“I don’t know for sure,” said Engle when asked about her race favorite during Tuesday’s Division III district track and field meet at Welcome Stadium. “I don’t run that much mileage, not as much as some other people do. I’ve heard some crazy amounts.”
IT’S A FIRST: Arcanum boys 4x800 relay wins
Twin Valley South (33 points) was the boys team leader and TV South, Arcanum and Franklin Monroe (18) were all tied for the girls team lead after the first day. Only a few field events were finals and the 4x800 relay was the only running final.
The meet resumes Saturday also at Welcome with all finals. The top four in each event advance to next week’s regional at Troy.
Engle will pack a daunting four events into the opening phase of the postseason this week. She easily won her heat of the 1,600 meters and anchored the Irish to third in the 4x800 relay (10:37.61). When the meet resumes on Saturday, she’ll attempt a tough district triple: the 1,600 meters, then the 800 and finally the 3,200, eight laps of potential misery.
She swept those three individual events during last week’s Ohio Heritage Conference meet at West Liberty-Salem, earning the North Division athlete of the year honor. She also qualified for the D-III state cross country meet last fall.
“It’s really exciting,” she said. “The whole experience is really nice. It’s different than junior high track for sure. I really like it.”
Other Irish relay members were Sydney Yontz, Bridget Engel and Lauren Stannard. Don’t be surprise is this foursome has a date with destiny. All are freshman except Yontz, who’s a sophomore.
• The other area girls regional qualifier was Amani Wagner of Yellow Springs in the discus (103-6).
Area boys regional qualifiers were the Cedarville 4x800 relay (9:05.50), discus champ Charlie Bertemes of Southeastern (142-10), Joe Plumer of Yellow Springs (20-4.75) and Wesley Williams of Cedarville (20-1) in the long jump and Mechanicsburg vaulters Joe Mascadri (12-0; first) and Frank Magyar (11-2).
• Today’s D-I district meets are at Welcome Stadium, Wayne and Mason. All the meets have the same first- and second-day event format.
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