Balanced effort gives Orrville boys title at McCay Relays
Members of the Orrville boys track team pose with the championship trophy after winning the 68th McCay Relays on April 6.
Early season wins are, well, just that.
But for Orrville’s boys track team, taking the team title at the early-season McCay Relays in Smithville on April 6 means a little bit more.
For a program that saw the graduation of All-Ohioan Calvin Speicher and regional-qualifying athletes in Ben Crabtree and Josh Rittgers, the Red Riders are leaning on a number of athletes to step into bigger roles this spring.
Orrville got that effort in the form of a win at Smithville, where it compiled 90 1/2 points to hold off Norwayne (82) on the strength of three event wins — the shuttle hurdles, pole vault and 4x4 relay — to win its first McCay championship since 2014.
“With a new team like this, after losing guys like Calvin and Ben, we felt a little down,” said sophomore Caden Race, who had a hand in two of those event victories. “Now with a win like this, it doesn’t feel like we lost that much, and we can still dominate like we did (last season).”
The Red Riders, second in the Principals Athletic Conference and winners of the Orrville Division II District a year ago, took a comfortable lead midway through the meet with the 4x4 group of Race, Tyler Stoffer, Daniel Comito and Matthew Smotherman racing to a first-place finish in 3:44.09, followed by the shuttle hurdles taking victory by 0.29 seconds over Norwayne with the team of Trent Roe, Gavin Belding, Bronson Rogers and Landon Dalessandro.
Race opened the day for the Riders by clearing a meet-best 12-foot-6 in the pole vault, combining with teammate Noah Andrew (11-0) for the win. It was the second 12-6 mark of the young season for Race, who cleared the height in a dual-meet with Triway earlier in the week.
But it was a balanced effort as five events brought home second-place finishes and another grabbed third. Junior thrower Talon Beichler, an All-Ohioan in 2023, was second individually in both the shot put (54-8 1/2) and discus (154-0) while Roe was second in the long jump (19-1).
“It’s early, but it was a total team effort,” Orrville coach Tyrone Mosley said, “from the distance runners scoring all those points to the throwers getting second behind a strong Norwayne team, all the way to the sprinters. We had no mental mistakes, no false starts, dropped handoffs. They were mentally prepared to go, and they took care of business.”
Dalton’s boys were fourth as a team, paced by a win in the 4x2 and second-place finish in the 4x4, along with Carson Steiner having the second-best mark in the pole vault (12-0). That 4x2 unit of Sammy Tomlinson, Colin Pearson, Hayden Cecil and Kanoa Hevia clocked a 1:33.75.
Smithville’s distance medley placed third overall as the team was seventh overall.
On the girls side, the Smithies won four times and took down a meet record in the process as it was third with 72 points. Orrville was right behind in fourth (64), followed by Dalton in ninth (23).
The distance medley group of Maryn Erdman, Cadence Amstutz, Hayden Steiner and Kaitlyn Carr combined to register an 11:45.92 to not only win by well over a full minute, but also take down an 11-year-old meet record of 11:50.84, set back in 2003 by Norwayne.
It was the first of two victories for the distance harries, who also were first in the 4x1,600 with Carr, Erdman, Maggie Wenger and Hailey Thut clocking a 24:10.68.
For Carr, an All-Ohio individual distance runner, the wins in early-season meets like this mean a lot.
“I love relay meets and just being able to run with the girls,” the sophomore said. “It’s great having the team part of the competition too and being able to share great moments with them.”
Smithville also had success in the sprint events, winning the 4x2 with Maddy Lengacher, Leah Keib, Faith Lengacher and Claire Hass, along with the sprint medley unit of Maddy Lengacher, Grace Frank, Haas and Erdman. The Smithies also picked up points with a runner-up finish in the 4x4.
Orrville had a second place in the shuttle hurdles with Catrina Race, Trista Sprowls, Annie McAllister and Cadence Wilson; a third in the 4x4; and a runner-up in the 4x1 with Courtney Weaver, Grace Dorffer, Jara Zoldak and Macy Seeman.
Catrina Race and Chloe Albrecht also tied for the top mark in the pole vault, clearing 9-foot.