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MANSFIELD – One of the first things Mike Moore did when he took over as boys track and field coach at Lexington a couple of years ago was put the team back in the Mehock Relays for 2024 after more than a 10-year hiatus.
Winning it was just a bonus.
So what will Lex do for an encore Saturday in the 92nd edition of the Relays?
A BIG DEAL: 'She is really starting to shine': Thornton bringing security to Lexington softball lineup
A repeat run to the championship is certainly in play for a team that already has two invitational titles in the bag this spring.
“I didn’t go after (the Mehock crown) last year, but everything happened right,” said Moore, who competed in the Relays for Crestline, Class of 2007. “The guys put us in a great position early on and we were able to finish.
“We’ll probably take the same approach this time … put guys in races where we feel good about it. Our depth is really good. I like a lot of our young guys. A lot of our depth pieces are doing really well and I want to make sure they compete, too.”
That means splitting up his squad and sending some of that fledgling talent to an invite at Milan Edison with Lex’s full complement of girls. The entire Lex program had been going to Edison for several years before Moore came aboard and prioritized the Mehock for his boys.
He was immediately rewarded when the Minutemen scored 22 points in the final two events to win the 2024 Relays by 3.2 points over Ashland, dethroning two-time defending champ East Kentwood, a big school Michigan power, in the process.
Lex got 10 points from 3200 meter champ Chance Basilone and two more points from seventh-place finisher Gage Devaney before capping the meet by scoring 10 more points with a win in the 4x400 relay.
Latrell Hughes had a big day for the Minutemen, anchoring that 4x4 crew as well as the first-place 4x800 while also beating teammate Will Perkins to the finish line for gold in the 400 dash.
Basilone, running track for the first time last season after playing baseball most of his life, ran lead-off on the winning 4x8 and went on to parlay his success in the Mehock and the rest of 2024 into a scholarship from Ohio State. He, Hughes and Perkins are all back for Lex, which is coming off a title in its own invite after opening the season by winning the Grove/Keller Invitational at Colonel Crawford.
“Lex is really, really powerful this year … one of the best in the state in a lot of different events,” said Ashland coach Ryan Stackhouse, whose team opened this season by winning the Madison Invite and made a strong showing last week at Lex, led by long jump champ Dakota Kruty and runner-up 300s hurdler Jayden Goings. “We have a lot of kids coming off winter sports and a couple who just finished their club soccer season. So we’re right where we want to be and expect to see some really good things.”
Lex has the same sort of depth that was Ashland’s calling card while the Arrows were winning seven straight OCC titles – a streak ended by the Minutemen last spring.
“It goes in spurts,” Stackhouse said. “(Lex) had a big stretch of being really good and then we had a stretch of being really good. Now it’s gone back to them. I’m glad we’re still close to them, still competing with some really good guys. We have a lot of depth in the sprints; we just need to get back to having more depth in the distances.
“Right now we have 10 guys all under 12 seconds in the 100, on a good day. Mixing those guys in the sprints will allow some of our best guys to go concentrate on a couple of field events.”
Here’s a look at some of the top boys and girls, whose talents should be on display Saturday at Mehock Field:
*Chance Basilone, Lexington: One of the most versatile runners around. The OSU commit is the reigning indoor state champ in the 1600 and a returning Mehock champ in the 3200. He’s also a strong 800 runner, evidenced by his crucial pop-off leg on one of the best 4x8 teams in the state.
*Latrell Hughes, Lexington: A returning champ in the 400, he also anchors the 4x8 and 4x4 relays that won Mehock gold last spring. He’s only going to get better as he rounds into form after a long basketball season.
*Will Perkins, Lexington: Joined teammate Chance Basilone at the New Balance Indoor Nationals in Boston, where he set a school record in the 400 with a time of 49.04. Also ran with Basilone and Latrell Hughes on a sprint relay that took sixth in the New Balance Outdoor Nationals last spring in Philadelphia. He’s coming off a Lex Invite where he was a triple winner: the 200 (nipping Hughes by .01), the 400 and the 4x4.
*Dakota Kruty and Jayden Goings, Ashland: Kruty won the long jump at the Madison and Lex invites, topping 20 feet both times. Goings was the 300 hurdles champ at Madison, beating Shelby’s double winner Gavin Baker. Goings was also 300s runner-up in a very strong field at Lex.
*Julian Mills, Clear Fork: The Colts’ junior opened the season as shot put champ at Madison and Lex. His throw of 56-9 at Lex put him within four inches of the school record and he would love nothing more than to break it at Mehock, where he was fourth a year ago.
*Liam Kuhn, Crestview: Won Mehock gold last year in the pole vault by clearing 13-6. He finished fourth at state in Division III last spring at a height of 14-8 and opened this outdoor season with a winning effort of 14-0 in the Grove/Keller Invite at Colonel Crawford.
*Jace Young, Ontario: Earned a seventh-place medal in the 800 at last year’s state meet and also ran on two fifth-place relays.
*Ny Petty, Mansfield Senior: Although he’s competing for the first time since 2023, Petty has cleared 6-2 in the high jump in both of his invites, winning at Madison and matching the winning height en route to a runner-up finish at Lex.
*Gavin Baker, Shelby: The Whippets’ sophomore won the 110 high hurdles and 100 dash in back-to-back fashion at the Madison Invite and was runner-up in the 200 dash and 300 hurdles. He also won the highs last week at the Shelby Invite.
*Madison Henkel, Shelby: She should be one of the top contenders for a Division II state title in the long jump. Already a two-time All-Ohioan, the Whippets’ junior was third at state last year (18-2.75) after winning a Mehock title (18-9.5).
*Gabby Roston, Colonel Crawford: An 11-foot vaulter, she is a returning Mehock champ and state placer.
*Ava Bowman and PrincessTimko, Shelby: They give the Whippets the area’s best one-two punch in the sprints. They finished one-two in the 100 at the Shelby Invite and Bowman made it a sweep by also winning the 200, while Timko took first in the 300 hurdles.
*Vivian Walter, Ashland: The Ashland University commit won the 100 hurdles and finished second in the pole vault at the Lexington Invite. She also took first in the 100 hurdles the week before at the Madison Invite and beat her sister, Sadie, to the tape in the 300s.
What: 92nd Mehock Relays
Where: Mehock Field
When: Saturday. Field events at 10 a.m. Running prelims at 11:30 a.m. 4x800 finals at 11:45 a.m. All other running finals at 12:30 p.m., possibly earlier.
Field: Ashland, Bucyrus, Cleveland Central Catholic, Clear Fork, Colonel Crawford, Crestline, Crestview, Galion, Johnstown, Lexington (boys), Madison, Mansfield Senior, Mohawk, Ontario (partial squad), Plymouth, Sandusky, Seneca East, Shelby, Walnut Ridge, Willard
Returning champs: Shelby’s Madison Henkel (long jump); Lexington’s Chance Basilone (3200); Lexington’s Latrell Hughes (400); Crestview’s Liam Kuhn (pole vault); Colonel Crawford’s Gabby Roston (pole vault)
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Lex boys will try to hold off Ashland for repeat title in 92nd Mehock
Continue reading...
Winning it was just a bonus.
So what will Lex do for an encore Saturday in the 92nd edition of the Relays?
A BIG DEAL: 'She is really starting to shine': Thornton bringing security to Lexington softball lineup
A repeat run to the championship is certainly in play for a team that already has two invitational titles in the bag this spring.
“I didn’t go after (the Mehock crown) last year, but everything happened right,” said Moore, who competed in the Relays for Crestline, Class of 2007. “The guys put us in a great position early on and we were able to finish.
“We’ll probably take the same approach this time … put guys in races where we feel good about it. Our depth is really good. I like a lot of our young guys. A lot of our depth pieces are doing really well and I want to make sure they compete, too.”
That means splitting up his squad and sending some of that fledgling talent to an invite at Milan Edison with Lex’s full complement of girls. The entire Lex program had been going to Edison for several years before Moore came aboard and prioritized the Mehock for his boys.
He was immediately rewarded when the Minutemen scored 22 points in the final two events to win the 2024 Relays by 3.2 points over Ashland, dethroning two-time defending champ East Kentwood, a big school Michigan power, in the process.
Lex got 10 points from 3200 meter champ Chance Basilone and two more points from seventh-place finisher Gage Devaney before capping the meet by scoring 10 more points with a win in the 4x400 relay.
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Latrell Hughes had a big day for the Minutemen, anchoring that 4x4 crew as well as the first-place 4x800 while also beating teammate Will Perkins to the finish line for gold in the 400 dash.
Basilone, running track for the first time last season after playing baseball most of his life, ran lead-off on the winning 4x8 and went on to parlay his success in the Mehock and the rest of 2024 into a scholarship from Ohio State. He, Hughes and Perkins are all back for Lex, which is coming off a title in its own invite after opening the season by winning the Grove/Keller Invitational at Colonel Crawford.
“Lex is really, really powerful this year … one of the best in the state in a lot of different events,” said Ashland coach Ryan Stackhouse, whose team opened this season by winning the Madison Invite and made a strong showing last week at Lex, led by long jump champ Dakota Kruty and runner-up 300s hurdler Jayden Goings. “We have a lot of kids coming off winter sports and a couple who just finished their club soccer season. So we’re right where we want to be and expect to see some really good things.”
Lex has the same sort of depth that was Ashland’s calling card while the Arrows were winning seven straight OCC titles – a streak ended by the Minutemen last spring.
“It goes in spurts,” Stackhouse said. “(Lex) had a big stretch of being really good and then we had a stretch of being really good. Now it’s gone back to them. I’m glad we’re still close to them, still competing with some really good guys. We have a lot of depth in the sprints; we just need to get back to having more depth in the distances.
“Right now we have 10 guys all under 12 seconds in the 100, on a good day. Mixing those guys in the sprints will allow some of our best guys to go concentrate on a couple of field events.”
You must be registered for see images attach
Here’s a look at some of the top boys and girls, whose talents should be on display Saturday at Mehock Field:
*Chance Basilone, Lexington: One of the most versatile runners around. The OSU commit is the reigning indoor state champ in the 1600 and a returning Mehock champ in the 3200. He’s also a strong 800 runner, evidenced by his crucial pop-off leg on one of the best 4x8 teams in the state.
*Latrell Hughes, Lexington: A returning champ in the 400, he also anchors the 4x8 and 4x4 relays that won Mehock gold last spring. He’s only going to get better as he rounds into form after a long basketball season.
*Will Perkins, Lexington: Joined teammate Chance Basilone at the New Balance Indoor Nationals in Boston, where he set a school record in the 400 with a time of 49.04. Also ran with Basilone and Latrell Hughes on a sprint relay that took sixth in the New Balance Outdoor Nationals last spring in Philadelphia. He’s coming off a Lex Invite where he was a triple winner: the 200 (nipping Hughes by .01), the 400 and the 4x4.
*Dakota Kruty and Jayden Goings, Ashland: Kruty won the long jump at the Madison and Lex invites, topping 20 feet both times. Goings was the 300 hurdles champ at Madison, beating Shelby’s double winner Gavin Baker. Goings was also 300s runner-up in a very strong field at Lex.
*Julian Mills, Clear Fork: The Colts’ junior opened the season as shot put champ at Madison and Lex. His throw of 56-9 at Lex put him within four inches of the school record and he would love nothing more than to break it at Mehock, where he was fourth a year ago.
*Liam Kuhn, Crestview: Won Mehock gold last year in the pole vault by clearing 13-6. He finished fourth at state in Division III last spring at a height of 14-8 and opened this outdoor season with a winning effort of 14-0 in the Grove/Keller Invite at Colonel Crawford.
*Jace Young, Ontario: Earned a seventh-place medal in the 800 at last year’s state meet and also ran on two fifth-place relays.
*Ny Petty, Mansfield Senior: Although he’s competing for the first time since 2023, Petty has cleared 6-2 in the high jump in both of his invites, winning at Madison and matching the winning height en route to a runner-up finish at Lex.
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*Gavin Baker, Shelby: The Whippets’ sophomore won the 110 high hurdles and 100 dash in back-to-back fashion at the Madison Invite and was runner-up in the 200 dash and 300 hurdles. He also won the highs last week at the Shelby Invite.
*Madison Henkel, Shelby: She should be one of the top contenders for a Division II state title in the long jump. Already a two-time All-Ohioan, the Whippets’ junior was third at state last year (18-2.75) after winning a Mehock title (18-9.5).
*Gabby Roston, Colonel Crawford: An 11-foot vaulter, she is a returning Mehock champ and state placer.
*Ava Bowman and PrincessTimko, Shelby: They give the Whippets the area’s best one-two punch in the sprints. They finished one-two in the 100 at the Shelby Invite and Bowman made it a sweep by also winning the 200, while Timko took first in the 300 hurdles.
*Vivian Walter, Ashland: The Ashland University commit won the 100 hurdles and finished second in the pole vault at the Lexington Invite. She also took first in the 100 hurdles the week before at the Madison Invite and beat her sister, Sadie, to the tape in the 300s.
If You Go
What: 92nd Mehock Relays
Where: Mehock Field
When: Saturday. Field events at 10 a.m. Running prelims at 11:30 a.m. 4x800 finals at 11:45 a.m. All other running finals at 12:30 p.m., possibly earlier.
Field: Ashland, Bucyrus, Cleveland Central Catholic, Clear Fork, Colonel Crawford, Crestline, Crestview, Galion, Johnstown, Lexington (boys), Madison, Mansfield Senior, Mohawk, Ontario (partial squad), Plymouth, Sandusky, Seneca East, Shelby, Walnut Ridge, Willard
Returning champs: Shelby’s Madison Henkel (long jump); Lexington’s Chance Basilone (3200); Lexington’s Latrell Hughes (400); Crestview’s Liam Kuhn (pole vault); Colonel Crawford’s Gabby Roston (pole vault)
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Lex boys will try to hold off Ashland for repeat title in 92nd Mehock
Continue reading...
