Boys Best of the Week: Pleasant wins close one over Northmor, North Union at Elgin Relays

MARION — Just 12 points separated the top three teams at Friday night's Elgin Relays.

Pleasant won the boys meet with 84 points, while Northmor had 78, North Union 72, Elgin 24 and Ridgedale 18. Combining with the girls, North Union took the trophy with 158 points to edge Northmor's 152, Pleasant's 142, Elgin's 64 and Ridgedale's 36.

Go vote: Last week's winners and this week's nominees for the Marion Star Best of the Week Polls

Check it out: Big week looms for Elgin baseball as it tries to repeat its NWCC championship

Pleasant started its night off with a win in the shot put, going 122 feet, 2 inches, as Landon O'Donnell had a 42-3 to top everyone individually.

Pleasant's 4x800-meter relay team of Elijah McGinniss, Caleb Cameron, Will Lichtenberger and Nick Swartz ran to a meet record of 8:20.03. The Spartans also won the 4x1600 in 19:52.13 and the low hurdles relay in 54.18.

For Northmor, its distance medley relay of Ryan Lehman, Cowin Becker, Griffin Healea and David Blunk also set a meet record with a 7:12.7. Its shuttle hurdle crew won with a 1:07.34 as did its 4x200 team in 1:34.35 and its 4x400 team in 3:34.05. Becker also had the longest long jump at 20-2.75 to lead his team to the win at 57-8.75, and Cade Miracle and Levi Hunter both went 11 feet in the pole vault to win the event collectively at 22 feet.

North Union picked up a win in the discus at 348-10 behind the heave of Owen Hoffer at 127-2. The Wildcats also won the high jump at 16-4 as Braedon Scowden and Pleasant's Jacob Myers both went 5-8. Henry Hayward joined the Northmor pole vaulting duo at 11 feet. On the track, NU's 4x200 won in 45.53 as did its sprint medley team in 1:41.1.

Here are some other highlights for boys spring sports teams around the Marion area last week:

More track and field

● Highland scored points in 15 of 17 events to finish as the runner-up at the Fredericktown Invitational. Leading the Scots were Branson Newsome, who won the 100 and was second in the 200; Toby Rogers, who won the 300 hurdles and was fourth in the 110 hurdles; and Ladon Hayes, who won the shot put and was sixth in the discus.

Tennis

● Marion Harding hosted River Valley on Friday night under the lights at Grant Middle School and won 4-1. Picking up wins in singles matches were Alexander and Sebastian Lisiecki and Cameron Williams, as well as the second doubles team of Evan Birt and Reagan Tway.

● The Presidents also blanked Lima Senior 5-0 last week as all the above won along with the first doubles team of Andres Alejandre Rosas and Brody Cahill. The Lisieckis lost in three sets in singles matches, and Williams posted a third singles victory in a 4-1 loss at Pickerington Central. They also lost 4-1 to Big Walnut with Sebastian winning at second singles.

Baseball

● Northmor's Drew Hammond pitched a five-inning no-hitter, striking out 10 and walking three during a 10-0 victory over Elgin. Cole Cuffman doubled and scored three times, while singling twice were Grant Bentley, Garrett Harvey and Bryce Cooper. Harvey ended with three RBIs.

● Northmor, which is ranked No. 2 in the state coaches poll for Division IV, also blanked Fredericktown 8-0 as Trevor Brubaker worked six innings and gave up four hits, two walks and six strikeouts. Cuffman doubled and singled, Jack Bowdre doubled and Harvey singled twice.

● The Golden Knights needed nine innings to beat Marion Harding 5-4. For the Presidents, Justin Long doubled and singled and stole home, while Nathan Cunningham singled twice, and Long and Ray J Scott Harbolt allowed two earned runs and struck out nine on the mound.

● Harding got by River Valley 6-3 behind the pitching of Austin Allen and Cunningham. Allen struck out five and gave up six hits, while Cunningham earned the two-inning save with four strikeouts. Cunningham also scored three runs after singling twice and doubling. Scott-Harbolt doubled and singled, and Long drove in four runs. For RV, Hayden Kanagy and Pate Crawford doubled, and Carter Park singled twice.

● Cunningham swatted three hits in a 6-3 loss to Ontario. In a 6-1 loss to Delaware Hayes, Harding was limited to six hits. Allen doubled and singled, and Cunningham singled twice against the Pacers.

● River Valley took care of Fredericktown 7-5. Leland Doubikin pitched the last five innings, giving up no earned runs, two walks, four hits and five strikeouts. Kanagy homered, doubled and singled, while Dominic Weber doubled and singled for four RBIs, and Doubikin tripled and doubled to score three runs. Hunter Faust added a double. In a 4-3 loss to Delaware Hayes, Kanagy singled three times, Trace Kelly singled twice and Crawford doubled. Kelley and Faust gave up two earned runs and a walk with five strikeouts versus the Pacers.

● Highland, which is ranked in the top 10 in the latest Division III state coaches poll, defeated RV 5-2 when Zach Church, Drew Altizer and Hayden Kline combined for a three-hit, four-walk, nine-strikeout performance. Sears doubled and singled twice, and Hayden Collins doubled, while Kline singled twice. Aiden Gray scattered seven hits with four strikeouts, no walks and three earned runs for RV.

● In a 7-2 win over the Vikings, Sears and Jace Brooks pitched a three-hitter with four walks and five strikeouts. Brooks doubled, and Kline and Sears singled twice. RV only allowed one earned run as it was hurt by four errors.

● Cardington's Merek McClure and A.J. Hall each posted two singles and a double in their 15-12 win over Utica. Also for the Pirates were Wyatt Wade with a double and single, James Fiant with two singles and three RBIs, Wyatt Denney with three singles and three runs and Caden Dewitt with two singles. The Pirates also blanked Mount Gilead 10-0 in six innings. Denton Garrison, Fisher Schuman and Denney all singled twice, and Wade tossed a two-hitter with a walk and 10 strikeouts.

● In a 6-3 loss to Centerburg, Fiant, Wade and Denney hit two singles each, while Hall and Fiant allowed seven hits, three walks and four strikeouts. In a 10-8 loss to Liberty Union, Hall had four RBIs and a double, Wade three RBIs and a double and single, Denney three runs and two singles and Dewitt two singles.

● Mount Gilead avenged its loss to Cardington by beating the Pirates 9-2. Gage Baker led the Indians on the mound with eight strikeouts, four hits and two strikeouts. Cam Vickers singled three times; Kyle St. Clair singled twice and scored three times, and Mason Barnum doubled for MG. Hall had two of his team's four hits for the Pirates.

● Elgin scored all four runs in the fifth inning when trailing 1-0 against Upper Scioto Valley, holding on for the 4-1 victory. Jacob Isler hit a two-run triple and Quinten Harrison added an RBI single. Nash Lust and Brody Wood both hit two singles for the Comets, while Mitchell Askew scattered four hits with three walks and nine strikeouts.

● Elgin also beat Worthington Christian 11-4. Stephen Castillo-Carey armed a five-hitter, giving up one earned run to go with two walks and three strikeouts. Brody Wood homered, doubled, singled and drove in three runs, and Harrison hit a two-run homer and a single. Trey Morgan and Isler added two singles each.

● North Union's Tyler Krebehenne carried his team to a 5-2 win over Northwestern, hitting a triple for two RBIs, plus throwing a two-hitter with five walks and nine strikeouts. In a 5-4 win over Urbana, he doubled and singled twice, and Mason Bright doubled, while Drew Schmidt allowed four hits, three walks and five strikeouts.

● The Wildcats also blanked Northwestern 9-0 with Bright pitching four hits, three walks and four strikeouts and Krebehenne homering, singling twice and scoring three times. Krebehenne and Miles Marlette singled twice and doubled; Bright singled three times; Caden Potts doubled and singled; and Ashton Haubiel singled two times in a 19-9 loss to Bellefontaine.

● Pleasant fell to Galion 3-1 despite a four-hit, three-walk, four-strikeout and one-earned run effort by Mason Moore. Trent Caudill had two of Pleasant's four hits.

Coaches and statisticians are encouraged to send their results to the Marion Star's Rob McCurdy at rmccurdy@gannett.com, 419-610-0998, X @McMotorsport and Instagram @rob_mccurdy_star.

Vote: Marion Star Boys Best of the Week Performer Poll

● In last week's poll, Pleasant baseball's Mason Moore hit a triple, plus pitched four innings with three hits allowed, two walks and four strikeouts in a win over Fredericktown. He earned 370 of 969 (38 percent) to win the poll. Other nominees were River Valley thrower Ethan Lyon, Highland pole vaulter Darren Styer, Marion Harding tennis player Alexander Lisiecki, Elgin baseball's Donaven AStith and North Union hurdler Carter Skaggs.

● This week's poll can be found at MarionStar.com and its app and will be active through early Sunday morning. The nominees follow:

● Elgin baseball's Jacob Isler hit a two-run triple to lift his team to a victory over Upper Scioto Valley.

● Marion Harding baseball's Nathan Cunningham scored three runs and hit two singles and a double in a win over River Valley.

● North Union baseball's Tyler Krebehenne pitched a two-hitter with five walks and nine strikeouts, plus hit a triple with two RBIs in a win over Northwestern.

● Northmor pitcher Drew Hammond threw a five-inning no-hitter with three walks and 10 strikeouts in a win over Elgin.

● River Valley track's Ethan Lyon won the discus in 157 feet, 8 inches and the shot put in 56-9.5 at the Marion Night Invitational.

● Pleasant's 4x800-meter relay team of Elijah McGinniss, Caleb Cameron, Will Lichtenberger and Nick Swartz set the Elgin Relays record with an 8:20.03.

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Boys Best of the Week: Pleasant wins close one over Northmor, North Union at Elgin Relays