{"id":118625,"date":"2019-05-29T22:16:01","date_gmt":"2019-05-30T03:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=118625"},"modified":"2019-05-29T22:16:08","modified_gmt":"2019-05-30T03:16:08","slug":"knights-lancers-prepare-for-state-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2019\/05\/29\/knights-lancers-prepare-for-state-track\/","title":{"rendered":"Knights, Lancers prepare for state track"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert County will be well represented at the OHSAA Track and Field State Tournament this Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with Van Wert\u2019s athletes competing in Division II, Crestview\u2019s 4×100 meter relay team, along with Lincolnview\u2019s 4×200 and 4×800 meter relay teams and junior Brad Korte (200 meter dash, long jump) are ready to take part in the Division III state tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The teams held a joint practice at Lincolnview on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crestview 4×100 meter relay team<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Darrin Nihiser, Jordan Perrott, Caylib Pruett and Wade Sheets qualified for the state tournament by placing third at the Troy regional. Perrott and Sheets are the senior leaders of the relay team, and Perrott said advancing to Columbus has been a pleasant surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Crestview’s 4×100 meter relay team prepares to practice with Lincolnview on Wednesday.<\/strong> Scott Truxell\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was the relay team that I didn\u2019t think was to make it this year,\u201d Perrott explained. \u201cWe all thought the 4×200 team was going to go and now the 4×100 is going, so it\u2019s cool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a team beside us that runs a 43 (seconds), so if we can stay with them we probably should be in the finals,\u201d Perrott added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheets went out for track for the first time this season and has been a key contributor this year as a member of the relay team and in the 100 and 200 meter dash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCoach (James) Lautzenheiser talked me into it and I figured it\u2019d be good for me to stay in shape and get faster,\u201d Sheets explained. \u201cI\u2019ve had a good time this year and I\u2019m glad I did it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheets also agreed it\u2019s a nice surprise going to state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you would have told me that when I first started, I would have told you you\u2019re crazy,\u201d Sheets said with a smile. \u201cWe\u2019ve put in a lot of hard work to get here and it\u2019s paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cObviously it is impossible to ignore the moment that is front of these young men, but I think their approach and demeanor this week can be attributed to the leadership that Sara Owens has provided as their event coach,\u201d Crestview head coach James Lautzenheiser said. \u201cI want to commend our seniors, Wade Sheets and Jordan Perrott, for their focus and drive after their own graduation ceremony. They see a great opportunity to leave Crestview with one more great experience before moving on to their next journeys, and the juniors, Caylib Pruett and Darrin Nihiser, definitely don\u2019t want to disappoint.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lincolnview 4×200 meter relay team<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Logan Williams is the lone senior member of the 4×200 team, and he explained it\u2019s been a season of change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLandon Moody, a sophomore, got hurt and so we had to fill in with his brother Ryan Moody, who\u2019s a senior, then we took Ryan out (injury) and put Camden (Miller), another sophomore in,\u201d Williams said. \u201cOur times dropped as the season went on and we decided right before districts that we wanted another shot in the relays, so we added the 4×2 and took Brad (Korte) out of the 100.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe knew we had a pretty good shot to make it to regionals, but I don\u2019t think we imagined how fast we could run. I don\u2019t know if we knew we could get to state, and I didn\u2019t know how the season was going to play out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dylan Schimmoeller is the fourth member of the relay team, and Williams described the group as close knit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all close friends and we all hang out together,\u201d Williams said. \u201cIt\u2019s been fun to run with them and to practice with them. It\u2019s a great time to be around the guys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The senior speedster knows the competition at state will be tough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know we\u2019re seeded ninth, so we\u2019re going to have to run fast in the preliminaries and finals, but we\u2019re just keeping an eye on the competition ahead of us and trying to catch them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lincolnview 4×800 meter relay team<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seniors Alek Bowersock, Jacob Keysor and Karter Tow, along with junior Joe Sadowski placed third at the Troy regional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very blessed to be able to run at state and finish our careers there,\u201d Bowersock said of the three seniors. \u201cI can\u2019t say enough about this group. They gave it everything they had at regionals and we dropped our time 20 seconds over two weeks. That\u2019s a big drop and I\u2019m so proud of them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith how we placed at regionals last year (seventh), I thought we had a good shot this year if we could continue to push ourselves and drop our times,\u201d Keysor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As expected, competition at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium will be top notch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be really stiff,\u201d Tow said. \u201cJust looking at the seed times we know it\u2019s going to be tough. \u201cMy brother was down there as a senior with his 4×800 team and we want to avenge that team and take down their school record. We were just about one second off it last week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Korte<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the 4×200 meter relay, the Lincolnview junior will compete in the 200 meter dash and the long jump, which is Korte\u2019s favorite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely my favorite because it\u2019s what I\u2019m best at,\u201d Korte said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said he didn\u2019t think he\u2019d be participating in three events at state, and he said he\u2019s excited to compete against other top athletes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t even think I\u2019d make it back for the long jump this season, but I fought hard and made it,\u201d Korte said. \u201cIt\u2019s a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Northwest Conference has no shortage of good track programs, and Korte believes competing against NWC teams helped Lincolnview prepare for district, regional and state competition, and he gave credit to his coaches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRunning against Wade (Sheets) and Kole McKee of Jefferson definitely helped get me ready to run against good competition and helped bring the best out in me,\u201d Korte explained. \u201cThe coaches helped train me right and helped get my mind set.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a great group of kids, Lincolnview head coach Matt Langdon said. \u201cIt\u2019s probably the most athletes we\u2019ve take to the state meet. What a lot of people don\u2019t know is that Brad gave up the 100 meter dash so he could run a second relay to give those kids a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think he would have made it in the 100 individually but he made a choice for his team, particularly for Logan Williams, who is a senior.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lincolnview runners prepare themselves for practice ahead of the state track meet. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor Van Wert County will be well represented at the OHSAA Track and Field State Tournament this Friday and Saturday. Along with Van Wert\u2019s athletes competing in Division II, Crestview\u2019s 4×100 meter relay team, along with Lincolnview\u2019s 4×200 and 4×800 meter relay teams and junior Brad Korte (200 meter dash, long jump) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-21 17:54:12","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118625\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}