Buckeye boys place second at Midview Shipwreck Invitational behind strong relay effort

The Buckeye boys track and field team finished second with 125.5 points Friday night at the 12-team Midview Shipwreck Invitational, putting together a steady performance in a competitive meet in rainy conditions at Midview High School in Grafton.

Buckeye was paced by a pair of event victories on the track from Brady Salzar and two winning relay teams. Salzar won the 800 meters in 2:00.75, with teammate Dimitry Pshonyak close behind in second at 2:01.65 to give the Bucks a strong scoring swing in the middle-distance race. The 4x200 relay team of Lucas Balaban, Eddie Hondroudakis, Cael Miller and Salzar added another first-place finish in 1:36.30, and the 4x400 team of Cael Miller, Pshonyak, Gavin Waibel and Salzar also took first in 3:35.86.

The Bucks added more points in the relays throughout the evening. The 4x800 team of Joe Stahl, Nolan Rieth, Paul Abbott and Waibel placed second in 8:41.01, while the 4x100 team of Balaban, Hondroudakis, Brayden Russo and Brayden Bonnett finished third in 46.46 seconds. Those relay results helped Buckeye stay near the top of the team standings despite the deep invitational field.

Bonnett turned in one of the busiest and most productive individual nights for Buckeye. He placed third in the 100 in 11.22 seconds, took second in the 200 in 23.19, and added a second-place finish in the long jump with a mark of 18 feet, 11.25 inches. Joe Stahl also contributed a runner-up finish in the 1600, crossing in 4:50.35.

In the field events, Lucas Vasel won the pole vault by clearing 11 feet, and Denis Shevchenko placed third in the shot put with a throw of 42 feet, 11.5 inches. Combined with Buckeye's depth on the track, those performances gave the Bucks points across multiple events and helped secure the second-place finish on a rainy evening.