butler, Yellow Springs 15.46; 100 — 1. Adam Knaub, Fairborn 11.38; 800 Relay — 1. Cedarville (Devin Gruet, Brandon Pollock, Everett Harding, Nick Christman) 1:33.96; 1,600 — 1. Ryan Orchard, Xenia 4:35.33; 400 Relay — 1. Fairborn (Gracen Barnhart, Omar Inman, Andre Lucas, Knaub) 45.27; 400 — 1. James Brads, Xenia Christian 52.96; 300 Hurdles — 1. Butler, Yellow Springs 40.68; 800 — 1. Noah Cushman, Xenia Christian 2:02.99; 200 — 1. Barnhart, Fairborn 23.36; 3,200 — 1. Colin Staten, Beavercreek 10:34.06; 1,600 Relay — 1. Fairborn (Jordan Greene, Inman, Lucas, Barnhart) 3:32.84; Shot Put — 1. Ben Walburn, Fairborn 44-6; Discus — 1. Sam Sherwood, Fairborn 135-8.5; Long Jump — 1. Meechi Harris, Xenia 19-1.5; High Jump — Oluka Okia, Yellow Springs 5-10; Pole Vault — 1. Wesley Williams, Cedarville 9-0.

(NOTE: A top-5 listing of finishers can be found online at: fairborndailyherald.com or xeniagazette.com.)

Greene County area high school sprinters (left to right) Meechi Harris of Xenia, Nick Delk of Beavercreek, Anthony Holder of Xenia, Aaron Sherwood of Yellow Springs, and Fairborn’s Gracen Barnhart race in the second heat of the boys 100-meter dash, Friday at Fairborn High School. The race had to be re-run because of a technical timing issue. Ultimately, Fairborn’s Adam Knaub (not pictured) won the event final in 11.38 seconds.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2016/04/web1_Boys-100M-Dash_PS.jpgGreene County area high school sprinters (left to right) Meechi Harris of Xenia, Nick Delk of Beavercreek, Anthony Holder of Xenia, Aaron Sherwood of Yellow Springs, and Fairborn’s Gracen Barnhart race in the second heat of the boys 100-meter dash, Friday at Fairborn High School. The race had to be re-run because of a technical timing issue. Ultimately, Fairborn’s Adam Knaub (not pictured) won the event final in 11.38 seconds. Chris Greene | Greene County News

Bellbrook lead-off runner Lauren Kemper (right) hands off to Natalie Stein during the girls 3,200-meter relay event, Friday, at the inaugural Greene County Invitational track & field meet. Bellbrook won the girls 3,200 relay with a time of 10:17.11.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2016/04/web1_BellbrookGirls3200_PS.jpgBellbrook lead-off runner Lauren Kemper (right) hands off to Natalie Stein during the girls 3,200-meter relay event, Friday, at the inaugural Greene County Invitational track & field meet. Bellbrook won the girls 3,200 relay with a time of 10:17.11. Chris Greene | Greene County News

Fairborn’s Sam Sherwood won the boys discus competition with a winning throw of 135 feet, 8.5 inches. The Fairborn boys team won the inaugural boys team title, and Bellbrook won the girls title, Friday, at the Greene County Invitational track & field meet, held at Fairborn High School.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2016/04/web1_Sam-Sherwood_PS.jpgFairborn’s Sam Sherwood won the boys discus competition with a winning throw of 135 feet, 8.5 inches. The Fairborn boys team won the inaugural boys team title, and Bellbrook won the girls title, Friday, at the Greene County Invitational track & field meet, held at Fairborn High School. Chris Greene | Greene County News

By John Bombatch

[email protected]