Big performances all around

COLDWATER - Area track and field fans know Robby LeFevre can sprint.

It turns out he can hurdle as well.  

The Fort Recovery senior defended his 100- and 200-meter dash titles, ran the winning leg in the 4x100 relay and also took first in the 300 hurdles at the Mercer County Knights of Columbus Meet on Thursday.

LeFevre contributed 40 of the Indians 113 points in the high school boys' standings, but Marion Local had a strong second day to maintain its lead and win the team title with 140 points. Celina was third with 91 points with Coldwater (77), Parkway (56) and St. Henry (46) rounding out the field.

Day 2 was bountiful for the Coldwater girls as they overtook Marion Local and cruised to the team title with 159 points with the Flyers (113) second, Celina (87 1/2) third, Fort Recovery (82 1/2) fourth, Parkway (49) fifth and St. Henry (30) sixth.

LeFevre started his day with a win in the 100 dash in 11.39 seconds and then took a break to watch his teammates win the 4x200 relay. After the 1,600 runs, LeFevre, Riley Pearson, Jared Timmerman and Riley Hiser took the 4x100 in 45.38 seconds.

Next up was the 300 hurdles, where LeFevre won by nearly two seconds over runner-up Tyler Schwieterman of Coldwater. After the 800 races, LeFevre wrapped up his day with a win in the 200, coming within 2/10 of a second of his meet record.

"This is a great lead-in to the MAC," said the Fordham-bound LeFevre. "Really strong field this year.

"The 300 hurdles into the 200 is hard to do. It pushes you for sure. I thought I could do it at MAC once so I tried. It's actually more fun than it looks."

Drew Muhlenkamp won the 400 and Pearson captured the 110 hurdles title.

Marion Local did much of its damage by getting multiple places in events. Charlie Huelsman won the 800 for the Flyers and they also won the 4x400 relay to sew up their victory. Nick Tangeman added the Flyers' other Thursday win by outdistancing Timmerman in the long jump by just under three inches.

Celina added wins from Ethan Ly in the 3,200 and Drake Langenkamp took first place the discus. Parkway's Matt Gaerke won the 1,600.

The Coldwater girls did their damage with a mix of distance and field events. Freshman Haley Alig dueled with Fort Recovery's Chloe Will to win the 1,600 by just over three seconds. In the 3,200, the two were close through the first seven laps before Alig kicked it into overdrive and took the victory over Will by nearly 15 seconds. The Cavalier 4x400 also was victorious on the track.

In field events, Cavalier Jessica Break won the pole vault with ease in topping out at 12 feet with St. Henry's Jessica Langenkamp a distant second at 10-6. Break tried to break the meet record of 12-4 held by Celina's Bekah Carr but could not top out at 12-6. Katie Alig added the other Cavalier win in taking the shot put.

Parkway's Rachel Barrett scored a hat trick in sweeping the 100, 200 and 400 dashes. Marion Local swept the hurdles with Aubrey Thobe winning the 100 and Sam Hoelscher taking the 400.

Fort Recovery's Kierra Wendel took first place in the 800 while Celina's Olivia Rider won the high jump.

In the middle school divisions, St. Henry captured the girls' title with Marion Local cruising to a big win in the boys.

The lone record-breaking performance took place in the middle school event. Morgan Hunter of Parkway set a new 100 dash record with a time of 13.22 seconds. Hunter also added a win in the 200 dash.

Coldwater's Jenna Leugers swept the 100 and 200 hurdles and cruised to victory in the pole vault. Fort Recovery's Natalie Brunswick swept the distance events for middle school with wins in the 800 and 1,600.

On the middle school boys' side, Marion Local's Drew Seitz took the sprint treble with the 100, 200 and 400 dash victories. Teammate Owen Rindler swept the hurdle events.

Scholarship winners: Senior athletes earning $100 book scholarships from the county Knights of Columbus councils were Isaac Connolly (Celina), Ryan Leugers (Coldwater), Chloe Will (Fort Recovery), Aubrey Thobe (Marion Local), Lance Weirrick (Parkway) and Matthew Rindler (St. Henry).