Norwalk qualifies five to indoor state meet

The Norwalk High School Indoor track and field program started in November and finished up the winter season over the weekend of Feb. 21-23. The school-sanctioned club team through the Ohio Association of Track & Cross Country Coaches had 38 participants this season. After the final week of the season, the top 30 athletes across four divisions are posted, with the top 16 qualifying for the indoor state championships on March 8 at Spire Institute in Geneva. Among the qualifiers for Norwalk are Elliot Gahring in the triple jump and long jump and the 4x400-meter relay team of Shyla Gruhkle, Xavi Immel, Zuri Immel and Grace Norris, with Saige Konik serving as an alternate. Others who made the top 30 included Mark Marett in the high jump and Olivia Peeples in the triple jump. These athletes will also be competing at the Adidas Indoor Nationals in Virginia Beach, Va. on March 22. If Gahring or the relay team qualifies for the New Balance Indoor meet held in Boston, the group would enter that event, also set for March 22. At the Ashland indoor meet held on Feb. 21 on the campus of Ashland University, the "pre-state" meet is open to the top 24 entries along with 12 relay teams. Norwalk sent eight athletes in four events and the relay team. Gahring was fourth in the long jump (21-feet-8-inches) and 12th in the 60-meter dash (7.2 seconds). Marett was 12th in the high jump (5-feet-10), while Peeples was 17th in the triple jump (28 feet) and Taryn Temple was 21st (27-feet-4) in the same event. The 4x400 relay of Norris, Xavi and Zuri Immel and Konik finished 11th in 4:18. At the Dave Wottle meet held at Bowling Green State University on Feb. 23, Norwalk sent 17 competitors. Among first-time competitors were Catherine Beamer, William Biller, Derione Johnson and Italian foreign exchange student Fabio Sanna. Gahring turned in 43-feet-1.5 inches on his first triple jump of the season, which is the second-longest jump in Division II this season in the state. He also won the 200 dash in 23.07 seconds. His jump is close to the national qualifying mark of 45 feet to get into the New Balance meet along with the Penn Relays. It did qualify him for the Adidas Nationals. In the boys 200, Johnson was 27th (27.07), while Sam Konik was eighth in the shot put (45-feet-4.24) and Marett went 5-10 in the high jump. Norris (1:03.8) was eighth in the 400, while Konik went 5:55.04 in the 1600 and Zuri Immel did the 800 in 2:38. Peeples cleared 30-feet-4 in the triple jump, while Allison Konik (8-3) and Ike White (9-3) competed in the pole vault.