Steppenbacker repeats as pole vault champion as Buckeye places eighth at CWC meet

Buckeye’s girls track and field team endured what was described as an off day Thursday, but the Bucks still produced several scoring performances and finished eighth with 51 points at the Cleveland West Conference Championship in Rocky River. The headline result belonged to Ellen Steppenbacker, who successfully defended her conference title in the women’s pole vault with a winning clearance of 10 feet, 6 inches.

Steppenbacker’s championship led a strong day in the vault for Buckeye. Leah Bengough added another podium finish in the same event, taking third at 9-6 to give the Bucks a valuable points haul. In the jumps, Julia King placed seventh in the women’s high jump at 4-6, and Erin Salazar scored in the women’s long jump with an eighth-place mark of 14-11.

Buckeye also found points on the track in both hurdles races. Blakely Herman turned in one of the team’s best all-around meets, taking third in the women’s 300-meter hurdles in 47.49 seconds and placing fifth in the women’s 100-meter hurdles in 16.86. Sophia Regiec added another top-three finish for the Bucks in the women’s 800-meter run, crossing in 2:28.58 for third place, while Emma Bostic placed eighth in the women’s 100-meter dash in 13.42.

The relay events supplied important depth for Buckeye across the meet. The women’s 4x100 relay of Blakely Herman, Erin Salazar, Emma Bostic and Ellen Steppenbacker finished fourth in 52.25. The women’s 4x400 relay team of Emma Bostic, Julia King, Nico Anzevino and Sophia Regiec placed fifth in 4:23.13, and the women’s 4x800 relay of Sophia Regiec, Maycie Bodak, Lily Regiec and Hayleigh Kreeger also finished fifth with a time of 10:35.08.

Buckeye added one more relay scoring effort in the women’s 4x200, where Kylee Kash, Grace Pronik, Avery Lewandowski and Erin Salazar took seventh in 1:56.79. Across a championship field that included elite teams, Buckeye continued to collect placings even without its sharpest overall day.