May 20, 1999

Columbian takes lead in district track

By Ed Fox
Sports Writer

FOSTORIA -- Columbian boys picked up right where they left off last weekend with the winning of the Northern Ohio League championship.

The Tornadoes jumped out of the gate with 26 points to take the lead after the first day of the Division I District at Fostoria Stadium Wednesday, qualifying a pair of individuals and a relay team to the Amherst Regional next week.

"Winning the team title would be nice, but it's more important for us to qualify as many individuals as possible to the regional," said a surprised Columbian head coach Brian Jakupca when advised his team was leading the standings. "Our strong kids really responded well and we got six kids out in three events."

The Tornadoes continued their mastery of the 4 x 800 relay as the team of Dan Moyer, Aaron Post, Drew Hanley and Justin Lynch claimed honors in 8:03.8, well ahead of runner-up Sandusky (8:11.4).

Senior Wayne LeGrant was involved in a three-way battle with Reggie Jones of Fremont Ross and Levi Papst of Mansfield Madison and took runner-up honors in the long jump with a leap of 22-2.

Dan Picciuto was also involved in a tight battle in the pole vault and finished third at 12-9, trailing only Ryan Weingartner of Lexington (13-0) and Joel Peugeot of Sandusky (13-3).

Todd Focht also took fifth in the long jump with 20-6 1/2.

Although the Columbian girls failed to qualify anyone to the regional, they were close in two of the three events held at the meet which will resume at 4:30 p.m., Friday.

Kati Fraley was fifth in the discus with a throw of 105-3 and the 4 x 800 relay team of Kathy Scott, Jeni Waldock, Chrissy Moyer and Abby Miller finished sixth in 10:02.

Only the top four finishers in each event qualified for the regional.

"Fraley was less than a foot from qualifying for the regional and she's been very consistent all season," said Columbian girls coach Amy Cooper. "The 4 x 800 relay looked great and they had a PR (personal record) by eight seconds from last Saturday at the NOL."

Moyer led off the Columbian boys 4 x 800 relay with a 2:01.9 split with the middle two runners breaking the two-minute barrier with Post at 1:59.8 and Hanley at 1:58.3. Lynch closed it out with 2:03.5 and was not pushed.

"I was boxed in that first lap," said Moyer. "I felt more comfortable on the second lap and am satisfied with my split."

Bowling Green had a slight lead over the Tornadoes when Post took the baton and he assumed the lead before handing off to Hanley.

"The coach likes us to go out fast that first lap and I ran it in 57 seconds," said Post. "I really sucked it up that second lap and we wanted to break eight minutes."

Hanley was able to expand on the lead over the next half mile.

"I felt I ran a good split," said Hanley. "It was nice to have the lead and I just wanted to build on it."

Lynch brought it home for the Tornadoes, who have a season-best of 8:01.1.

"We were really looking to crack eight minutes," said Lynch. "We're as healthy right now as we've been all season and we wanted to show St. Ignatius we were capable to going under eight."

The Tornadoes have been working with different combinations throughout much of the season and the order of the relay has been changed on many occasions including Wednesday.

"They've only been beaten once all year and that wasn't this group," said Jakupca. "We've changed the order of runners almost every meet this season, but we did the same thing in 1992 when we set the school record. We just try to find out which kid runs better and we've got the luxury of having five or six excellent half-milers."

The Tornadoes are pointing to the 7:50.48 which came with a runner-up finish at the state meet. That team was comprised of Shannon Yocom, Dan Koerper, Matt Reedy and Alan Boos.

LeGrant, who was ninth in the state long jump last year, faced an intense battle with Jones and Papst during the finals. Papst led after prelims with a jump of 21-6 3/4 with LeGrant second at 21-6. Jones took the lead briefly in the finals at 21-10 3/4, but LeGrant followed with a 22-1 on his second jump to assume the lead. It was only for a brief time as Jones went 22-3 1/4 on his final attempt and LeGrant came up just short with 22-2. The best Papst could do was 22-0 1/2.

"I only went 21-8 last year at the district so I'm ahead of last year's pace," said LeGrant. "I had been fouling quite a bit and the coaches told me to go with 10 strides instead of nine and it really worked. I was pretty busy today with the hurdle races and the 4 x100 relay and it was really a workout for me."

Marcia Focht works with the Columbian long jumpers and was ecstatic over the effort of LeGrant and her son Todd.

"We felt that changing the number of strides would give him more speed to the board," said Focht. "He is ahead of last year's pace. He didn't go over 22 feet until going 22-4 1/4 at the regional and that earned him fourth place. He and Todd have both been very consistent all year. Todd was in the hunt for a regional berth until the end and wasn't far off his season best of 20-9."

Picciuto has a season-best of 13-0 in the pole vault and the talented sophomore was just shy of reaching that while advancing on to the regional.

The Tornadoes also qualified several individuals to Friday's finals including LeGrant in the 110 high hurdles (15.6) and 300 intermediate hurdles (40.9), Nate Nahm in the 400 (52.2), Hanley (2:02.9) and Eric Hall (2:03.8) in the 800 and the team of Hanley, Post, Lynch and Nahm in the 4 x 400 relay (3:33.7).

Fraley just missed the final qualifying spot in the girls discus by 10 inches. She had a best of 102-9 during prelims and was consistent in the finals with throws of 96-11, 105-3 and 105-3.

The Tornadoes were in a battle with Bowling Green and Ashland for the final qualifying spot in the 4 x 800 relay. Scott led off with a 2:28 split, followed by Waldock at 2:32, Moyer at 2:31 and Miller at 2:28.

Columbian had several qualifiers to Friday's finals including Gosche in the 100 (13.6) and 200 (28.3), Karen Lonsway in the 100 (13.6), Jenny Ziegler in the 100 hurdles (16.7), Erin Moore in the 100 hurdles (17.4), Abby Miller in the 800 (2:30.2) and the team of Waldock, Jenny Roe, Miller and Scott in the 4 x 400 relay (4:16.9).

"We had a lot of PRs today including a two-second drop in the 4 x 400 relay. We had some girls who didn't qualify for the finals like Waldock with a PR in the 300 hurdles at 49.9 and our 4 x 100 relay team of Gosche, Lonsway, Stacy Lang and Ziegler with a PR of 53.0.

Sandusky is second to the Columbian boys with 18 points while Defiance has 16 1/2, Fremont Ross 16 and Ashland with 14. Bowling Green girls lead with 26 points with Findlay second at 14, Ashland and Defiance tied for third with 12 and Elida with 11. Columbian is eighth with three points.