New London's Gum smashes district record

NORTH ROBINSON — New London standout Kaitlyn Gum — the Div. III state runners-up a year ago in the shot put — opened her run back to state in record fashion on Friday. At the Colonel Crawford district meet, Gum won the competition by nearly nine feet. Her throw of 44-feet-2.5 inches broke the old district meet record of 42-feet-0.75 by nearly two feet — set in 2006 by Western Reserve's Branigan Fannin. Gum, who had broken the Firelands Conference record a week ago, was also joined by a teammate who also set more records. Junior Reese Landis, an All-Ohioan in both cross country and track, won the 3200-meter run in a meet record of 10:58.16. The former two-mile mark had stood for 24 years. Landis also broke a 38-year-old record in the 1600 at the FC meet last week. Landis was also third in the 1600 (5:12.86), as she finished behind a pair of record-breaking runs from Seneca East and Colonel Crawford competitors. Other district champions on Friday included South Central junior Angela Williams in the 200 (26.88); St. Paul senior Ian Deeter in the 1600 (4:33.41) and the 3200 (10:14.9); and Plymouth senior Caiden Allen in the 100 (11.17). The Plymouth 4x100-meter relay of Gavin McClary, Allen, Layne Bushey and Riley Ramey also took first in 44.11 seconds. Others moving on among area girls included Williams, second in the long jump (16-feet-5.5); Western Reserve's Katie Woodruff in the shot put (16-feet-5.5) and Libby Weisenberger in the 100 (13.15); and South Central's Grace Lamoreaux in both the 100 hurdles (16.7) and 300 hurdles (49.05). Placing third was South Central's Falynn Schumacher and New London's Raeann Mitchell, who each cleared 9-feet-6 in the pole vault. South Central's Emily Lamoreaux was third in the 100 hurdles (17.25) and fourth in the 300 hurdles (50.54), while New London's Madison Smith was third in the 300 hurdles (50.33). St. Paul's Adele Dowdell was fourth in the 800 (2:29.59). In girls relays, Western Reserve's 4x100 of Avery Knney, Joslin Cain, Kennedy Latteman and Weisenberger took second in 52.43. South Central's Autumn Fry, Emily Lamoreaux, Kendyl Beverly and Schumacher were third (52.51) in the same race. In the girls 4x400, St. Paul's Isabel Gross, Shealyn Deeter, Kristin Matlack and Chloe Smith finished second in 4:12.58. They were closely followed by South Central's Williams, Schumacher, and Emily and Grace Lamoreaux in 4:13.56. Also for the Trojans, Grace Lamoreaux, Schumacher, Beverly and Williams placed second in the 4x200 (1:49.95). The area boys moving on to next week's regional meet at Heath High School included St. Paul's Brady Daley, who was third in the 100 (11.43) and 200 (23.22). The Flyers' 4x200 of Daley, Alex Wynn, and Andy and AJ Meyer also placed second (1:33.57), as did the 4x400 quartet of Andy Meyer, Isaac Thimke, Sam Scavuzzo and AJ Meyer (3:30.12). In the discus, New London's Conner Byrd (145-feet-5) and Western Reserve's Hayden Keith (144-feet-6) were second and third, respectively. Ramey was second for the Big Red in the 200 (22.8), and Bushey was third in the high jump (6-feet). In the 800, Western's Sean Murdock was third (2:04.37) and New London's Gavin Carruthers (2:04.61) was fourth in the 800. Also for the 'Cats, Jalen Randleman was third in the 3200 (10:16.31). In the team standings, South Central (74) was second and New London (72.5) finished third among 14 teams. St. Paul (65) was third and Plymouth (50.5) was sixth as the top team finishers on the boys side.