HIGH SCHOOL

Track: Coshocton’s Kirkpatrick, River View relay earn state berths

Brandon Hannahs

NEW CONCORD – Coshocton’s Nick Kirkpatrick and the River View boys 4x800 relay of Steven Scheetz, Chris St. Clair, Lane Beatty and Michael Hardesty will be making trips to Columbus next weekend.

Kirkpatrick cleared 14-feet-3 to finish second in the pole vault, while the Black Bears relay was fourth in a school-record time of 8:09.7 during Thursday’s Division II regional meet at Muskingum University.

The top four in each event earned berths to the state meet at Ohio State.

Kirkpatrick, who broke the school record three times this season, failed to reach the regionals a year ago, but credited off-season workouts to his success.

“This was a surreal season, and I blessed to be going to state,” he said. “I put in a lot of work to improve the bottom and top of my vault and added two feet this year.”

Three of the four River View runners — Scheetz, St. Clair and Hardesty — also competed in the state cross country meet in the fall.

Hardesty, a sophomore, credited that mindset to keeping their season alive.

“If we don’t give it our all, we risk losing everything,” he said. “That was our mindset in cross country, and we brought it to the relay.”

Scheetz noted this was another achievement to go with a strong senior campaign.

“This is incredible to throw in a sophomore and freshman with two seniors (himself and Chris),” he said. “This was the last hurrah for our relay, and it’s great to reach state.”

Knowing the stakes helped the relay, noted St. Clair.

“My legs get jumping when I see Lane coming,” he said. “You get a boost of adrenaline at a meet like this.”

Beatty, a freshman, is looking forward to the experience.

“This took a lot of determination,” he said. “I’m always competing against older runners so it feels good to accomplish this.”

Brooklyn Douglass was 12th in the high jump (4-8), and the 4x800 relay came in 13th (10:27) for the Lady Bears.

bhannahs@gannett.com

740-450-6763

Twitter: @brandonhannahs