Records, close finishes make for fun SBC meet

CLYDE — There may not have been as many close races as expected — but that's only because in some of them, Sandusky Bay Conference meet records were shattered. The blistering times, and still a handful of photo finishes, made for a compelling combination at the SBC track and field finals Friday night at Clyde. Take the SBC Lake boys 400-meter dash, for example. Clyde's Damarius Chrisman was expected to contend at the line with Norwalk's Ben Rothhaar and Elliot Gahring. But then Chrisman dropped his own school record by seven-tenths of a second and won in an SBC meet-best 48.17 seconds. "I knew I was in Lane 6 and had to set the tone," Chrisman said before also winning the 200. "I had to start off fast, or they were gonna catch me. I just knew I needed to go fast and finish it off… It felt like I was going pretty fast. These legs feel it." The girls 800-meter dash in the Bay seemed like it could be a similar situation between Huron's Jadyn Towns and Margaretta's Olivia Saylor (who set a new 400 school record earlier in the night). But then Towns went and set a meet record in 2:16 and won with relative comfort. "We're both great friends and really good competitors," Towns said. "We both ran the 400 right before, so we knew it was gonna be a hard race for both of us. We both had the initial plan of going out a little slower and then kicking it in the last lap. That's what happened with me." Some of the expected close finishes delivered even better than planned. In the River girls mile, Danbury's Emma Redett trailed Woodmore's Emma Hammer for almost the entire race and looked likely to lose on the final straightaway. Redett found some kind of extra gear and won in 5:14.88 ahead of Hammer's 5:14.99. "There's never any people that would stay with me," Redett said. "It was good competition. I definitely used it. I just know I wanted to win so bad. I wanted that. It powered me so much to get to the finish line… I love SBCs. It's always on a really good track. I love this track. It feels so speedy." It was even closer in the SBC Lake Division girls 200. Clyde freshman Bree Caudill held the lead, but then Norwalk freshman Grace Norris won it at the line. Norris ran a 25.80. Caudill ran a 25.81. "I was just telling myself it's me versus myself," Norris said on a night she also won the 400. "Whatever I run is what I run, but I was really trying to catch her, hopefully… It's really nice. I was not expecting that." Then in the Bay Division boys 200, Joe Schaeffer pulled off a surprising upset in narrow fashion. The Huron sophomore knew going against Edison's Trayvon Williams would be a challenge, and he was up to it. "I just tried to get ahead of him on the curve," Schaeffer said. "I know he's gonna be with me. He's a fast dude. Props to him. He ran a great race." Schaeffer finished in 22.19 seconds to best William's 22.25. Earlier, Schaeffer broke 50 seconds for the first time to win the 400 meters. "It's mentality," Schaeffer said. "My first 100 (in the 400), I've been working on it, and I really just got out on it, and at the end I gave it all I had." Records were shattered all over in the relays, too. Clyde did it on its home track in both the boys and girls 4x200 meters. The Fliers not only set SBC meet records — they also broke school records in both events. Bree Caudill, Gabby Griffin, Cora Liskai and Brenna Caudill ran a 1:43.15. Brenna Caudill, a senior who was out with a hyperextended knee sustained more than a month ago while long jumping, brought home the win on her home track. "It was a lot of motivation to get back, even though they were doing fine without me," Brenna Caudill said. "I was really excited to come back and be part of it. That was awesome, really exciting, getting to run with my sister." Chrisman anchored after Zander Burroughs, Zane Townsley and Dekin Crockett. They finished in 1:29.21. "We just have good chemistry," Chrisman said. "We all had good handoffs. That was it." Huron's boys 4x100 also set an SBC meet record. They ran 42.21 seconds with Beau Harkelroad, Andrew Delaney, Schaeffer and Austin Brunow. "Our handoffs are good, and every meet we keep building more chemistry with each other," Schaeffer said. "We've just got to trust each other and trust the steps we have." Harkelroad went home with the 300-meter hurdles record, too, coming across the line in 37.97 seconds. He clipped a couple hurdles along the way but was flying enough to run his season-best time anyway. "I was going pretty fast," Harkelroad said. "It's all about the trail leg getting over. I know what to do… I was happy. The goal coming in was to get in the 37s to set a good mark for the postseason." In the boys Lake 100, Norwalk's Elliot Gahring held off Columbian's Jack Newlove, 11.13 to 11.18 seconds. And in maybe the best of both worlds with a one-sided record race while also having competition came from Huron's freshman 1600 runner, Rylie Towns. She finished her race in 5:10, just under the previous meet mark. "That is really cool," she said. "I didn't even know what the meet record was. I definitely wasn't expecting it." Towns won comfortably, but she's working with a fun mental trick to make it not seem like that. She imagines a runner pushing her. "I pretend that there's a girl right beside me in Lane 2 trying to get me, shoulder to shoulder," the freshman said. "She has an appearance, too, a really high ponytail, blonde hair, a green scrunchie, a green tank top. Sometimes it's (sister) Jadyn running, and sometimes it's a random girl." The method has worked early in her high school career, as the freshman has already set and re-set the Tigers' two-mile record multiple times, including on Tuesday to win that SBC Bay title, too. "I have the mindset for it," she said. "I need to think that it's gonna be a good race, and if I really do believe it, I'll have a good race." VanVlerah makes successful return from injury Perkins junior Camryn VanVlerah hyperextended her knee almost exactly a month ago. There wasn't much she could do but wait it out — there was no way she could high jump on an injured knee. Friday night was her return to competition, and she made it a good one. VanVlerah won the SBC Lake Division high jump title, clearing 5 feet, even. "I was really nervous coming in, but I just knew I had to be confident," VanVlerah said. "I had to breathe. I really concentrated on my breathing. I felt like my speed was really good coming into the bar. Everything just felt good." This is about the time last year VanVlerah started to take off. She set her personal best at last spring's regional at 5-7. She hopes to do the same thing, with a better state finish, this time around. "I've just got to keep working," VanVlerah said. "I had a little setback, but it shows my motivation to keep going and get back to where I was last year." VanVlerah has a strong training partner in classmate Alex Merriman, who was Lake runner-up at 4-10. Together, they'll keep trying to push one another to new heights. "I've got to work hard every day," VanVlerah said. "Our motto as a track team is to try and get one percent better every day, so that's what I'm trying to do." Michaelis pulls away in mile Edison junior Jackson Michaelis made sure to hang near the front of the pack in the SBC Bay Division mile. That pushed him toward a personal best time. And then when he took the race over in the last 200 meters for a dominant win, he had shattered his PR. "My goal was just to race smart," Michaelis said. "As long as I was able to keep up with them, I have a strong kick every race." Michaelis came across the line in 4:29, the fastest mile time across the entire SBC on Friday night. "It's one of those things where you just have to keep going all the way through the line, because they could catch up," Michaelis said. "... I wasn't thinking about the time. I was just thinking about placement." Michaelis hopes this fast form propels him all the way to state. "I'm really excited," Michaelis said. "This makes me really confident that I can make it down to state this year." Travis makes quick mark on SBC Woodmore joined the Sandusky Bay Conference just in time for the league to enjoy the Azure Travis show. The senior, bound for Division I Marshall University, came into this spring having swept the hurdles state championships at the 2023 D-III state meet. And it certainly looks like she's trending in the right direction heading into the biggest part of the season — Travis won both hurdles races along with the 100- and 200-meter sprints on Friday night in SBC River Division competition. Her 100 hurdles took 14.45 seconds, which broke the meet record she had just set in Wednesday's prelims (14.70). Those both bettered Margaretta's Kenna Stimmel, who ran a 15.06 in 2021. Travis led the Wildcats to an SBC River girls team title. "I'm glad to be in this conference," Travis said. "It's definitely a lot of competition, but I like it." Travis is no stranger to difficulty along the way. In last year's state prelims for the 300 hurdles, she tripped and fell over the last hurdle. She got up just in time to seize the last qualifying spot for the final, then won the state title from Lane 9. She also dealt with a fractured vertebrae last August that limited her ability to ramp up for the season for indoor competition. But Travis is surely hitting her stride now, especially in the hurdles, both of which she won by large margins. "The biggest thing is just saying to myself to keep my form and keep focusing even though there's nobody left to do that for me," Travis said. Rucker, Shelton double up Bellevue senior Ella Rucker and Port Clinton junior Alexis Shelton each won two speedy events Friday night. Rucker swept the SBC Lake hurdles races. She's making a strong return to form after offseason knee surgery. Shelton won both the 100 and 200 meters in the SBC Bay. She also anchored the winning 4x100 meter relay after Camille Robbins, Jade Mitchell and Shianne Lieske. They held the meet record in that event for three minutes before Clyde broke it. Rombach signs off on top The SBC River Division will be glad to see Tiffin Calvert senior Jacob Rombach graduate. He's made it tough on anyone else to win races. For the second consecutive year, Rombach swept four individual league championships — the 100, 200 and 400, along with the long jump. Rombach, who averaged 8.0 yards per carry last fall for the Senecas, was All-Ohio in the 400 meters as a junior. He'll be looking to add more podium trips in a few weeks.