Title reign comes to an end: Crestview boys still produce five district track champs

NORTH ROBINSON — At this late stage of his high school career, Crestview senior Wade Bolin is left measuring himself against … himself.

When you’re No. 1 in the state in the discus and shot put, it’s hard to be happy with winning district titles in both if you don’t hit the standards you’ve already set for yourself.

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That’s why he was talking about an “off day” Friday night after throwing the disc 170-9 to win the Division III district track and field meet at Colonel Crawford High School by 21 feet.

Bolin’s best is 187-4, achieved a week earlier in the Firelands Conference meet, so you can see why he might be a tad upset.

“I had a good warmup, but I couldn’t transfer it into my throws,” Bolin said. “I’m trying to make sure I do every little thing right. Like today, if I didn’t have so much height on my throws, I would have thrown in the 180s.”

On Wednesday, he won the district shot title with a toss of 58-8.75. Again, no one came close to touching him, but he threw 60-3.5 at conference, breaking his own school record. So, no, he’ll tell you this week’s results were not good enough.

“Seeding (for regionals and state) doesn’t really matter to me,” Bolin said. “All that matters is how you do. I could go in seeded No. 1 and not make the finals. Anything could happen. I just have to prepare myself like I’m an underdog and go after what I can.”

Even with Bolin’s 20 points and another 20 from sophomore Liam Kuhn for winning Wednesday’s pole vault (13-6) and Friday’s 110 high hurdles (15.9), the Cougars fell short in their quest for a fifth straight district championship.

Seneca East won with 128 points. Crestview was runner-up (106), followed by host Colonel Crawford (84).

The Cougars aren’t as deep as in past years, so coach Tim Kuhn didn’t over-tax his athletes by using them in too many events. He opted to conserve energy for next week’s regional meet at Heath and the state meet in Dayton.

“Bigger picture,” Kuhn said.

Crestview will be bidding for a fourth straight regional title and looking to make noise again at state, after finishing just five points out of second and 13 behind champion Marion Local last spring.

The younger Kuhn will have a big say in how Crestview fares, especially in the vault. He was a state medalist last year in his specialty and has cleared 14-6 twice this year. Winning the hurdles Friday was an added bonus.

Kuhn came into the meet seeded third, but Crawford’s No. 1 seed Trevor Vogt was DQed in Wednesday’s prelims and South Central’s second-seeded Cardy Cook couldn’t repeat his Firelands Conference title performance by beating Kuhn for the second week in a row.

“My technique was better and my speed out of the blocks was better this time,” Kuhn said. “It’s nice to win the hurdles. It’s my first year doing that and it’s good, now that I can actually run and do something (to help the team).”

Kuhn’s main focus, though, has always been and will continue to be the vault.

“It’s just technique right now,” he said. “If I get honed in, I should be able to get 14-6 again and possibly 15 feet this season.”

Crestview’s other win Friday came from its 4x400 relay team of sophomores Ayden Reymer and Bransen Hider and juniors Cooper Brockway and Logan Friges (3:29.76).

The only other Richland County athletes to win district titles were Plymouth seniors Riley Ramey in the 200 (22.7) and Layne Bushey in the high jump (6-0).

Ramey flipped the script on Brady Daley of Firelands Conference rival Norwalk. St. Paul in the 200 after just barely losing to him in the 100.

“I’m just glad my buddy (Daley) was able to take first in the 100,” Ramey said. “He’s been doing that to me all year in the 100, so I get him back in the 200. I don’t know if he’s playing with me or not.”

Even though he was a state medalist in the 200 last spring, Ramey came into Friday’s district finals seeded sixth, putting him outside in lane 7. The odds seemed against him, even with all of his speed.

“Wednesday (in prelims), I didn’t really try,” Ramey said. “I wanted to save everything for today. I didn’t think it was too bad (in lane 7). It’s all still 200 meters wherever you are.”

On the girls side, Colonel Crawford won its sixth straight title, largely by sweeping all four relay races for the second year in a row. The Eagles also got firsts from Hailey Slagle in the 100 (13.2), Cece Chase in the 800 (2:23.34), Niyah Shipman in the high jump (5-2) and Gabby Roston in the pole vault (11-8).

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Title reign comes to an end: Crestview boys still produce five district track champs