(April 25th, 2015) – AYERSVILLE: The Locomotive of Montpelier were amongst the teams gathered at Ayersville for the Diller Invitational on Saturday, as were the Pettisville Blackbirds and the Stryker Panthers. As a team, the Locos had a great afternoon, placing fifth in the event with 50.5 points. Pettisville finished in tenth place at 22 points, while Stryker scored a point at sixteenth place.
Montpelier and Pettisville each had impressive performers in the long jump. Dylan Snyder claimed first place in the event for the Locos, leaping 21’10”. Blackbird Jakob Waidelich finished fifth by clearing a length of 18’03.25”. Close behind him was another Locomotive boy, Evan Friend, who jumped 18’02.75” to earn seventh place. Caleb Rychener’s 15′ jump gave the Blackbird twenty-third place.
Snyder would strike again in the 110 meter high hurdles, racking up another first place finish at 15:4. Again, a Pettisville athlete was close behind, as Ethan Brakefield took third place with a time of 15.7. Montpelier’s Logan Hutchinson finished the race in 21.4, earning him a nineteenth place showing.
Stryker senior Brannan Woolace received ninth place in the 100 meter dash, running an 11.71. Locomotive Bryce Cooley was awarded fifteenth place at 12 flat. His teammate, Alex Matzinger took twenty-first place, thanks to his time of 12.12. Panther junior Kaid Woolace ran a 12.6, good for twenty-sixth place.
In the discus, Kregg York handed Pettisville a twelfth place finish, throwing for 118’03” in order to do so. Stryker’s Israel Aguilar had a toss of 109’04” which earned him sixteenth place.
The 4X200 relay team of Snyder, Simon Wang, Dallas Royer, and Hunter Shaull claimed a third place finish on Montpelier’s behalf, running a combined time of 1:36.31. For the Panthers Kaid Woolace, Aguilar, Alex Bost, and Brannan Woolace joined forces for an eighth place finish at 1:42. Pettisville’s team of Levi Nofziger, Seth Brakefield, Caleb Rychener, and Nathan Siller finished the race with a time of 1:42.7, good for tenth place.
Each team had ample opportunities to showcase their strengths, as all three had highly placed athletes in at least one event. Montpelier’s depth allowed them to perform better as a team, but each squad had the athletes to hold their own in the highly competitive environment of the Diller Invitational.