Beavercreek boys post two wins, claim first-day lead at Wayne

Beavercreek made the most of a meet-opening statement by winning the boys distance medley to kick off the 19th annual Wayne track and field invitational at Heidkamp Stadium on Thursday.

With senior standout Ben Ewert unloading a 1,600-meter anchor of 4:22, the Beavers pulled away from Hilliard Davidson and set a school record in the rarely run high school event (10:32.13).

Joining Ewert on the relay were senior Ian Johnson, junior Sam Pearl and sophomore Troy Toney.

“It’s a good time to hit and support the team and bring us that time,” said Ewert, a multi-talented distance ace who’ll take his game to the University of Louisville next season.

The Beavers benefited from another first by triple jumper Matthew Riekens (43 feet, 1.75 inches) to post the first-day boys lead, 20-17 over host Wayne.

Mason was second in the distance medley relay and added a sixth in the high jump to hold an 11-10 advantage over Minster for the girls team lead. Minster senior Jordyn Heitbrink won the high jump (5-5) to account for all of Minster’s points.

The meet continues at 3:30 p.m. Friday with finals scheduled for approximately 6:30. The two-day meet has drawn 67 complete boys/girls teams and 1,434 entrants.

Ewert will be among the favorites in the open 800 on Friday. Most of the distance medley relay also will team in the 4x400 relay on Friday.

“We had a talk with our coach (Jimmy Weckesser),” Johnson said. “We just wanted to get in position, get a school record and get some points for our team.”

• For talented Lakota East distance runner Dustin Horter, racing turned for real just last week.

That’s because the junior burned an 8:56.52 in the 3,200 meters in the Eastern Relays at the University of Louisville. He followed that up 12 hours later with a 1:54.96 in the 800.

Those times immediately vaulted him among the nation’s best, according to the national results compilation website MileSplit.com. Those aren’t Ohio records, but that could be a hint of what might happen as the weather warms and the competition gets better.

“That pretty much kicked off my season as far as I was concerned,” said Horter, who rallied East from 12th to third in the distance medley relay.

“I’m feeling really good and I’m ready to (Friday). I give it up to my team for putting in position to get up there and dust them all if I could.”

• Running into a stiff home stretch wind, Meadowdale senior Wayne Lawrence had the best qualifying times in the 100 (11.17). He’s a two-time Division II state runner-up in the 400 and will enter that event seeded first (47.50) on Friday.

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