Talent, toughness equal WCAL track title for Dalton boys
Helping Dalton to its first WCAL boys track and field title since 1997 with firsts in individual or relay events were Adam Marthey, left, Evan Hodkinson, Ozzie Miller, Jordan Wenger, Adam Knetzer, Lucas Oswald, Dillon Horst and Jordan Muth.
The Dalton boys track and field team had already proven it had once-in-a-generation talent entering the Wayne County Athletic League meet at Smithville on May 15.
When injuries crept in during the meet, the Bulldogs showed they also had extraordinary toughness.
Put it all together and Dalton outscored host Smithville by a mere five points to claim the WCAL title, the first for the program since 1997.
“I think it’s huge to win it,” said Bulldogs coach Seth Sullivan, a 2004 DHS alum who leads the boys and girls programs with Jodi Augspurger. “It’s been 20-plus years since we’ve had anything even close to that. I think coach Augspurger can also attest to it. It’s just been a long time since Dalton’s got a taste of that, and it just feels really, really sweet.”
Leading the Dalton charge as usual were seniors Evan Hodkinson and Ozzie Miller.
Hodkinson won the 800-meter run in a WCAL record time of 1:57.34. Making it even more impressive was the fact Hodkinson had been battling a leg injury.
“I’ve been hurting a little bit, so I’ve been slowing down a little bit on my workouts,” said Hodkinson, who ran a school-record 800 time of 1:57.2 in a tri-meet earlier in the season. “I’ve been dealing with a leg injury, so I just ran the 800 (at the WCAL meet), but I hope to get back into the 4-by-400 relay.
“I’m just really proud of this team. We have great leadership from not just upperclassmen, but underclassmen as well. I hope we can bring home district and regional titles too.”
Hodkinson has previous state experience in cross country and track, qualifying as part of the 4-by-800 relay as a sophomore. After seeing last season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hodkinson has set a goal of winning a state title in the 800.
“I think I’ll have to run in the 1:54 range to win it, and that’s the goal,” said Hodkinson, who plans to run in college at Mount Vernon Nazarene University.
Augspurger, who coaches cross country and works with the track distance runners, said Hodkinson has really come into his own as an 800 runner this spring.
“Evan is very comfortable, very relaxed when he runs,” she said. “He makes it look effortless, even though he does put a lot of effort into it.”
Miller ran a season-best 23.12 to win the 200 at the WCAL meet and won the 100 in 10.99. His season-best 100 was a meet record 10.85 at the Triway Invitational.
Depending on who you talk to, Miller should have the 100 school record, but Dalton recognizes Will Silvis’ hand-timed 100 (10.4) and 200 (21.8) marks set in 2011.
“I look at the 10.4 as the school record since it’s on our board, and that’s the time I’m trying to beat,” said Miller, who will run track in college at Ohio Northern.
Miller said he feels blessed to be on a special team.
“We’ve had a lot of team bonding,” Miller said. “A lot of us realized that, ‘Hey, we’re going to need to step it up.’ Our coaches are amazing helping us to figure out our training schedules and knowing when to give us rest to relax our bodies.”
Sullivan said winter indoor track season really helped Miller start strong this spring.
“Ozzie was able to qualify to state for indoor, so we already had a pretty good idea what he’s capable of,” Sullivan said. “It’s great seeing a guy like him finally realize the potential that was inside of him. Now it’s just a question of how far can we push it? How far can we take it?”
Dalton has lots of other top-notch runners. Adam Marthey, Dillon Horst and Adam Knetzer teamed up to win the 4-by-100 (45.09) while Jordan Muth, Lucas Oswald, Horst and Jordan Wenger won the 4-by-400 (3:35.20).
Nursing a leg injury, Knetzer walked to a seventh-place finish in the 200 in 2:03 just to get Dalton two team points.
Mitchell Kutz, who was a state cross country qualifier, was second in the 3,200 (10:18).
Dalton was second in the girls WCAL meet behind Norwayne. Brianna Chenevey won the 100 in 12.67, followed closely by teammate Lauren Clos, and they also finished 1-2 in the 200. Clos, Chenevey, Miki Fath and Amelia Knetzer won the 4-by-400 relay (4:12.32).