BY YANEEK SMITH, BEACON CONTRIBUTOR

PORT CLINTON — For the 11th year in a row, the Oak Harbor girls track team has won a league championship. The Rockets won the Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division, finishing with 166 points.

Margaretta was second with 124 points, followed by Edison (116), Huron (113), Willard (71) and Port Clinton (47).

“I think all year long they felt a little pressure from Huron and Margaretta. In our eyes, it was going to be a really close meet. They were really making us wonder if we could win this year,” said Oak Harbor coach John McKitrick. “This senior class didn’t want to be the ones that lost the streak. Everybody did their job.”

Amelia Mizelle led the Rockets with three high finishes. She won the 300-meter hurdles in 48.07 seconds, finished second in the 100 hurdles in 15.20 and was fourth in the 200 in 27.23.

“She’s having a great season. As a freshman, she showed a lot of promise. She always rises to the occasion against (Margaretta’s Kenna) Stimmel,” said McKitrick. “She was really motivated, her road to state is pretty sweet.

Emma Zibbel won the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 2 inches and Madison McKitrick finished first in the long jump with a leap of 17-00.25. Teammate Ally Garner was third with a jump of 15-06.00. Kaitlin Paul won the pole vault with a leap of 9-06.00.

Madison Elmes was second in the discus with a throw of 109-06. Elayna Krupp finished third in the 100 in 12.71 and was also third in the 200 in 26.72, Emily Haar finished third in the 400 in 1:00.35, Logan Wagner was third in the 800 in 2:31.13, Paige Clune was fourth in the 100 with a time of 12.89 and Skyler Turner took fourth in the 800 in 2:33.12

Port Clinton’s Ana Hummel was third in the discus with a throw of 106-10.

Both teams had success in the relays.

The Oak Harbor 4×100 relay team of Clune, Mizelle, Krupp and Rylee McKitrick finished first in 49.72, setting a new league record. Port Clinton’s 4×100 team of Gabbi Porter, Rebekah Nehls, Claudia Gillum and Gracie Rohrer finished fourth in 51.98.

The 4×200 quartet of Haar, McKitrick, Molly Downs and Abby Below were second in 1:47.07 for the Rockets, and the Redskin foursome of Rohrer, Nehls, Gladys Wiechman, Arielle Montowski finished fourth in 1:53.04.

Oak Harbor’s 4×400 relay, which consisted of Haar, Below, Krupp and Wagner, was second in 4:08.98 while Port Clinton’s quartet of Nelhs, Wiechman, Kami Periat and Alexis Spears were third in 4:19.89.

Oak Harbor’s 4×800 relay team of Turner, Wagner, Bailey Dusseau and Emma Baumgartner finished fourth in 10:26.87.

McKitrick talked about some of his unsung heroes.

“I think we’ve got a couple of those kids. Paige Clune comes to mind,” he said. “She’s always taken a backseat to Elayna Krupp, she’s always tried to find a way to the top. She leads off our 4×200, runs our 4×100, she doesn’t get the praise that a lot of kids do.”

The Oak Harbor boys won, too, narrowly defeating Huron by a score of 176-165. Edison was third with 127 points, followed by Port Clinton and Margaretta, who tied for fourth with 63 points, and Willard, which finished with 36.

Oak Harbor’s Isiah Miller had an amazing performance, finishing first in four events. For his efforts, Miller was the Most Outstanding Performer in the Bay Division. He came in first in the 110 hurdles with a time of 15.32 while Port Clinton’s Landon Witte was third in 16.02. Miller also won the 100 (11.15), followed by teammate Hayden Buhro (11.34) and Port Clinton’s Colton Yarbrough, who was third in 11.42. Miller took first in the 300 hurdles in 39.51, followed by Port Clinton’s Kieran Mackey (40.42) and Owen Miller (41.85). Miller’s fourth event was the 200, which he won in 22.76, and Buhro was second in 22.90.

“In my career, I don’t know if in four events, if that’s ever happened for an athlete,” said Oak Harbor coach Andy Augsburger. “For him to do that was incredible.”

Max Hallett-Szymanski won the long jump with a leap of 19-02.25 and was third in the high jump (5-10.00) while teammate Devyn Gordon was third in the long jump (18-03.00). Eli Sherman won the 800 (2:00.86), Will Rahm was first in the pole vault (11-00.00) and teammate Gannon Duty was fourth (10-06.00).

Port Clinton’s Samari Smith finished third in the shot put and the discus. He had a throw of 42-07.75 in the shot put and a toss of 119-09 in the discus.

Oak Harbor’s Alex Mettie was fourth in the discus 119-00 and T.J. Hallett was fourth in the 1600 in 4:46.66.

The Rockets took second place in all four relays — the 4×800 team of Sherman, Hallett, Hallett-Szymanski and Walleman finished in 8:21.16; the 4×200 quartet of Buhro, Wyatt Miller, Owen Miller and Hayden Hower was second in 1:32.73; the 4×400 foursome of Sherman, Owen Miller, Wyatt Miller and Nathan Noble was second in 3:35.93; and 4×100 team of Duty, Hower, Buhro and Nick Wirkner was second in 44.35, followed by Port Clinton’s foursome of Witt, Mackey, Yarbrough and Garrett Skoufos was third in 44.36.

“Isiah Miller and Hayden Buhro had a very good meet. Kids having stepped up, T.J. Hallett in the mile, he had only run a 4:58, he ran a 4:46 and placed fourth, which was a huge accomplishment. Brady Walleman, placing in the mile and two-mile was a big, big deal,” said Augsburger. “The other one that almost won the league title was the 4×800, I think they dropped six seconds off their time, and nearly beat Huron, they were neck and neck. They put it all together. Owen Miller in the 300 hurdles, he had to place higher, and he went out there and got a third-place finish. Max Hallett-Szymanski, he was in the 800 and finished fifth, he ran a p.r. In order for things to go our way, and we need everything to go our way and we had to improve our places in some events. They knew they had to get better.

“The year has been going great with this group. I feel like having two sets of freshmen, you have a group of true freshmen that have never competed and you have your sophomore that is another group of freshmen because they didn’t compete in track in 2020. The coaches have done an amazing job to get all of these athletes prepared. We have quite a few freshmen and sophomores on the roster.”

It is the third league title in the last six years for the Rockets.

In the River Division, the Danbury girls finished eighth out of nine teams with 41 points. St. Joseph Central Catholic was first with 106 points, followed by Lakota (103), Gibsonburg (90.5), Old Fort (87), Hopewell-Loudon (81.5), St. Mary CC (67) and Tiffin Calvert (53). New Riegel finished ninth with 25 points.

Shanamarie Richard won the 100 hurdles in 16.45 and was fourth in the 300 hurdles in 51.30. Maria Maringer was first in the 400 in 1:03.32 and teammate Kelly Uhinck was fourth in 1:05.32. Maringer also finished third in the 200 in 27.88.

On the boys side, Danbury finished sixth with 43 points. Hopewell-Loudon won with 166 points, followed by Lakota (136), SMCC (96), Gibsonburg (68), Old Fort (58) and Danbury. New Riegel was seventh with 31 points, good enough to tie Calvert, and SJCC was ninth with 25 points.

Bradley Murray came in third in the 800 in 2:05.56, Daniel Webster was third in the shot put with a throw of 42-04.50 and Alex Frank finished fourth in the 400 with a time of 54.22 and was also fourth in the long jump with a leap of 18-07.75.