By RYAN WALKER
For the fourth time in a row, the Bluffton Tigers have won the boys Allen County Athletic Conference track meet.
The Tigers blew the seven-team field out of the water, winning seven total events that helped tally a 78-point margin of victory with 175 team points. The Jay County Patriots were the champs on the girls’ side with 122 points, ahead of Woodlan at 116.50 points.
A dominant performance was largely on the shoulders of a strong senior class, who now haven’t not held the trophy at the end of this meet in their four year careers. Head coach Brent Kunkel noted this was the first time in school history that they’ve won four track conference titles in a row.
“I mean, it’s crazy,” Kunkel said after the meet. “That means you have a really good group seniors … When you got a group like that (Tyler Godwin, Andrew Hunt and Johnny Cruz) who have stayed committed over the course of four years and kind of stuck with the program and done it, it’s just a really, really cool thing. To go an entire career and hold one of those up is an incredible accomplishment.”
Alone, Godwin scored 32.5 points for his team, winning the 800m, the 1600m and the 3200m. Efforts like that are exactly why Division I Purdue Fort Wayne recruited him.
Cruz and Hunt have been consistent scorers in both the shot put and hurdles events. Hunt would have been a candidate for the 110m hurdles to earn a top finish, but a false start disqualified him. Regardless, the core of seniors did what they have for the last four years and have put it all together again.
The ACAC meet for the Tigers is the one they mark on the calendar. Kunkel shared that this is their last meet where they try and win it as a team. The sectional and beyond will, of course, be welcomed to win, but that’s the time where he gets the individuals as far as they can.
“We put a lot into this meet,” Kunkel said. “We are always going to view this as our most important meet. The lineup we run tonight, we say this is about team. The lineup we’ll run next Thursday — It’s about individuals. We’ve got some some very, very talented kids who I think can do some great things individually. But the focus will be on ok, I tell them, ‘Hey, now you can be selfish.’”
The Bluffton girls placed sixth and both Southern Wells groups finished seventh, but all three coaches are optimisic about the future of their programs.
Sebastain Baxter, the Tigers’ first year head coach, has been preaching to dream big and build a culture that is successful on and off the track. He noted an all-out team effort, as he has all season, from its freshman and sophomores and the upper classmen leading by example. He believes that a culture shift is iminent.
“The mindset was that we were continuing to build this program, and I said it last time too,” Baxter said. “But the girls — the seniors continue to step up (and) continue to lead and lead by example. We had a lot of (personal records) tonight.”
Bluffton had solid performances all around Friday night, with several events scoring points for the team.
Baxter gave praise for his distance runners and hurdles. Dakota Lee and Sophia Schwartz made the finals and finished fifth and sixth in both the 100m and 300m. Lucia Corkwell and Amarah Robles placed in the 3200m, which he said was a helpful addition to the scoreboard. Robles also competed in the high jump for the first time this season, deciding to give it a try and told Baxter on Tuesday. She ended up in seventh.
Baxter also is encouraged by the returners for next season and some of the middle schoolers, and was bold enough to quote Bluffton’s boys’ tennis coach Bob Vanderkolk from last year’s sectional.
“I think within three years from now, we have an ACAC championship. To quote Bob Vanderkolk (who is predicting a 2024 tennis sectional title) … Not only just the talent, because you need way more than talent. The girls across all ACAC have been incredibly talented last few years. We need way more than talent to win it and we finally had this buy in with the talent and it’s going to take the two to combine.”
For Southern Wells, head coach Gary Paxson was fairly happy with his Raiders.
He said the team was going through a list of injuries, and didn’t have runners like Malaki Capper in the sprints. But four of the girls competed along with some of the boys with those injuries.
“I think we’re on our third or fourth quad injury,” Paxson said. “All four of those girls participated tonight and they gave me everything they got. And I can’t ask for any more than that. The boys, we’re missing a pretty vital part of our team tonight, but we had kids stepped up.”
Some of the team’s highlights for the night were Peyton Ellis and Kane Jenkins to help with Capper’s absence. They placed in both hurdles events and in the relays. Peyton Long and Ashlie Needler were the top finisher for the Raiders, placing fourth in the discus and shot put.
As a team, Southern Wells had personal bests all across the board, even through the injuries, according to Paxson.
It shows the toughness of the group, who has a number of young athletes on its roster and are setting the foundation for a strong middle school class coming in.
“That tells me that they’re not going to quit … (their younger athletes) are all over the place as well,” Paxson said. “We’ve got younger kids all over the place, but you look at them, and they’re performing at junior-senior levels, some of them. And again, that’s that’s the just like the toughness of those younger kids have.”
Southern Wells’ senior night is next week at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 7 against Whitko.
Bluffton will host Norwell and Eastbrook at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 7.
ryan@news-banner.com
Individual results:
Boys
Bluffton
• The 4x800m relay team of Jude Baumgartner, Ayden Teeple, Levi Johns and Tyler Godwin first with a time of 8:30.76.
• Jude Baumgartner second in the 200m with a time of 23.84. Isaiah San Juan sixth at 24.60.
• Eli Bertsch second in the 110m hurdles with a time of 16.37. Andrew Hunt false start.
• Alex Machling seventh in the 100m with a time of 11.83 and 11.90.
• Trey Bustos second in the long jump at 20-0.50 and Maksym Laishevkin fourth at 19-9.
• Tavin Frees second in the discus at 137-6 and Drayvin Shoemaker sixth at 113-4.
• Tyler Godwin first in the mile with a time of 4:44.17.
• The 4x100m relay team of Alex Mechling, Ben Ramseyer, Trey Bustos and Khamel Moore first with a time of 45.13.
• Baumgartner first in the 400m with a time of 50.84 and Maksym Laishevkin third at 54.27.
• Hunt second in the 300m hurdles with a time of 42.73 and Bertsch fourth a 44.76.
• Godwin first in the 800m with a time of 2:00.73 and Ayden Teeple fifth at 2:09.82.
• Baumgartner second in the 200m with a time of 23.53 and Isaiah San Juan ifth at 24.29.
• Godwin first in the 3200m with a time of 10:15.28 and Levi Johns second at 10:18.27.
• The 4x400m relay team of Elijah Kerner, Maksym Laishevkin, Andrew Hunt and Jude Baumgartner first with a time of 3:33.86.
Southern Wells
• Kane Jenkins fourth in the 110m hurdles with a time of 16.96 and Peyton Ellis seventh at 17.64.
• Peyton Long eighth in the discus at 110-2.
• The 4x100m relay team of Caleb Gates, Peyton Ellis, Kane Jenkins and Aiden Carroll seventh with a time of 53.65.
• Jenkins sixth in the 300m hurdles with a time of 45.33 and Ellis seventh at 4.77.
• Joshua Bricker seventh in the 3200m with a time of 10:49.29.
Girls
Bluffton
• Maryn Schreiber sixth in the 200m with a time of 28.80 and Olivia Schreiber seventh at 28.88.
• Dakota Lee fifth in the 100m hurdles with a time of 17.23 and Sophie Schwartz sixth at 17.37.
• Alexandria Koby eighth in the shot put at 30-1.50.
• Rylynn Penick sixth in the 100m with a time of 13.70.
• Madelyn Funk seventh in the long jump at 14-7.
• The 4x100m relay team of Haley Gibson, Rylynn Penick, Olivia Schreiber and Dakota Lee fifth with a time of 54.25.
• Maryn Schreiber second in the 400m with a time of 1:03.73.
• Lee fifth in the 300m hurdles with a time of 51.98 and Schwartz sixth at 52.20.
• Addison Yates sixth in the 800m with a time of 2:41.31.
• Olivia Schreiber sixth in the 200m with a time of 29.25 and Maryn Schreiber eighth at 29.77.
• Lucia Corkwell seventh in the 3200m with a time of 14:53.55 and Amarah Robles eighth at 14:53.72.
• The 4x400m relay team of Madelyn Funk, Addison Yates, Maryn Schreiber and Dakota Lee sixth with a time of 4:41.37.
Southern Wells
• Ashlie Needler fourth in the shot put at 31-9.50.
• The 4x100m relay team of Tessa Maul, Sydney Alstoft, Kinley Allred and Jayda Brown seventh with a time of 57.78.
• The 4x400m relay team of Makyla Pryor, Reagan Needler, Adeline Sabinske and Dannicka Sorenson seventh with a time of 5:05.09.
• The 4x400m relay team of Peyton Ellis, Miles Garrett, Kelton Barr and Aiden Carroll seventh with a time of 4:01.89.
Team Scores
Boys
1. Bluffton (175 points), 2. Heritage (97), 3. South Adams (92), 4. Jay County (90.50), 5. Woodlan (74.50), 6. Adams Central (31), 7. Southern Wells (21).
Girls
1. Jay County (122 points), 2. Woodlan (116.50), T3. Heritage (108), T3. South Adams (108), 5. Adams Central (63), 6. Bluffton (54), 7. Southern Wells (10.50).
