Girls take first, boys fourth at Amherst Comet Relays

The Comets Relays is one of the oldest and most prestigious high school track and field meets in the state of Ohio. And for the last two years, it has belonged to the Avon girls.

Winning five events and taking second in four others, the Eagles won a tight battle over Solon Saturday to take the trophy at the 70th annual Comet Relays at Amherst. Avon finished with 100 points to 97 for Solon. Beavercreek was third with 74.

The two standouts for Avon’s girls were Ally Brediger and Kaitlyn Reese, although the meet has an unusual array of events that requires a team to have great depth. That’s something the Eagles have in spades.

Brediger won the 100-meter dash in 12.24 seconds, and Reese took the 1,600 in 5:01.54. Brediger also anchored the winning sprint medley relay, teaming with Molley Kennedy, Madison Gettings and Jayla Antrum to cross the line in 1 minute, 49.75 seconds. The same foursome also combined in the 4x100 relay which saw the Eagles place second with a season’s best time of 49.42. Brediger, Antrum and Gettings were joined by Paige Justice in the 4x200 relay, which also placed second in 1:42.78.

Reese, Jessica Pendleton, Molly Suter and Olivia Pajak teamed to win the 4x800 relay with a 9:26.25 clocking, the fastest time run so far in the state. She also ran on the distance medley relay with Pendleton, Pajak and Ava Melott to take another second place in 13:07.64.

Avon also won the 4x1600 relay, as Suter and Melott were joined by Molly Pomfrey and Reegan Kacenjar to defeat the field with a time of 22:34.16. Justice also took second in the high hurdles (15.44), Lauren Kershaw was third in the 3,200 (11:40.87), and Kenzie Kiesel was third in the discus with an effort of 116 feet, 2 inches.

Avon’s boys also were among the team leaders as the Eagles finished fourth with 57 points. Mentor won the meet with 74, followed by Walsh Jesuit (68), Brunswick (63), Avon and Solon (56). Avon had one first, one second and four thirds and scored 35 points in the five field events, which were all contested as three-person relays in which the efforts were combined for a team total.

The first-place finish came in the shot put, as Max Hauck (57-4¼), Jacob Abfall (56-3) and Dominic Grasso (42-11¼) combined for a winning total of 156-6½. Avon’s second place came in the high jump, where Jackson Hughes had the second-best individual effort at 6-6 followed by Jairel Fenton (6-4) and Adam Bahr (5-8) for a total of 18-6.

Two of Avon’s thirds also came in the field events, with Thomas Smith (14-0), Ethan Tompkins (12-6) and Caden Haong (11-6) combining for a total of 38-0 in the pole vault. Lance Dawson (158-1), Hauck (150-3) and Ryan Wysocki (128-3) also placed third with a 436-7 total in the discus. In addition, the Eagles were fourth in the long jump, with Hughes having the best jump of the competition at 22-5.

The other thirds came on the track. Bishop Weatherspoon, Sam Ulery, Graham Rowlison and Fenton combined to take third in the 4x100 relay in 42.90, and the squad of Jose Alvelo, Owen Burns, Matthew Lochbihler and Jared Keressi was third in 8:09.36.