Boys Track | Alliance's Brendan Zurbrugg dominates at Eastern Buckeye Conference meet
LEXINGTON TWP. — He’s just a sophomore but Alliance High School’s three-sport star Brendan Zurbrugg is making quite a name for himself in Ohio athletic circles.
Zurbrugg is a Division I quarterback recruit in football and was a key member of the Aviators’ Eastern Buckeye Conference champion boys basketball team this winter. On Saturday, his talent was on full display during the annual EBC track and field championship at Marlington Stadium.
Zurbrugg won all four events he participated in, the 110-meter hurdles, 300 hurdles, 100 and 200. At the conclusion of the meet, he was named the conference's Male Track Athlete of the Year.
“It feels really good because I want to help my team a lot,” said Zurbrugg. “I just want to make it as far as I can this year, hopefully to state.”
“He [Zurbrugg] shows the ability to be a legend [at AHS], especially as a sophomore,” said Alliance coach Gary King. “I couldn’t be more happy for that kid. He did a heck of a job.”
Zurbrugg’s efforts, along with that of his teammates, helped the Aviators finish as runner-up to Salem with 133 points. The Quakers won with 141 points.
Zurbrugg won the 110 hurdles in 15.24 seconds, the 100 in 11.13, the 110 hurdles in 15.24 and his personal favorite, the 300 hurdles, in 39.18.
The Aviators’ first-place finishes didn’t end there. Also capturing a league title was the 4x200 relay of Squirt Williamson, Tyion Miles, Cavail Nicholson and Ternino Hill in 1:33.71.
“I knew I had it [first place nearing the finish line],” said Hill, who was asked his goals for the postseason. “State, we want to get to state,” he said.
In addition, the Aviators’ 4x100 relay of Williamson, Kayden Davis, De’ovion Jones and Hill repeated as EBC champs in 43.91.
“I don’t know what my split was but I knew we ran a good time overall, a 43,” said Jones. “That’s our best time this year. We just want to get better and go to state and see what we can do with it.”
“The 4x200 was a surprise,” said King. “We took a kid off of that relay to put him in the 4x1 to replace Zurbrugg and for them to come here and win, that was huge. Then in the 4x1, we put Kaden Davis in and we ran our best time of the year. We ran a 43 which was just awesome, so I’m really happy. The boys stepped up.”
Marlington also had a big day, led by senior distance standout Noah Graham who helped the Dukes’ 4x800 relay of Cohen Boyce, Lucas Ryan and Ryan Cernansky repeat as EBC champs in 8:22.07. Later, Graham anchored the Dukes’ winning 4x400 relay along with teammates Liam Blake, Boyce and Cernansky in 3:32.25.
“We’re pretty optimistic about the next three weeks,” said Graham. “There’s definitely some things we can touch up on moving forward, but the guys are working hard and they’re training smart and as long as we continue to do that, I think we’ll be all right.”
“It was a pretty good meet for us,” added Marlington coach Bob Dagenhardt. “Our distance guys did pretty much what they do.
"It was fun to have it [the league meet] here at home and great to see some good weather. This was the worst possible spring weather this year and I think maybe we’re ready to move on to nice weather and better performances and so forth. The weather has cheated the kids this year out of a lot of PR’s and better performances.”
The Dukes, who finished tied for third with West Branch with 90 points, garnered another first-place finish from junior Nash Minor who won the 3200 in 9:47.16.
“My team did the job, we were looking for a good spot on the podium,” said Minor. “Thankfully for [teammate] Michael [Nichols, who finished second in the race] we accomplished it. I think the regular season has gone very well for me and for our team this year. We have an incredible team that I’m so proud to be able to train with.”
West Branch’s multi-sport junior star Dru DeShields, who switched spring sports from baseball to track this season, won two EBC titles Saturday, capturing the 400 in 51.45 and the long jump at 19-11.
“I think I PR’d right there with a 51,” said DeShields of his 400. “It helps [to have good weather], it keeps me loose. I want to try to make it to state this year in the long jump or 400.”
“Dru DeShields is a special athlete,” added West Branch coach Tim Cooper. “He works really hard. Our kids competed really hard and are all PR-ing which is really important. We want to peak at the right time.”
It was also a big day for Minerva distance senior star Connor Shingleton, who opened by repeating as EBC champion in the 1600 in 4:19.50 and followed that up with a repeat title in the 800 in 1:58.76. The Lions finished fifth in the team standings with 65 points.
Shingleton was pleased with his efforts on the hot day after running in poor weather much of the spring.
“I’ve run a 4:17 [in the 1600] but it was more of an all-out type of race today because it was hot so I went out a little slow,” said Shingleton, who sports the top Division II time in Ohio. “It [the strength of the EBC in distances] definitely pushes me and keeps me focused.”
Other first-place finishes Saturday included the Salem duo of Dillon Monroy in the high jump (6-feet-0) and Carson Stockman in the shot put (51-0) and discus (157-7).
This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: Salem wins Eastern Buckeye Conference boys track championship
