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Division II track - Regional athletes head to Lexington

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By JASON STEIN

cnsports@crescent-news.com

In order for a track athlete to go after a state title in Columbus, they have to get there first. With one more top-four finish, that's exactly where Division II athletes will be headed when the competitive Lexington Regional begins Thursday and concludes on Saturday.

Area athletes from Defiance, Bryan, Delta, Evergreen, Napoleon, Ottawa-Glandorf, Paulding, Swanton and Wauseon will travel to Lexington High School for the festivities. And while trying to set a personal record may be the goal of some, it's all about that pivotal fourth place or better spot if Columbus is the ultimate goal.

"Basically you get to districts and regionals and times and distances and all that are really secondary to places," commented Napoleon girls head coach Kevin Milius. "Obviously, you want to get in the top four to move on and that's going to be our mentality this week. We'd love to have good times, good distances and all that, but only as long as we're in the top four and get a shot for state.

"There are other kids that might be running for their best time because maybe a trip to state might not be legitimate, so then you go for your top place and time," added Milius.

Making it to regionals means that an athlete is one step away from competing at the state level, and for teams like Defiance and the rest of the representatives from the area, there is no doubt that they belong.

"They just have to understand it is going to take their best effort, and I don't think I'm being too profound there, every coach knows that," remarked DHS girls coach Steve Wahl on the mentality he believes his regional-bound kids need to take. "You get to this level and it's everything you've got.

"We proved last year that we have the ability to compete at this level and I'm going to stress that to the girls all week long," continued Wahl. "There's no reason for us to go into this meet in awe. We belong there just like anybody else belongs there and if we run with the right frame of mind, there isn't any reason why we can't finish in the top four in a lot of the events and move on down the road."

Defiance, which qualified a Division II area best 16 athletes who will compete in 17 events as well as six relays, has two event regional titles that it can defend. Zac Wiles qualified to defend his 3200 title and the girls 3200 relay team is also in position to defend its title. Napoleon's Sarah Weaver will also have a chance to defend her regional discus title.

While there are a number of athletes who qualified for regionals in multiple events, it's not uncommon for that person to drop out and focus more on one event, which will be the case for Wauseon's Holly Baird. After winning the 1600 and 3200 at districts Baird said that she would not be running in the 1600. However, that will likely be the only major change for the district champion Lady Indians, who have a dozen girls competing in 11 individual events and qualified to run in all four relays.

"We probably won't change much for the rest of the team, it will be mostly with Holly and her distance races," head coach Robin Fisher said following the district meet. "We just try to get our best performances, try to get into finals and see who we can qualify to state because it's a tough regional down there at Lexington."

Now, with only a semifinal run, if that, standing in the way of an athlete and the "dream," there's only one thing left to do. Lay it all on the line and give it their best shot.

"It's going to be different, because guys will be running once or twice and that's it," Napoleon boys mentor Tim Downey quipped on the change from districts to regional. "It's going to be easier to focus. Execution will get you on and it could be more fun for them. I hope they have fun, stay focused and compete hard.

"It's finals only, there's no horsing around," added Downey. "They get to just perform now, they don't have to qualify, qualify, qualify and do it over and over again. It'll be one time and here we go."

Thursday's action gets underway with the boys pole vault, long jump and discus, and the girls high jump and shot put beginning at 4 p.m. The 3200 relay finals begins the running events at 4:30 p.m. with running semis to follow. The remaining field events will begin at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday and the remaining running finals will start at 12:30 p.m.