North Union’s Jacob Willis, left, and Morgan Hicks of Jonathan Alder are shown competing in these file photos from the 2021 season. Both athletes have qualified for Division II regional competition. (Journal-Tribune photos by Sam Dillon and Tim Miller)
The Jonathan Alder girls track team took home the Division II Central District runner-up trophy.
The Lady Pioneers placed second 80.25 team points.
Buckeye Valley won the district title with 96.
The Lady Pioneers did have individual district champs in the 1600 and 3200-meter races.
Morgan Hicks captured both events with respective times of 5:05 and 11:22 to move on to the regional track meet.
The Lady Pioneers also had success in the relay races, qualifying for regionals in all events.
The 4×200-meter relay team of Jessica Kelly, Natalie Heflin, Hailey Lisska and Olivia Finke finished in third place with a time of 1:49.
In the 4×100-meter relay race, the team of Laura Detweiler, Josilyn Zuro, Lisska and Madeleine Freyhof placed third in 51.74.
The 4×400-meter relay team of Elaine Winslow, Heflin, Finke and Kelley finished in third place in a time of 4:12 to advance to the regional.
Along with the relay teams, Freyhof advanced in the 100-meter dash with a third place finish of 13.26.
Kelley will also race in the 400-meter dash after tallying a fourth-place finish of 1:01.
The Lady Pioneers came up short at the district finals in other events.
They were as follows:
-100-meter hurdles: Detweiler, fifth, 17.05;
-1600-meter run: 5:05, Reggan Gray, fifth, 5:38;
-800-meter run: Winslow, fifth, 2:24;
-3200-meter run: Liza Streit, fifth, 12:09.
The North Union girl’s 4×100-meter relay team of Shelby Kruse, Riley Heminger, Sadie Spriggs and Audrey Benedict made the district finals.
Their season, though, came to a close after finishing in seventh place in a time of 54.07.
The Lady Cats finished in 18th place at the regional with two team points.
In the boys meet, Jonathan Alder had a single runner advance to the regionals. Sergey Dutt took third place in the 3200-meter run with a time of 10:34. The Wildcats also had one runner qualify for the regional meet.
Jacob Willis took fourth place in the 1600-meter run in a time of 4:43.
The two teams had several runners’ seasons come to a close at the district finals. They wre follows:
-1600-meter run: Matthew Perkey, Jon Alder, 11th, 4:59, Brady Tremayne, 14th, 5:07;
-400-meter dash: Cameron Jewell, Jon Alder, fifth, 52.21;
-800-meter run: Danny Burggraf, North Union, fifth, 2:02.55, Jonas Watkins, Jon Alder, ninth, 2:08, Caleb Freyhof, Jon Alder, 13th, 2:18;
-110-meter hurdles: Ricky Weigand, NU, eighth, 17.82;
-300-meter hurdles: Weigand, NU, seventh, 43.99;
-3200-meter run: Willis, North Union, sixth, 11:08, Colyn McDaniel, Jon Alder, 12th, 11:33;
– 4×400-meter relay: Jon Alder, seventh, Michael Conley, Taber Headings, Jonas Watkins, Sam Stage, 3:43.
Jonathan Alder finished the district meet in seventh place with 35 points. North Union finished in ninth place with 27 points.
Bishop Watterson won the meet with 122 points.
North Union and JA will return to action at the regional track meet at Lexington High School.
Competition will begin on Thursday and concluded Saturday.