On Friday the track teams made their way to Vandalia for the Vandalia Butler Invitational. The meet was extremely competitive with teams from all over the western half of Ohio. Our teams managed to weather quite a few hiccups with athletes being ill and some serious transportation issues that put us behind and meant there was no time to warm-up prior to the start of events. Even with the complications the women's team was able to manage a 10th place finish out of 16 teams and the men's team placed 14th.
The top scorers for the women's team were Laila Black, with 12.75 points, and Sienna Finton with 6.75 points. Laila came away with 3rd place finishes in both the 1600 and 800 as well as being part of the 4x4 team that placed 5th. Sienna earned a 4th place finish in high jump, a 5th place finish in the 300 hurdles and was also a part of the 4x4 and 4x2 relay teams. Additional points were earned by Millie Nau, who placed 5th in the pole vault, while also jumping in and being a part of the 4x800 meter relay team at the last minute to replace a sick teammate.
The men’s team was led by Eli Koss, with 12 points, coming from a 5th place finish in the 110 hurdles and a 2nd place finish in the 300 hurdles. Points were also earned by Oliver Crosthwaite who finished 7th in the 1600 and the 4x100 meter relay team of Bryce Jordan, Sebastian Perez, Connor Young and Raph Ballard who finished 8th overall.

Monday the track teams returned to Dixie for a smaller meet and the opportunity to give some more of our athletes the chance to gain experience competing. This was more of an open meet format allowing us to enter multiple relay teams and up to four individuals in each event. We had some great successes across the board, and both the girls and boys teams were able to come away with a first place finish against the 5 other teams in attendance.
In the Women’s events we came away with first place finished in the 4x800 meter relay (Reagan Pieschel, Gigi Perkins, Sienna Finton & Laila Black), Jenna Meadows in the girls 100 meter dash, Gigi Perkins in the 1600, Sienna Finton in the 200 and the 300 hurdles, and Laila Black in the 3200. Finishing second overall were Reagan Pieschel in the 400, Gigi Perkins in the 800, Savannah Steiner in the 200 and Brooklyn Hall in the 3200. It was a great night overall and the athletes will all be looking to replicate these results on Friday at the Bartt Owens Invitational right here at Franklin.
The Men’s team also had a number of great performances that included first place by Christian Knipper in the shot put, Oliver Crosthwaite in the 3200 & 1600 and Donovan Butler in the 800. Second place finishes were earned in the 4x800 meter relay (Donovan Schuyler, Oliver Oldeman, Daniel Osborne & Tre’son Henley), the 110 meter hurdles (Hunter Cook), the 4x100 meter relay (Bryce Jordan, Sebastian Perez, Connor Young & Raph Ballard), and Cherif Sore in the 3200.
This Friday the Franklin track teams are hosting the Bartt Owens Invitational at Franklin Stadium. Come out and cheer on our incredible track and field athletes at their only home meet of the season.