LEXINGTON — Audrey Mahon and her Ontario teammates just keep smashing records.
Mahon anchored Ontario’s 4×200 meter relay and 4×400 meter relay teams to regional championships Saturday at Lexington, breaking meet records in both events.
The 4×200 crew of Arialyn Bischak, Tessa Crum, Sasha Bulakoski and Mahon set a new record with a winning time of 1 minute, 41.60 seconds. The foursome eclipsed the previous mark of 1:42.06 set by Toledo Central Catholic in 2022.
Kenzie Goodlin joined Crum, Bulakovski and Mahon on the winning 4×400 team. The quartet finished in 3:54.86, smashing the previous record of 3:56.75 set by Upper Sandusky in 2000.
Saturday’s performances came on the heels of a record-shattering afternoon at the Oak Harbor district. The 4×200 and 4×400 teams both broke district meet records last week.
“We felt good today. We just had to go and do it,” said Mahon, who also anchored Ontario’s fifth-place 4×100 relay. “We just work together. We know we’ve got to go and we never let up.”
Mahon, Crum and Bulakovski were three of the area’s eight athletes who earned multiple automatic qualifying bids to next week’s state meet. The top four finishers in each event punched their tickets to Columbus.
The area could add a few additional state qualifiers after wild-card bids are handed out. Two extra spots in each event are up for grabs, available to the top fifth-place finishers from the four regional meets around the state.
Ontario’s Xavier Trent and Jace Young both earned individual state berths Saturday after teaming with Dean Morrison and Xander Chitwood to win the 4×800 in 7:53.69 Thursday. Trent finished third in the 1,600 (4:21.45), while Young was runner-up in the 800 (1:55.20).
“I was hoping for sub-4:19, but the important thing was I qualified,” Trent said. “The goal is to survive and advance.”
Young agreed.
“It’s not what I wanted, but no complaints,” said Young, who finished seventh at state in the 800 last spring.
Ontario’s Aiden Fox was regional runner-up in both the 110 hurdles (14.94) and 300 hurdles (38.73). He finished .01 ahead of Shelby’s Gavin Baker in the 110s (14.95).
“Even though he’s a rival, I’m happy to have him to push me,” Baker said. “We’re happy that we’re together.”
Baker ran the anchor leg on Shelby’s regional-championship 4×100 relay team, joining Brady Bowman, Renner Gano and Brayden DeVito. The unit broke the tape in 42.44.
Shelby’s Madison Henkel won a regional title in the long jump after earning a state berth Thursday in the high jump with a fourth-place finish (5-feet, 2-inches). Her winning effort of 18-7.75 was just off her district-winning leap of 18-11, but came in the teeth of a strong wind.
“I had a really bad head wind pretty much the whole time I was jumping,” Henkel said. “That definitely affected my steps a little bit and also my speed (on the runway) wasn’t as good.”
The area’s other regional champ was Fredericktown’s Ella Bouton. She won the shot put competition Thursday with a throw of 43-5.
Lexington’s Emily Thomas was a regional runner-up in the 300 hurdles. She finished in 44.52.
Clear Fork’s Julian Mills was the regional runner-up in the shot put. He had a top throw of 56-3.25.
“It was a good day,” said Mills, who was less than six inches off his personal best of 56-9. “This is the first meet I haven’t won this year. … It’s good to get that competition.”
Clear Fork’s Davis Hoeflich tied for third in the high jump with a leap of 6-3. Hoeflich was the state runner-up in the high jump last spring.
Shelby’s Ava Bowman rebounded from a fifth-place finish in the 100 to take fourth in the 200 in 25.37. She will have to wait to see if her fifth-place effort of 12.56 is good enough for a wild-card bid.
“My 100 was rough. It was probably my worst race all year,” Bowman said. “Going into the 200 I wanted to control what I could control and give it everything I could.”
The state tournament Is June 6 to 7 at Ohio State’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus.