COLUMBUS — The strategy was simple for Lexington’s Nathan Reed, Trevor Reed and Will Hooper:
Get the baton to anchor man Latrell Hughes.
The Minutemen defended their state title in the 4×800 relay on the opening day of the Division II state meet at Ohio State’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, breaking the tape in 7 minutes, 47.59 seconds.
Lex was in fourth place when Hughes took the baton from Hooper — and the gap from fourth to first was significant.
It didn’t matter.
By the time the Oregon-bound Hughes completed his first 400 meters, the Minutemen were comfortably in second place. It didn’t take long for Hughes to run down North Canton Hoover anchor man Jack Streb to take over the top spot.
Hughes ran a blistering 800-meter split of 1:49.68.
“You just gotta get it to him as soon as you can, and then he’ll do what he can for the team,” Hooper said. “He will fight for us as much as he will himself.”
So what is Lex’s confidence level when Hughes takes the stick?
“Very high,” said Nathan Reed, who teamed with Hughes, Chance Basilone and Will Perkins to win the 4×800 last year. “If we have less than a 100-meter gap, that’s enough.”
“We like to make him work for it,” Trevor Reed joked. “We give him a little more to do.”
Hughes, who has battled nagging injuries all spring, normally runs at the front of the pack. He played the role of the hunter instead of the hunted Saturday.
“When someone is in front of me like that, yeah, it definitely pushed me to get a good (400 meters) in,” said Hughes, who will try to defend his 800-meter championship Sunday.
“I always try my best to go get the person in front of me. I never want to make it easy on them.”
For Hughes, the repeat was sweet.
“It feels amazing,” Hughes said. “Me and Nate were there last year and this year we have two newcomers stepping up. It was special to have them along for the ride.”