Black River shines at state track and field meet

DAYTON — Black River delivered at the Division III state track and field semifinals Thursday. Senior Olivia Todd advanced to the finals (top eight) in the girls 100-meter and 300-meter hurdle events. Senior Braylon O'Neal earned a ticket to the finals of the boys 300-meter hurdles, plus earned another spot in the finals, along with the boys 400-meter relay that included Seth Gaspari, Aden Macfarlane and Alex Woolfrom. Todd is seeded fifth in the 300 hurdles (46.35) and No. 8 in the 100 hurdles (15.29). "It feels great, but it feels like I haven't run in so long since regional finals last Friday," said Todd. "This makes up for last year." Todd was a 2023 Division III regional finalist at Norwayne High School in both hurdles races. She was leading the 100 hurdles race through eight out of 10 hurdles before stumbling and falling and being disqualified for interference. She finished sixth in the 300 hurdles (48.24), two places off the podium. Thursday's performances gave Todd reason to feel confident. "This has been my season of redemption," she said. "Praise God, because I'm here. I'm definitely excited for Friday, because there's some serious competition. Today was great, because I know I've at least got a couple spots on the podium." Todd improved the Black River girls' All-Ohio awards by 50 percent. To date, the Black River girls have had only four All-Ohio awards. O'Neal is seeded fifth in the 300 hurdles final (39.01), but the 400-meter relay was the event of the day for the Black River boys. The Pirates won their prelim and are the No. 2 seed (43.57) behind Hanover United (43.44). "I PR'd by 0.2, so that's definitely a good feeling," said O'Neal. "That (400 team) is a great one to run with. It just gets you ready for the race." The 400 relay team definitely waded through its share of adversity. Earlier on Thursday, the team bus made a quick food stop at a Popeye's restaurant between Columbus and Dayton. The fast food apparently didn't sit well with some of the relay members, but they managed to battle through. "Not the best pre-race food," joked O'Neal. "It was kind of a last minute. We were going to be late getting here and we needed to get some food in us. We're excited for (today)." "It was great to move on from today, but we have to perform on Friday," said Woolfrom. "We have to get a better time. We should. We'll be better rested from the long trip down here." That's not that all of it. Anchor Stephan Kozopas broke his foot at the first day of regionals, May 23, trying to hop over a fence. That thrust Woolfrom into the anchor spot. "Alex had only run with the 400 relay once prior to regionals," said O'Neal. "We had nobody else. It made the most sense to put Alex in the anchor spot. Alex is a good kid, fun to run with. He's quick, too." O'Neal finished 11th of 17 finishers in the 110 hurdles in 15.44 and didn't make finals (top eight). A time of 15.22 was the eighth spot. Black River senior Zoey Bungard finished 17th in the Division III girls pole vault with a mark of 9-6, equaling her best mark of the season. She cleared 9-0 on her first try and 9-6 on her second before three misses at 10-0. "I've kind of been by myself this year," said Bungard. "Our school only brought back girls pole vault last year after not having it for a while. Our team doesn't have event coach for pole vault. That makes it difficult for doing it. And it's only my second year doing it. I try to make the most of it. I'm happy I got here." Bungard is the Black River girls first state qualifier in pole vault since Becca Herte won the 2011 Division II state title. Herte is the Black River girls most recent All-Ohio performer, but the drought will come to an end today with Todd's two hurdle events. Contact Paul Heyse at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.