Wildcats Smith, Scott sweep highs, long jump in D-I regional

Dyier Smith has been stacking up the championship hardware since he first pulled on his navy blue jumpsuit with “WILDCATS” emblazoned on his chest. But you wouldn’t know it.

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Sure enough, the junior standout hurdler added more championship memories by winning the Division I regional track and field 110-meter high hurdles Friday night at Welcome Stadium. His 14.63 clocking into a slight wind zoomed him past the best of the Southwest District and into next week’s season-ending state meet at Columbus.

So how did he celebrate? With a shrug.

“I came here to go to state,” he proclaimed. “I just ran fast enough to get first. That’s cool. State is the most important.”

No argument in that assessment. The top four in each event qualify to the D-I state meet at Ohio State University’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium next weekend. A storm canceled all running semifinals on Wednesday, so Friday’s finals were an untraditional two heats in all events and placers were based on best times.

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Smith will be joined by equally talented junior sprinter Quincy Scott. He endured the cruelest fate Friday, placing fifth in the 100 in a clocking that had to be extended an extra digit (11.137) to separate him from fourth-place finisher Jordan Campbell of Lebanon (11.132). Worse, he also was fifth in the 200 (22.36).

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However, Scott soared a career-best 23 feet, two inches to win the long jump Wednesday. That gives Springfield two great shots at high-end state hardware.

“My heart was beating so fast down there in the blocks,” said Scott of the 100, who trailed the entire field midway through and did well to place fourth in his heat. “I was like, man, I’m just trying to focus.”

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Springfield had the jets to compete at this level in the 4x100 and 4x200 relays but shoddy baton exchanges and finally a dropped handoff negated those chances. That’s not uncommon and has fueled the two speedy juniors to return to this meet in all those events next season.

“We would have loved to be here in the 4x1, but we’ll do with what we’ve got,” Scott said. “We’ve got the hurdles and the long jump and we’ll work with that at state.”

• Cedarville won the 4x400 relay (3:25.66) and anchor Davin Gruet also placed first in the 400 (50.12) during the D-III regional on Friday at Troy’s Memorial Stadium.

Sophomore teammate Brandon Pollock was third (51.08) in the 400. Both Gruet and Pollock also ran on the third-place 4x200 relay (1:31.82).

Catholic Central’s Addie Engel was third in the 1,600 (5:09.77) and 3,200 (11:31.21).

Like Dayton, the top four also advance to the D-III state meet.

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