HILLIARD – Bryce Wiles wanted his senior year to be special, so he decided to to join the Mount Vernon track and field team.
It all came to fruition for Wiles as a he qualified for regional in two events at the Division I district meet on Saturday, May 22, at Hilliard Darby.
“It’s new,” said Wiles, who has been a standout on the Mount Vernon boys soccer team. “I’m not used to running just to run. I’m usually running after a ball or something.
“I didn’t really plan on doing track this year. Why not just go for it ... It’s something to do.”
Wiles finished second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.24 seconds and teamed with Dylan Dowell, Ethan Young and Damion Blubaugh to finish third in the 4x200-meter relay (1:30.96), which broke a school record.
“I thought I’d be kind of fast, but I didn’t think I’d be the top of the team — especially in my first year,” Wiles said. “I didn’t think I’d make it to regionals.”
“He looks like an athlete,” Mount Vernon coach Kathy Thayer said. “So you know you can get something out of him. It’s, what is his mental state and work ethic (that is the question). So he’s proved to be a leader on the team. That effort and that work ethic has paid off for him.”
The top four of each of the three districts in each event qualify for next week’s regional meet at Pickerington North.
Wiles narrowly missed out on qualifying in a third event — the 100-meter — finishing fifth (11.14), behind Groveport’s Kahari Davis (11.08).
“He would have exceled last year as his first year,” Thayer said. “Just the work ethic of lifting in the offseason helped him come out and be stronger. That strength helped him accelerate his speed development.”
Having already qualified for regional in the high jump and long jump, Erich Rhodeback added a district title in the 300-meter hurdles (37.71) along with a second-place finish in the 110-hurdles (14.08), which broke a school record.
Overall, the Mount Vernon boys team finished sixth out of 15 scoring teams with 53 points in District 2, behind winner Pickerington North (121). The girls team was 13th out of 13 scoring teams with 4 points, behind Marysville (35) in District 3.
“We broke three school records and we advanced in six events, so that’s a huge accomplishment for the boys,” Thayer said. “We’re just so young (on the girls team). Most of our team that came were freshmen and sophomores and then some juniors. They did exceptionally well. We had so many PRs on prelim day. It gave them a lot of sense of accomplishment for next season.”
Rhodeback had a big breakthrough with confidence in the 110 hurdles, finishing behind Pickerington North’s Zemen Siyom (13.9), who is ranked No. 1 in the state.
“It was more my confidence than anything, and that kind of shocked me,” Rhodeback said. “Now I know that I can do it.”
“For him to be able to qualify for regional in four events is amazing,” Thayer said. “We try to take the pressure off of the field events and say that this is extra. This is icing on the cake. Just trying to take that approach has lightened the stress that he’s had.”
The Jackets 4x100 team of Blubaugh, Jesse Foster, Jack Craigo and Wiles broke the school record with a time of 44.24 earlier this week.
