Softball and Track Teams Earn District Titles
The Mason Track and Softball Teams all earned OHSAA Southwest District Titles over the past weekend.....
The Mason girls had an outstanding two days of competition, coming together to win a tenth consecutive Division I Southwest District Championship.
The meet got off to a great start as Jordan Horning jumped 5'3" to win the high jump. To add to the early excitement, Meredith Haller jumped 4'10" in a jump-off to secure 4th place and move on to the Regional Championship. The 4x800 meter relay team of Olivia Gaus, Delaney McDowell, Bridget McElhenny and Monica Lake left the field behind to win their event in 9:19.55. Jenny Nelson vaulted 10'6" to win the pole vault, followed in second by teammate Rachel Stein at 10'. To round out Wednesday's final events, Ashley Brown placed fourth in the shot put with a put of 37'9" to advance to the Regional Championship.
On Friday the excitement continued as Taylor Reid placed 2nd in the 100m hurdles and the 300m hurdles to advance to the regional in both events. Jordan Horning placed 4th in the 300 hurdles to win a bid in next week's meet as well. The 4x100m relay team of Beneria White, Kera Lamotte, CC Wilson and Breauna Keys placed third. Monica Lake won the mile in a time of 5:02.19 to advance to next week and then placed fourth in the 3200 to earn another shot at the regional meet. Monica then joined teammates Ivy Beddow, Olivia Gaus and Taylor Reid to race to a 3rd place finish in the 4x400m relay. Olivia Gause turned in a personal best performance in the 800m run, finishing 2nd in a time of 2:15.91, setting a new school record, besting the previous record held by All-American, Angela Bizzarri.
Other notable performances included:Jordan Horning - 6th, 100m hurdlesBridget McElhenny - 7th, 1600mBreauna Keys - 7th, 200mEmily Calvani - 8th, 400mTori Martin - 6th, 3200m CC Wilson - 5th, long jumpAnna Carly - 8th, shot putKhara Walker, Kera Lamotte, Ivy Beddow, Emily Calvani - 5th, 4x200m relay.
The Regional Championships are Wednesday and Friday this week at Dayton's Welcome Stadium.
The #1 seeded Mason Lady Comets Softball team scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth and held off Fairfield’s dramatic rally in the seventh to win a Division I district championship on Saturday by a score of 4-3. It was Mason's 9th straight appearance in the District title game and first championship under Coach Lian Muff (2010 last DC).
The Comets took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning on a bases loaded walk to senior pitcher, Sarah Browning. Fairfield evened the score at 1-1 in the top of the fifth inning. The Comets bats then came alive in the bottom of the sixth as they scored three times on five singles. Sarah Browning and junior second baseman, Alex Johnson led off the bottom of the sixth inning with back to back singles. Senior third baseman, Claire Wehby, then sacrificed the runners over. Sami Hayner, Tory Stewart, and and Macy Hubbard added three more consecutive singles that enabled the Comets to take a 4-1 lead into the seventh inning.
Fairfield made it very interesting in the last inning when they scored twice and had the tying run on third base with only one out. Browning struck out the next batter and that set the stage for the dramatic ending.
One of the GMC’s strongest offensive players hit a line drive deep and into the left center field gap. Junior center fielder, Sami Parave, used her speed to track the ball and made a full stride – over the shoulder catch to end the game.
Mason, who lost 1-0 in the district finals last season to Glen Este, will face No.1-ranked Lebanon (28-1) in the regional semifinals Thursday at 5 p.m. at Northmont. The Comets overall record increases to 19-10 overall.
Mason Boy's Track won another District Championship on Friday. It was the fourth team title in the last five years for the Comets. Mason’s 136 points was comfortably ahead of Princeton (67) in second place and third-place Moeller (64).
The meet was the best of times, and the worst of times. After a rocky start in the 4x100 relay, and an unfortunate DQ it appeared the Mason Comets shook their demons with many great performances.
At the finals, the team won the first 5 events of the day, and nearly won the 6th. The team had winners in the 100, Josh Dooley, 110 Hurdles, Asad Maiden, Pole Vault, Leslie Pil and High Jump, Asad Maiden again. The team also won the 4x200 relay, with Liu, Chanatry, Court and Cummings.
On Wednesday the team garnered a few points with the 2nd place 4x800 team and the winning long jump by Josh Dooley. Freshman sensation Reece Pontious also qualified to regionals with a leap of just over 20 feet.
The team qualified Alex Notton in the 1600 and Zach Taylor in the 400 meter dash. Toward the end of the night the team was rolling with well over 100 points, and after a double qualification by Liu and Cummings in the 200, they were on their way to a team title.
Tom Clark then qualified in 4th with a new PR in the 3200 and the end of the night looked bright with the city’s top 4x400 ready to line up for a hopeful victory. After 2 legs the team was slightly ahead, but disaster struck and a baton was bobbled. Fortunately after a quick pick up, Robert Diehl took off and brought the team back into the mix, with Ethan Valentine closing the deal for 3rd and a trip to Dayton next weekend.
The Comets won six events and will send athletes to Regionals in 13 of the 17 events. Overall, it was a true team effort scoring big in almost every event. The Regional Championships are Wednesday and Friday this week at Dayton's Welcome Stadium.
CONGRATULATIONS! GO COMETS!!
