RANDY HISNER
WZBD.com
Led by individual championships from Heritage’s Charlie Riddle in the shot put and Adams Central’s Trenton Hoffman in the discus, nine athletes in the WZBD coverage area qualified for the Carroll Regional by placing in the top three at Thursday’s New Haven Boys’ Track and Field Sectional.
Riddle, a sophomore, turned in the most impressive performance of the meet, shattering the Heritage school shot put record by almost three feet with his 55-11 toss. “I guess tonight was the night,” Riddle said. “I was just kind of feeling it. I had a rough start in the prelims, and then I slowed it down, got a little coaching.”
He knew when the shot left his hand that the throw was something special. “Absolutely, I felt it,” he said. The record toss gave him a narrow win over runner-up Zac Wurm of Adams Central, who threw 55-3.75.
Hoffman also set a PR to win the discus by over nine feet with his 158-6. He has high hopes of advancing to state at next week’s regional. “I was hoping to do it last year, and then I got shocked by how tough our regional actually was,” he said. With last year’s experience under his belt, he feels more confident about his chances this time.
Heritage led area teams in the final scoring, taking fifth with 54 points. Homestead won with 156 to the 107 of runner-up Huntington North. Adams Central (39 points), Bellmont (33 points), and South Adams (29 points) finished sixth through eighth.
Bellmont distance stars Ian Webb and Elijah Obringer both overcame illnesses this week to gut out excellent performances and advance to regional, Webb with a third-place finish in the 1600-meter run and Obringer with his runner-up placing in the 3200.
Webb’s 4:32.88 was a few seconds from his PR of 4:29, but it was enough to earn him a second straight trip to regional. “I’ve been kind of off-and-on sick for about a week, and that certainly didn’t help today. I still have a week and one more race to try to get that record,” he said, referring to Isaac Fuelling’s school record of 4:24.
Obringer trimmed one second from his PR with a 10:04.92. “I’ve been pretty sick recently,” he noted. “I’m happy with a one-second PR and second place. Hopefully next week I can get a sub-10.”
For the second straight year, Trevor Smith also will compete in the regional for Bellmont, by virtue of his second-place pole vault performance with a career-best 11-6.
Adams Central senior discus thrower Cashton Reynolds will join Hoffman and Wurm at the regional. He took third with a 141-11 throw.
Besides Riddle, Heritage qualifiers were senior Leviticus Land (third in the shot put, 49-10.5) and sophomore Marshall Harris (second in the 400, 52.07).
Heritage got fourths in the pole vault (Logan Wilhite, 9-6) and 4×400; fifths from Derrick Bates in the 110 hurdles (15.73) and its 4×100 relay (45.83); sixths in the discus (Riddle, 132-9), 100 (Braden Walter, 11.82), and 4×800 relay; a seventh in the discus (Logan Teichman, 132-6); and an eighth in the 100 (Ian Hale, 13.69).
A young distance crew at South Adams had an impressive night. Freshman Dakota Sprunger placed fourth in the 3200 in 10:27.25, and classmate Deacon Bierbaum took eighth in 10:49.38. Sophomore Starfire Caiden Neuenschwander finished fifth in the 800 with a 2:04.78.
The Starfires got two places from freshman Tytus Lehman (sixth in the long jump, 19-3.5; eighth in the 110 hurdles, 17.11) and junior Conner Hyman (seventh in 110 hurdles, in 16.28; fifth in 300 hurdles, 42.38). They also placed fourth in the 4×800 (8:37.13), seventh in the 4×400 (3:51.43), eighth in the 4×100 (49.40), and eighth in the long jump (Burton Lefever, 18-2.25).
Adams Central earned a fifth in the high jump (Cam Smith, 5-6); a sixth in the 800 (Logan Clark, 2:06.77); sevenths in the 4×100 (48.09), 400 (Nick Smith, 55.50), and 3200 (Trevor Schwartz, 10:48); and eighths in the 4×800 (9:22.60) and 4×400 (3:52.44).
Bellmont got a fifth from its 4×400 relay (3:48.83), a sixth from Ben Sprague in the 400 (54.69), and sevenths from Harry Gunsett in the 800 (2:08.83) and Evan Sovine in the pole vault (9-0).
Bellmont coach Dave Hakes was happy with his team’s performance in a rebuilding year. “We got three through to regionals,” he said. “Hey, for a young team like this, it’s fantastic.”
See our other article on WZBD.com for complete results and more photos.