• Sports

Knight boys capture championship at own invite; girls 3rd

• By Dave Mast
• April 13, 2022
• 1074

There’s nothing like the joy of winning your own invitational. Too bad West Holmes head coach Matt Torgler couldn’t enjoy the experience.

The Knights boys team grabbed the title at the West Holmes Knights Invitational on Saturday, April 9 at West Holmes Stadium, but while that was happening and the Lady Knights were churning their way to a solid third-place finish, the first-year head coach was finding out how much of a headache it is to make sure everything is running smoothly at an event this size.

“Watching our athletes right now is kind of secondary to making sure everything runs and all of the kids, coaches and workers are happy,” Torgler said. “Winning at the end of the day is awesome, but there is just so much work that goes into this kind of event. The fact that our kids can go to an event this size and perform this well without a lot of coaching supervision says a lot about them.”

The scoring on the boys side began with field events star Brock Zimmerly, who racked up the MVP for the most points scored in field events with 18 points.

There were plenty of other stars on the day for the Knights. Sam Williams-Dixon darted to victory in the 100 meters in 11.62. Zeke Galbraith rode the shoulder of the leader much of the way in the 1600 meters before making a move late and rolling to victory in 4:42.69. He then turned around later in the 3200 meters and claimed second with a run of 10:09.88. In the 110-meter hurdles, Kyle Maltarich claimed third in 18.14, and in the 300-meter hurdles, Quinn Cornwell took sixth in 47.09.

In the relays, the 4-by-100 of Sawyer Pritt, Maltarich, Zander Shultz and Williams-Dixon took second in 47.12. The 4-by-200 team of Pritt, Elijah Williams-Dixon, Grant Miller and Shultz landed in third in 1:40.69, and the 4-by-400 crew of Macin Miller, Reid Chaney, Braydyn Lemon and Galbraith placed fifth in 4:02.16.

In field events, the high jump title belonged to Shultz, who cleared 6-2, while Maltarich took second at 6-0. In the long jump, Pritt went 19-03 to take second, and in the shot Zimmerly ended up second at 44-09. Teammate Grant Miller placed fourth at 40-02.25.

Zimmerly fired off a throw of 131-11 in the discus to earn that crown, with Miller taking second with a throw of 127-04.

The Lady Knights were led by Jasmine Giauque, who won the 200 meters in 27.54 and placed second in the 100 meters in 13.73, getting nipped at the end in a photo finish. Noelle Smith took sixth in the 800 meters in 2:45.62. Lexy Starner placed sixth in both the 1600 and 3200 meters in respective times of 5:49.92 and 12:36. Brenna Myers placed seventh in the 3200 meters in 13:21.53. In the 100-meter hurdles, Lady Knights Daphne Alexander and Cierra Miller went fifth and seventh in times of 18.23 and 19.39. Miller also collected a seventh in the 300-meter hurdles in 56.68.

In relay action, the 4-by-100 team of Brylie Rickly, Zoee Snow, Jozlynn Giauque and Zaylie Shultz placed seventh in 57.94. The 4-by-200 team of Laney Duff, Casey Ogi, Rickly and Alexander earned a fifth in 2:03.73. The 4-by-400 crew of Giauque, Duff, Rick and Smith ended up eighth in 5:08.27, and the 4-by-800 quartet of Smith, Carolyn Miller, Taelor Patterson and Olivia Sampsel earned seventh in 12:21.64.

In the field events, Duff soared to third in the high jump with an effort of 5-00, with Alexander taking fifth at 4-10. Amy Hughes finished second in the shot with a heave of 35-01.25 and was seventh in the discus at 92-04. Zoe Norris took fifth in the shot with a throw of 31-09.75, and Shultz finished sixth in the discus with a throw of 95-00.

“I’m very pleased with how our kids have responded early in the season,” Torgler said. “They competed, they’ve cheered on each other, and that makes me happy.”

As for the weather, which turned at various times from sunny to sleet, rain and snow, sometimes several of those at the same time, Torgler said his athletes were more than ready to push that element aside and focus on the feat at hand.

“The practice conditions we have had have been very similar to this,” Torgler said. “The only difference between our practice weather and today is that today happened to be warmer. We have gone outside with practices with rain and snow, so this is nothing new.”