West Liberty-Salem’s boys track and field team has already qualified eight of its athletes for the regional meet after one day of the Division III district competition.
Four events were contested on the opening day Tuesday at Graham. The Tigers are currently in first place with 37 points. Anna is second (26), Cedarville is third (16), Botkins is fourth (15) and Emmanuel Christian is fifth (13).
Leading the WL-S boys on Tuesday was Slayde Merriman, who was the district champion in the pole vault (12-6).
Mark Bair was the runner-up in the discus (137-3).
Finishing third for the Tigers were Craig Stanford in the pole vault (11-0) and the 3,200 relay team of Quentin Rudolph, Owen Harrison, Micah Smith and Asher Knox (8:25.60).
Jackson Steider finished fourth in the long jump (18-8.75).
The top four finishers in each finals event move on to next week’s regionals.
The WL-S girls team is fourth after the opening day.
The Tigers qualified to the regional meet in two events. Kenzie Bahan placed third in the shot put with a personal best (32-08.25) and the 3,200 relay team of Breece Gullett, Ashley Yoder, Teagan Boyd and Mallory Bostick finished second (10:07).
Both WL-S teams also advanced numerous athletes to the running finals on Saturday. The remaining field events will start at 10 a.m., with the the running events to begin at 11:30 a.m.
Spartans make their district debut
Calvary Christian’s track and field team made its first appearance in the OHSAA district meet Tuesday at Graham and the Spartans saw many of its athletes move on to Saturday’s finals.
Abigail Reinhard (110 hurdles) and Brooklyn Horner (800) qualified for the finals in the girls meet.
On the boys side, Ephraim Daniels (400), John Gaertner (800), Ian Schmidt (800) and Lincoln Roell (1,600) advanced to the finals. The Spartans also qualified to the finals in the 400, 800 and 1,600 relays.