SANDUSKY – It took a week longer than they’d planned, but the Fremont Ross track and field teams finally opened their seasons Saturday, taking part in the 10-team Perkins Pirate Invitational.
“Perkins is always cold or cold and snowy and this weekend it was windy,” boys coach John Elder said. “We went in hoping to have, not high expectations, but hoping for a get-one-under-our-belt kind of thing. We all thought it was a good day.”
Though their season-opening meet last week was called off due to weather conditions, the Little Giants had several fine performances in their season debuts.
Both the boys and girls took fourth place in their respective competitions, the girls totaling 89 points while the boys amassed 74 points. Perkins won both competitions, with 143 and 131.66 points.
“You can’t judge by times, just because of the weather, but our young freshmen, we were kind of nervous about how they would perform and a couple of them we had in a few events, it was kind of like ‘Welcome to high school,’” Elder said. “And they did a really nice job.”
Elder mentioned Kimora Rapp, Ashanti Elkins and Andrew Born as young athletes who had promising debets.
The Lady Giants had a trio of first-place finishes. AnneMarie Moses, Rapp, Elkins and Jazzele Lindsey combined to win the 4×200 relay in a time of 1:55.94.
Olivia DeRodes, along with Elkins, Madalyn Metcalf and McKela Elder, helped the 4×800 relay take second in a time of 11:07.34.Olivia DeRodes won the high jump by being the only girl to clear 5-feet.
McKela Elder took first in the 800 with a time of 2:32.23, nearly eight full seconds faster than second place.
“McKela Elder ran a really good 800,” John Elder said (no relation to McKela Elder). “She had an outstanding race, I wasn’t expecting that good of a race this early from her. That’s an incredibly nice sign.”
Lindsey also finished runner-up in the 200 (29.45 seconds) and Moses took second in the pole vault, clearing 10 feet.
Bryce McKinstry finished as the boys team’s only first-place finisher. McKinstry won the high jump with a height of 5-09, a hopeful sign of things to come for McKinstry in the event.
“We kind of gave him an extended rest because he went from football to basketball and whatever lingering injures (he was dealing with), so he’s not at the top of his game yet,” Elder said of McKinstry. “It was a good sign he did well and he’s not as good of shape as he will be.”
Ethan McClory finished second in the 3200, crossing the finish line in 10:37.63. Oliver Ellis was second in the 400 (53.35 seconds) and Matt Kuyken was second in the 800 (2:05.89). Ellis, Kuyken, Ka’Von Martin and McKinstry teamed up to place second in the 4×400 relay, coming in in a time of 2:28.06.
“Our seniors, like Matt and Oliver Ellis, weren’t outstanding, but they weren’t bad,” Elder said. “They were solid and they had a nice day. So, our veterans ran well.”
The track teams are scheduled to compete against Tuesday at Edison and Friday at Bowling Green.