Staff photo / Greg Macafee. Brookfield’s Christian Davis and Aiden Jones compete in the 100-meter dash.

CRESTON — There’s something special about being the fastest man at regionals, it’s even better when you have a teammate alongside you to push you to greater heights.

Brookfield’s Aiden Jones captured the 100-meter title Friday night at the Division III Region 9 meet at Norwayne High School in Creston.

The junior speedster, who displayed his quickness all season long on the football field, tallied an 11.46 clocking to capture the event by the narrowest of margins. Independence’s Matt Wisniewski clocked an 11.48 and Jones’ teammate, Christian Davis, recorded an 11.57 for a third-place finish.

“It feels good but I feel like I had it from the beginning,” Jones said. “I was warming up for like an hour. I was putting the work in, so I deserve it.”

Jones has had success all season long in sprinting events and was the top qualifier after winning the preliminaries Wednesday. So heading into the finals, Jones said he knew what he had to do.

“Coming into tonight it was like ‘eh’ but I have raced a couple of these kids before,” Jones said. “Like Christian is my competition, (Oberlin’s) Evan (Hudson) is my competition. So I knew who I had to beat, and I knew what I had to do to get it done.”

The Warriors, who finished third in the boys team standings with 39 points behind McDonald and Lowellville, showcased their speed all night long. A dropped baton ousted them from the 4×100 relay — an event in which they had the second-best qualifying time — but Jones earned a second-place finish in the 200-meter dash and Davis placed second in the 400.

Having that type of speed on a team only helps the Warriors raise their level when it comes to competing at big meets like regionals.

“We really just depend on each other at practice to push each other,” Jones said of having Davis as a teammate. “I don’t work if he doesn’t work, so the only way to work is to get it done together.”

ANOTHER RECORD SET

Maplewood’s Caleigh Richards considers herself to be competitive, so when a new record is in sight, Richards guns for it.

The talented junior runner broke one of her own records Friday night, one she set two years ago in the 3200. With a time of 10:52.71, Richards snapped that record by just over two seconds and won the event by over four.

“I’m always trying to beat my records and run the best I can, but I wasn’t sure how it was going to go after running a PR in the 1600 so I was just trying to go out there, see how I felt, just try to give it my all and see what happens,” Richards said.

Richards held court at the front of the pack for much of the race, settling into a rhythm with McDonald’s Megan Hipple and Rittman’s Pyper Gibson. But around the sixth lap of the race, Richards started to pull away. Heartland Christian freshman Rebecca Geiss was the closest finisher with Smithville’s Kaitlyn Carr coming third. Hipple finished fourth with a time of 11:01.79

“I was just trying to give it everything I had on those last few laps and see what happens,” Richards said. “I knew at some point I was going to have to make a move, so I went for it there and I guess it worked.”

Richards also set a personal record in the 1600 but came in third behind Hipple and Norwayne’s Jaylee Wingate, who recorded a new regional record with a time of 4:51.42. Richards came in at 4:56.45 while Hipple tallied a 4:55.99.

HARD WORK PAYS OFF

LaBrae’s David Blackmon has been improving in the 110 hurdles all season long and all of his work has paid off.

The long and lengthy junior captured the regional title in the 110 hurdles with a 15.22 clocking, after entering the finals as the top qualifier.

“I’ve really had consistent improvement, especially with districts and regionals right now,” Blackmon said. “My times have been getting way better from where they were at the beginning of the year and my form has also improved as well.”

Those improvements this season came from Blackmon working on his form and speed between the hurdles. He said it came down to measuring out his steps in between each jump and leaning forward, extending his lead leg out, and fixing his trail leg over the hurdle.

Blackmon clocked a 15.28 Wednesday, which was .11 seconds ahead of Lowellville’s Michael Ballone, but he knew that he couldn’t put too much thought into where he was seeded.

“I wasn’t going to let that get to me because you never know what someone else can do,” Blackmon said.

LIVING UP TO A LEGACY

Maplewood has a storied past when it comes to running and the current Rockets that are currently coming through the program are just trying to live up to it.

They are doing a pretty good job.

The 4×800 boys relay team of Alex and Andrew Donaldson, along with Brandon Calderwood and Bryson Himes captured the regional title on Wednesday as they seek their ultimate goal of winning a state title in the event.

“It feels great to get that, the 4×800 is the ultimate goal,” Alex Donaldson said.

The Rockets missed out on a trip to states last year in the event and are motivated come this season as they look to leave their own mark on the program.

BACK TO STATES

Mineral Ridge sophomore Ava Hulett has been to states before, and she’s glad to be going back, especially with a regional title in her pocket.

With a time of 15.92 seconds, Hulett won the 100-meter hurdles by .07 seconds, just ahead of Loudonville’s Corri Vermilya.

“I’ve been working really hard for this,” Hulett said. “I made it to states last year so I had the motivation to make it again.”

Hulett thrived in chaos on her way to victory as well. During the event, multiple girls started going down around her after missed hurdles and while it could’ve drawn her attention, Hulett stayed focused on the task at hand.

“I was right next to the girl who went down first and when I saw her I felt really bad for her because she was right next to me but I just had to keep pushing because I only had a few hurdles left,” Hulett said.

gmacafe@tribtoday.com