CHILLICOTHE — Marcus Whaley claimed a regional championship Saturday to headline a group of twelve local athletes who punched their ticket to next week’s state track and field championships.
Whaley, a senior at Westfall, completed the 300-meter hurdles in 39.75 seconds, a half second faster than Lisbon Beaver’s Zane Kinsey (40.27).
Whaley advances to Friday’s state prelims where he’ll square off against the best in the state at 5 p.m. at Pickerington High School North.
Circleville’s Cole Pinkerton earned two spots in the state meet. The senior finished fourth in the 1,600 meters with a time of 4:47.66 and took third in the 3,200 meters with a time of 9:41.31.
He’ll be competing Saturday at Pickerington with the 1,600 meters slated to begin at 2:40 p.m. and the 3,200 meters set to start about 4 p.m.
Logan Elm’s boys and Circleville’s girls each advanced their 1,600-meter relay squads.
The LE group of Cole Westenbarger, Brock Evans, Jude Braun and Brady Wilson took third in the relay on Saturday with a time of 3:33.70. Warren won the event in 3:32.30.
Circleville was fourth in the girls’ event with the group of Addison Lowe, Morgan Blakeman, Ellie Patrick and Lily Winter finishing in 4:14.35. Tuscarawas Valley won the race in 4:09.79.
The relay teams will compete in Friday’s preliminary races at Pickerington with Circleville going at 5:30 and Logan Elm at 5:40.
Westfall’s Peyton Proffitt earned her spot in the state meet in the pole vault.
The junior came out on top for the final spot from a group of four girls who had cleared 10’ 6” as she had no misses on her earlier three heights cleared while the others, including Logan Elm’s Tayla Tootle (5th) and Ally Cotton (7th) had at least one.
Proffitt will compete for the state title Saturday at Pickerington beginning at 10 a.m.
She’ll be joined by Tootle, who learned that she claimed an at-large spot by finishing fifth at 10′ 6” feet.
This group joins three other area athletes at the state meet who qualified earlier in the week.
Westfall junior Tyler Shipley and Circleville sophomore Zach Buitendorp will compete in the pole vault while Logan Elm’s Annie Karshner will compete in the shot put. Their events begin at 10 a.m. Friday.
