Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

COLUMBUS — Cecil Fletcher keeps nipping at Jerome Buckner’s heels.

The Chesapeake Panthers’ sophomore sprinter finished second in the 400-meter preliminaries to advance to the state finals on Saturday.

Fletcher had a time of 49.93 seconds in Friday’s preliminaries at the Division III state track and field meet as he finished just a split-second behind Buckner of Columbus Academy.

Buckner ran a 49.90 time on Friday for the best qualifying time overall. The sophomore sprinter ran a 49.80 to win the regional meet just ahead of Fletcher who ran a 50.16 time.

Kevin Boyce of Columbus Academy finished third behind Fletcher at the regional meet but was eighth overall in the state preliminaries. Jack Fisher of Archbold was third in the preliminaries with a 49.95 time.

The finals are scheduled for 10:35 a.m. on Saturday. Fletcher will run in lane five between Buckner and Fisher.

The South Point Pointers fell just short in their events at Friday’s Division II state meet preliminaries held at Jesse Owens’ Memorial Stadium on the campus of Ohio State University.

The Pointer 4100-meter relay team of seniors Trey and Trent Patterson, Stephen Wagoner and freshman Owen Chafin ran a 43.73 time in the preliminaries on Friday and finished 12th overall.

The top nine teams advanced to Saturday’s finals. The best time was 43.01 by Poland Seminary. A total of 14 of the 16 teams in the preliminaries ran a time under 44 seconds.

The Pointers were fourth in the regional meet with a 43.81 times. St. Clairsville won the regional meet with Circleville second and Maysville third. However, at the state qualifying heat Maysville was fourth, St. Clairsville nine and Circleville 14th.

Trent Patterson just missed qualifying for the finals in the 200-meter dash. Patterson ran his preliminary heat in 22.71 seconds to place 10th. He finished just behind Tariq Drakes of Levittsburg LeBrae who ran a 22.60 time.

The best qualifying time was D.J. Chambers of Carlisle who ran a 21.78.

Patterson was second in the Division II regional meet behind Chase Roberts of Maysville who finished 14th at the state meet at 23.32. Drake Litteral of Miami Trace — who was third at the regional meet — finished seventh in the state preliminaries at 22.39 and qualified for the finals.

Rock Hill senior distance runner Seth Miller will run in the 3200 meters state finals at 11:25 a.m. on Saturday in the Division II meet.