GRANVILLE – Chloe Goulter felt a sense of relief after winning the 200-meter dash at the Division III district meet on Saturday, May 22, at Granville.
The Centerburg junior, who false-started in the 100-meter dash and was disqualified on May 18, was able to put that behind her and come through in the 200, winning the event with a time of 26.29 seconds. Earlier in the week, she also qualified for the upcoming regional in the long jump.
“Coming in and winning the 200 really adds some confidence,” Goulter said. “I was pretty upset (after the 100) but I told myself, ‘It’s okay. You’ve got the 200 and you can go far in that.’ So I just tried to clear my mind."
The top four in each event in each district qualified for next week’s regional meet at Chillicothe Southeastern. In Division III, there was only one district for boys and two for girls.
Junior Avery Tucker of Centerburg placed second in the 400-meter (1:01.71) and gets a regional berth; and so will teammate Alex Hayden (10:01.51), who was fourth in the 3,200-meter. Abigail Dickhof (2:25.13) placed fourth in a very competitive 800-meter group and will also represent the Trojans at regionals.
“I wanted to hang with the first group and see what I had,” Dickhof said. “So that’s what I tried to do. In the last 300, you just try to pull away.”
As a team, the Centerburg boys finished fifth (with 41 points) out of 19 teams that scored, behind winner Grandview Heights (118.5). The girls team was eighth (32.5) out of 15 scoring teams in District 1, behind winner Fairbanks (117).
Also in District 1 girls, East Knox (57) was sixth and Danville (11) was 12th. In boys competition, Fredericktown (32) finished eighth, East Knox (28) was 10th and Danville (2) was 19th.
Also turning in a first-place performance on Saturday was Fredericktown’s Thomas Caputo. The cross-country state champion easily won the boys 3,200. His time of 9:43.33 was the only one to break 10 minutes. He also qualified for regionals in the 4x800, which was run on May 19, along with teammates Xavier Platt, Owen Krabill and Titus Krabill.
In his 3,200 performance, Caputo ran as though he was gliding.
“I just got into a good groove as early as I could,” he said. “I didn’t have to worry about the race or get too technical. I was just able to get away from everybody and go into my normal zone.”
Even temperatures, which had risen into the upper 80s by the time the 3,200 was run, didn’t seem to bother Caputo.
“It is a little bit of a shell shock, but you’ve got to roll with it,” he said. “It’s the same for everybody.”
East Knox senior Emily Opfer qualified for regionals in three events. She finished fourth in the 300-hurdles (49.58) and took second (53.59) in the 4x100 relay along with team members Madison Annett, Haleigh Landis and Alexandria Magers.
Opfer, Magers and Landis teamed up with Kaya Salyers to finish fourth in the 4x400 at 4:27.11. While it was great to make it in the 300-hurdles, Opfer said being part of a pair of relay teams is more fun.
“We’re in,” Opfer said after her 4x400 run. “Definitely more fun, and it’s something we’ve been working toward. We’ve all gotten better. Our splits were all better that time. It was fun to see the improvement.”
Taylor Severt of East Knox was third in both the 1,600 and 3,200. The freshman clocked times of 5:32.3 and 12.35.1, respectively. After qualifying in the 3,200 meters, Severt couldn’t wait to rip the running shoes off her feet.
“My feet were on fire, but I just tried — very hard — not to focus on any of that,” she said. “Just me, myself and the track. I tried to push myself and I feel like I’m getting better.”
Dillon Moreland (2:01.14) was second in the 800 for East Knox on Saturday. He was also part of the second-place 4x800 team (8:16.64) on Wednesday with teammates Nate Streby, Scott Bates and Samuel Whitney. For Moreland, success was a long time coming.
“It’s awesome,” Moreland said. “It’s really a dream come true. As a freshman, I was fifth in the mile, and then last year there was no season. It’s so much different this year. I feel stronger as a person.”
For Danville, Alenah Boeshart (13.30) took third in the 100 meters to qualify for regional.
