The weather cooperated on Friday night as the Graham Invitational was held in St. Paris, with several area teams involved. Tecumseh, Greenon and Northwestern all had athletes challenge for not only first place finishes, but also meet records.
In the girls race, Tecumseh placed third overall with 80 points, with Northwestern sixth and Greenon seventh. For the boys, Northwestern was fifth scoring 57.5 points, Tecumseh seventh and Greenon 15th overall.
In the girls’ race, Greenon senior Rachel Stute placed fourth overall in the 100 dash with a time of 13.30, while Tecumseh sophomore Jasmine Hassell was one spot back with a time of 13.35. Also earning points for the Arrows was Kiya Dennis, as the freshman placed seventh.
Stute tied a meet record in the 200, as the Knights runner finished in 26.50 which tied the previous record set in 2005. Unfortunately for her, Jamari McDavid from Kenton Ridge broke the record with a 25.64 earning the 200 title, and Stute placed second. Dennis placed fifth for the Arrows, and Hassell sixth.
Not to be outdone, Stute bounced back and captured the 400 meter dash title with a 59.49, this time setting the new meet record by .21 seconds. Northwestern sophomore Jhanelle Powell placed seventh and Allison Berner (Tecumseh) eighth, both earning points for their teams.
In the 800, Brooke Hoffman placed second overall for Tecumseh with a 2:32.86, while Northwestern senior Korynne Berner was fourth (2:33.64). Hoffman came back in the 1600 and captured gold, with a time of 5:42.19 earning the win. Northwestern’s Brooke Smith placed eighth.
Smith returned and finished third overall in the 3200 with a finish of 13:04.53. Tecumseh’s Emma Hoover also placed, as she finished sixth, while just finishing outside of the top eight was Northwestern freshman Abbie Grieser.
Running the 100 hurdles and placing fifth was Tecumseh junior Alina Blunk with a time of 18.14, while Greenon sophomore Montanna Hayslip finished ninth. In the 300 hurdles, the Tecumseh duo of Macy Ricks (third) and Blunk (fourth) both earned points for the Arrows.
Local teams also ran well in the relays, as the Tecumseh 4x1 team placed first overall, with Greenon right behind. In the 4x2, the Arrows placed third, while they also finished fourth in the 4x4. In the 4x8, Northwestern finished fourth with Tecumseh fifth.
In the field events, Northwestern dominated the high jump, as Jenna Davis took first, Korynne Berner placed second, and Kyndall Berner third. Korynne Berner came back and finished fourth in the long jump, with Tecumseh’s Hassell sixth and Greenon sophomore Olivia Hale seventh.
The pole vault saw Tecumseh’s Sydney Maxwell place sixth, while Kari Norton of Greenon was sixth in the shot put and Olivia Lawrence of Northwestern was seventh. In the discus, Northwestern junior Hannah Wildman was seventh and Greenon sophomore Kaprina King placed eighth.
*The boys races also saw some solid performances. In the 800 run, Northwestern junior Ryan Cleland placed fourth with a time of 2:14.25, with Tecumseh’s Trent Studebaker sixth at 2:14.55. Cleland came back in the 1600 run and placed fifth overall with a finish of 5:01.50, while Tecumseh’s Grant Heckman was seventh (5:10.45).
In the 3200 run, Kyle Jamison from Northwestern finished in 10:27.66, which placed him second.
Tecumseh’s Ross Warren ran to a second place finish in the 110 hurdles, just falling short of the winner with a 16.00. Liam Burns from Northwestern was fourth. Warren came back and captured the 300 hurdles title, running 41.83.
Tecumseh finished second overall in the 4x1 relays, with Greenon seventh. The Arrows also placed seventh in the 4x2, and sixth in the 4x4 relays. In the 3200 relays, Northwestern took home the title with an 8:42.39, with Tecumseh fourth.
Landon Burns earned a fifth place finish in the high jump for Northwestern, and in the pole vault, Tecumseh placed two athletes as Simon Herbert finished fifth and DJ Johnson sixth overall.
Northwestern freshman Adam Riedinger won the shot put with a 46’4” mark, while Greenon’s Joseph Vaultier from Greenon placed sixth. Riedinger also came back and finished second in the discus (130’), with teammate Blake Jamison fourth and Greenon’s Ty Rickmon seventh.
