PC, Clyde girls to duel in 4x100 final; Tigers top seed in two relays

DAYTON — The Division II state finals are set for Saturday after Friday's preliminary races — and one in particular could turn into a Register-area showdown. Port Clinton and Clyde will start side by side in the girls 4x100-meter relay after putting up the top two prelim times. PC's Camille Robbins, Jade Mitchell, Shianne Lieske and Alexis Shelton ran 48.83 seconds on Friday, and in a different heat, Clyde's Bree Caudill, Gabby Griffin, Daisha Bulger and Cora Liskai put up 48.85. Buchtel (48.86) will also be in contention out of Lane 3. PC's girls are also in the 4x200 final. Huron's boys relays both advanced to finals in dominant form as expected. The 4x100 came across in 42.27 seconds, and the 4x200 ran 1:27.75. Both were the top times on the day, put together by Austin Brunow, Andrew Delaney, Joe Schaeffer and Beau Harkelroad. Harkelroad advanced into both his hurdles finals, too. He's seeded fourth in the 110 hurdles and second in the 300 hurdles. He was state runner-up in the 300 last spring. Schaeffer is also into the 200-meter final, along with Oak Harbor's Tyler Thompson. Thompson will race in the 100-meter dash championship, too, and he's part of OH's 4x200 finalist. Bellevue's Ella Rucker advanced into the 100-meter hurdles girls final with the third-best time Friday. Clyde's Damarius Chrisman needed a wild-card berth into the 400 state final with the seventh-fastest time in prelims and will have to try and contend out of Lane 8. Oak Harbor's Olivia Cherry seized the last qualifying spot to the girls 400. At the end of Saturday's action, Perkins, Huron and Oak Harbor will all run in the girls 4x400 final. The Pirates set a new school record Friday in 3:58.93 with Emma Sturzinger, Haylie Brunner, Caitlin Frankfather and Alex Merriman — the third-fastest prelim time. The Rockets and Tigers both ran just over four minutes.