3 races, 3 wins, 3 records: Clear Fork’s Stupka sizzles on ‘familiar’ track

MADISON TOWNSHIP – Sometimes he needed to remind himself of what team he is on, but Clear Fork junior Joe Stupka knew exactly where the finish line was Thursday night. And how to get there the fastest.

Back on his old stomping grounds in a new uniform, Stupka swept the 100, 200 and 400 meter dashes in the Madison Invitational track and field meet, setting meet records in all three races.

After competing the last two years for the Rams, Stupka transferred to Clear Fork, where his father was a varsity assistant football coach last fall after spending the previous four years as head coach at Madison.

“My goal was to come in and break all three records,” Stupka said. “I’d be lying to you if I said the meet wasn’t a little personal, after running here for two years on this familiar track.

“I’m rooting for Madison teammates and then I’m like, oh, that’s not my team. I’ve got to root for the (Colts). It was very weird.”

Stupka was mostly a relay runner for Madison, but his success Thursday wasn’t at all unexpected. His breakout performance actually came at the beginning of March when he medaled in the 60, 200 and 400 at the state indoor meet.

But this was his first chance to go head-to-head with Mansfield Senior’s Keontez Bradley, the reigning Ohio Cardinal Conference champion in the 200 and 400.

Stupka kept Bradley at bay in the 100, clocking an 11.1, and then surged past Bradley with about 10 meters to go in the 200, winning in 22.26. In between, Stupka wasn’t challenged in the 400, pulling away in 51.32.

Bradley, an Arizona State football commit, was a Division I state medalist in the 400 last spring, but he didn’t run that race here because he is still easing into form after sitting out the entire indoor season in concussion protocol.

“Keontez is a great guy, a great competitor,” said Stupka. “He makes me better. I think it makes both of us better.”

At times, Stupka sounded like a chemist. But don’t be fooled. He is all athlete.

Talking about catching Bradley in the 200, he credited his “lactate workouts.”

You don’t hear that every day at a track meet. Or any sports event.

“Say you run the 200 a few times at full speed to get your legs burning and get the (lactic) acid (fuel for your cells during intense exercise) up,” Stupka said. “Then your lactate threshold starts to grow and the end of the race becomes a lot easier.

“I could feel the 400 on the curve, but I trusted the training. I credit coach (Eric) Beck for where I am today. He’s always telling me to relax and trust the training. I did the last 20 meters and that’s when I pulled away.”

Beck, a 1991 Bucyrus grad and former star athlete for the Redmen, is new to Clear Fork. He has worked privately with high-level athletes over the past 25 years, but this is his first head coaching gig. He works in nuclear cardiology with Ohio Health.

Beck’s one word description for Stupka: special.

“First and foremost, he probably has one of the most positive attitudes of any athlete I’ve ever met,” he said. “It takes a pretty special person to love what we do and be good at this sport, and I’ve never heard a negative word come out of his mouth.”

Ashland, Shelby win team titles

While Stupka put on a virtuoso performance, it was a collective effort that led to team laurels for the Ashland boys and Shelby girls.

The Arrows edged Shelby 141-132.5 in the boys standings, putting the finishing touches on the title with a win in the 4x400 relay (3:40.98). Lukah Will, just minutes after finishing third in the 3200, ran a 53-second anchor split to overcome the 10-meter advantage Shelby had when he took the baton.

Ayden Bryant, Connor Arbaugh and Ruger McQuillen preceded Will on that relay, while the Ashland quartet of Luke Wash, Tyler Sauder, Brody Blough and Cameron Arbaugh won the 4x800 (8:33.20).

The Arrows also got wins from Jacob Holbrook in the high jump (5-10), Ryan Jordan in the shot put (42-6) and Braydon Martin in the 110 hurdles (16.68), resulting in a great debut for new head coach Ryan Stackhouse.

“The kids were impressive, right down to the 4x4,” Stackhouse said. “It was close with the 4x4 still to happen, but our guys just really competed. What Lukah Will did was incredible.

“We didn’t race too many guys in too many different things. I don’t think anyone ran more than two events. Just being this early and getting the times we did was pretty impressive.”

Patience Lewis’ Shelby girls won 11 of the 16 events and scored 182 points to outdistance runner-up Ashland by 60 points. Six different girls contributed to wins in seven individual events and the Whippets finished 1-2 in four of those events.

Sophomore Ava Bowman swept the 100 (12.94) and 200 (26.58). Shelby owned the distances behind Channon Cundiff in the 800 (2:32.27), Emma Montgomery in the 1600 (5:49.17) and Kayla Gonzales in the 3200 (11:25.96).

The Whippets also won all four relays: 4x100 (52.25), 4x200 (1:48.81), 4x400 (4:26.11) and 4x800 (10:27.62). Field event winners were Alyssa Niese in the high jump (4-8) and Madison Henkel in the long jump (16-5.5).

Freshman comes through for host school

Madison ninth-grader Jada Neal kept a personal streak alive. She has never lost a 400 race since taking up the metric quartermile in seventh grade.

Competing in her first varsity invite, she won the race by nearly three seconds, in 1:02.77.

“I came in worried, this being my first (big) high school meet,” she said. “I only had one dual meet before this. There were some butterflies, but I just kept praying and inspiring myself.”

How does she think she’ll respond if or when she finally loses?

“I don’t know how I’ll handle it,” Neal said. “I just go till I can’t.”

Whippets’ distance crew does its thing

Fresh off a 12th place finish at the Nike Indoor Nationals in New York City, the Shelby boys 4x800 team was at it again – but this time as individuals.

While the Whippets didn’t load up in the 4x8 Thursday night, the four crew members who raced in NYC all enjoyed success. Huck Finnegan won the 3200  (9:57.98), Luke Dininger (4:37.83) and Indy Mayer finished 1-2 in the 1600 and Marshall Moore won the 800 in  2:01.83.

“It was definitely an amazing experience,” Finnegan said of racing in the Big Apple. “We trained hard during the indoor season and, hopefully, there are bigger things to come.”

Dininger said competing in the Nike Indoors was eye opening.

“It was great competition,” he said. “You watch these races on the internet and TV and then to be there, it’s almost like a surreal experience.”

The Whippets are looking to crack eight minutes in the 4x8 outdoors after finishing fifth in Division II at last year’s state meet in 8:02.

“We lost Mason Hendrickson from last year’s relay, but we’ve got Indy Mayer, who has been running some really good times,” Dininger said. “So it’s definitely do-able.”

Tygers just getting warmed up?

All things considered, Keontez Bradley had a very good meet for Mansfield Senior. In addition to his runner-up finishes in the 100 and 200, he anchored the Tygers to easy victories in the two sprint relays.

Joining Bradley on the 4x100 (44.06) were Ja’Ontay O’Bryant, Aaron Thornton and Christian Xavier.

Preceding Bradley on the 4x200 (1:33.11) were Xavier, Thornton and Akeem Walker.

Thornton also won the 300 hurdles (41.32), beating high hurdles champ Braydon Martin by more than two seconds.

“I picked up the 300 about three races before the (Ohio Cardinal Conference meet) last year,” Thornton said. “I tried the highs but I wasn’t any good. The three steps between (hurdles), I couldn’t get it done.

“I chose the 3s because it wasn’t a battle of who gets to the hurdles first. It’s about getting over hurdles the right way and being faster in between the hurdles. I feel I’m faster in between them.”

It will be interesting to see how good the Tygers get in the sprint relays once they are fully healthy.

O’Bryant has had to overcome a fractured jaw and broken finger. And Bradley is just now shaking off the rust of being out all winter.

“I’m more than confident in what we can do in the relays,” Thornton said. “The more we come together and click throughout the year, it’s going to be a great race every time.”

Other champs

Ashland’s Aveline Wilhelm swept the throws, winning the shot put (36-4.5) and discus (116-6). Her teammates swept the hurdles, with Jasmine Duerson winning the 100s (17.89) and Kara Bell winning the 300s (53.9).

On the boys side, Shelby’s Issaiah Ramsey won the long jump (20-9) and teammate Ferron Pena won the discus (120-1).

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: 3 races, 3 wins, 3 records: Clear Fork’s Stupka sizzles on ‘familiar’ track