Dashing his way back: Sprinter rebounds from injury to help Ashland sweep Pruner Invite
OLIVESBURG – He ran so fast Friday night the rain almost missed him.
Competing in the 100 meter dash for only the second time this spring, Ashland’s two-time defending Ohio Cardinal Conference champion Colton Johnson left hamstring issues – and the competition – behind at Crestview’s Forest Pruner Invitational.
A strong argument could be made that the 100 was this track and field meet’s marquee event, especially if you consider that Plymouth’s Caiden Allen – a Division III third-place medalist in last year’s state meet – had to settle for fourth behind Johnson, a senior, his sophomore teammate Jacob Holbrook and Crestview’s Adison Reymer, the 200 champ.
It was a bang-bang finish, with Johnson winning in 11.08 seconds to nip Holbrook (11.09), Reymer (11.1) and Allen (11.13).
The suspense had 30 extra minutes to build when the meet was delayed due to a thunderstorm just before the race was to take place. The wait turned out to be worth it for the fans – and, especially, Johnson, whose victory helped Ashland end Crestview’s nine-year reign as boys champion.
“In the back of my mind, I’ve been a little bit scared to get it opened up to see how I felt,” Johnson said about bouncing back from a pulled hamstring. “It’s been a mind thing, just lingering a little bit, but I think my body’s ready for it.”
It had to be killing Johnson to watch when Clear Fork’s Joe Stupka and Mansfield Senior’s Keontez Bradley turned the Madison Invitational into a sprint spectacle early this season and last week when they again put on a show in the Mehock Relays, joined by Allen.
The only race Johnson ran at Mehock was the 4x100, with his crew taking third behind Columbus Beechcroft, led by state champion hurdler Jayden Douglas, and runner-up East Kentwood, Mich., which finished atop the boys and girls standings for a second year in a row.
“They’ve been running really good times, especially Joe, who was great indoors at state,” Johnson said. “But it was, honestly, a huge motivator for me, because it allowed me to heal up. And I knew when I healed up, I’d be fine.
“I had my teammate (Holbrook) right behind me, running strong. I see us continuing our training the next few weeks and possibly taking 1-2 in the OCC.”
That 1-2 finish Friday was duplicated in three other races by the Arrows. In the 800, it was Tyler Sauder (2:01.33) and Lukah Will (2:02.53); in the 110 hurdles it was Braydon Martin (15.72) and Jayden Goings (15.93), and in the 300 hurdles it was Goings (42.88) and Martin (43.50).
Johnson also anchored the winning 4x100 relay (44.32), preceded, in order, by Dakota Kruty, Holbrook and Landon McFrederick.
The Arrows also won the 4x200 and the 4x400. Relay dominance, in fact, had a lot to do with Ashland sweeping the meet. The boys dethroned Crestview by a 185.5 -155 margin and Gail Walter’s girls, on the strength of three relay wins and two individual champs, won by a 151-130 cushion over South Central.
McFrederick, a senior competing in track for the first time, won the boys long jump with a leap of 20-1.5.
“It ‘s my fourth week in the long jump,” said McFrederick, who popped a personal best 21-1 in a home meet a couple of weeks ago. “I guess (I decided to do track) to get my fourth varsity letter; to try something new. Coach (Ryan) Stackhouse thought it would be good for me.
“Who knows what could have been if I started earlier. I’m kind of learning as I go. I’m going to try to get up to the 22s by the end of the season.”
McFrederick spent the last two springs playing baseball and has always focused most on football and basketball. He had some offers to play receiver in college, but has opted to join the Air Force.
So far what he doesn’t know about the long jump hasn’t hurt him.
“I really don’t know what’s good or bad,” he said. “I really just jump and somebody says, yeah, that’s pretty good. I have friends on the team. I figured this would be a good use of my time and a chance to have some fun.”
Ashland’s individual champs on the girls side were Aubrey Hubler in the high jump (4-10) and Aveline Wilhelm in the shot put (36-4).
Big efforts by the Cougars
Even though the Crestview boys saw their stranglehold on their home invite come to an end, they got meet-record performances by seniors Noah Stuart and Shawn Bailey and, perhaps most impressive of all, an upset win by sophomore Logan Friges.
Stuart set a meet record in the discus (166-9) and Bailey set a meet mark in the pole vault (14-0), matching his personal best.
Stuart also won the shot put with a personal best toss outdoors of 54-3. His sweep had to bring great relief, since he sat out the Mehock with a hip injury.
“It was only going to get worse if I didn’t take some time off,” said Stuart, who would have been a title contender in both throws at the Mehock. “I was just lifting (during his self-imposed break) and I think it helped me, actually. It got some of my bad habits (out of my system).”
Bailey tied his PR by clearing 14 feet, just one week after taking runner-up honors at Mehock at 13-6.
“We definitely have a 14-6 or 15-foot jump coming within the next couple of weeks,” he said. “We just blew through the poles on the 14-6 attempts today.”
Freshman teammate Liam Kuhn, whose father Tim runs the Crestview track program, was second to Bailey by clearing 12 feet. He was fourth at Mehock at 12-6.
“One of the priorities every meet is to beat Liam, to keep him humble,” said Bailey with a wide smile. “He’s definitely good and makes me want to extend my PR further and make it harder for him to break my meet records. I want to be jumping around 15-6 or 15-10 this year.”
Bailey lost out on a Mehock title to two-time state champion Zaiden Fry of Mohawk, whose winning height was 15-6.
“It’s definitely fun jumping against him, but it’s like the fifth or sixth time we’ve done that and we’ve practiced together the last three years (as members of the same vaulting club), so it doesn’t faze me,” Bailey said. “I’m definitely ahead of last year (when he placed eighth at state in DIII). We’ve gotten a lot more height, moving bigger poles.”
Friges, normally an 800 runner, gave one of the surprise performances of the meet, winning the 400 in 52.43 and beating St. Peter’s DIII state medalist Peyton Bodnar (53.07) in the process.
Friges also anchored Crestview to victory in the mixed 4x400 relay (4:04.21), a new race approved by the OHSAA this season. Running the first two legs for the Cougars were Emma Aumend and Emily Weaver with Reymer rounding out the quartet.
Friges didn’t realize he had beaten a state medalist in the 400 and seemed oblivious to the rain falling during the race.
“It’s all mental,” he said. “Weather is just a mental thing.”
If it’s any consolation to Bodnar, the only other time Friges has run the 400 this season it resulted in a win at the Ontario Relays.
“I’m going to have to step up my game if I want to do better than last year,” said Bodnar, who finished eighth in the DIII 400 at state. “The weather was crappy, but that’s no excuse. I still have to give it all I’ve got because this is my last year.”
Allen just happy to be competing
Even though the 100 didn’t go Allen’s way, the Plymouth star is far ahead of last year. He was seventh in the race at the 2022 Pruner Invite but his season took off after that, eventually leading him to the third rung on the state podium.
“It wasn’t my best race,” he said of Friday’s finish, “but I’m just grateful to be here.”
Allen, who has played club hockey since fifth grade, suffered a spinal injury after getting checked into the boards during a tournament in Pittsburgh in November.
“My plan was to run indoors all winter (while still playing hockey), but things happen,” he said. “I think I gained 10 pounds over the winter, plus no conditioning. Not really a recipe for success, but I’m getting back into it now.”
Plymouth coach Matt Anderson remembers getting the call from Allen’s mom, his cousin, after Caiden was taken to the emergency room.
“Originally, the doctors said he was done with everything,” Anderson said. “My heart just fell to my stomach, not because of track. I just didn’t want to see the kid get hurt.”
With the help of school trainer Sandy Bricker, Allen was back on skates in January and eventually was able to resume his track career. He signed a letter of intent Friday to continue running at Wittenberg University.
The spine injury “didn’t feel so good,” Allen said, “but it hurt even more being out so long. Once I was able to get out here I was so excited. I did everything I could once the doctors cleared me.”
Another memorable Pruner Invite for Grover
Lucas senior Shelby Grover was the only athlete to win three individual events. She repeated in the 100 hurdles (14.77) and the 300 hurdles (45.99) and won the long jump (18-0). She was close to PRs in those two races and it was only the second time she has ever jumped 18 feet.
She seems to have a special affection for this meet. Last year she pulled off the almost unheard-of triple, winning the 400, the 300 hurdles and the 200 in a span of four events. She also won the 100 hurdles to make her a quadruple winner.
“There are certain tracks, certain meets where I do flourish,” she said, “and I think part of it is my training as well.”
Grover also competed in the mixed 4x400 relay, with Lucas finishing third. Being the competitor she is, it’s hard to believe she had never snuck into a relay with boys before this.
“I definitely run with them in practice, but the competition (in a boys race) would be a little different,” she said. “One person joked about me running hurdles with the boys and I said I don’t know about that.”
Grover was third in the pentathlon at the Adidas Indoor Nationals last month in Virginia Beach, so it should come as no surprise that according to Ohio Milesplit’s DIII outdoor rankings she ranks No. 1 in six events in the Northwest District. Of course, she can only compete in four at any meet.
“Somebody asked me, why don’t you just do the same (four events),” Grover said. “And I said, what’s the fun in that? It kind of gets boring. It’s exciting to do different things and then pick out what I’m going to do at district, regional and state.”
She has committed to Kent State as a “multi” athlete in track and field. Her only regret is that there is no pentathlon in typical high school meets to use as a springboard to the next level.
“I wish they had it!” Grover said. “I think they should have a pentathlon in the state meet.”
Other champs
The rundown of local champs Friday night included, on the girls side, Plymouth’s Mallory Keefe in the 400 (1:03.14), Lucas’ Chloe Sturts in the 1600 (5:58.46) and Crestview’s Leyna Gerich in the 3200 (11:56.14). The boys champs included Crestview’s Cooper Brockway in the 1600 (4:51.99) and Plymouth’s Layne Bushey in the high jump (5-10).
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Dashing his way back: Sprinter rebounds from injury to help Ashland sweep Pruner Invite
