ASHLAND — Joe Ellis didn’t have time to collect the gold medal he won as a member of Mansfield Senior’s 4×100 meter relay team.
The senior was too busy shattering the high jump record at Friday’s Ohio Cardinal Conference meet at Ashland University’s Ferguson Field.
Ellis matched a personal record with a leap of 6 feet, 10 inches — then won the 200 meter dash in a photo finish for good measure — to win the new combined MVP award, which went to the top points person in track and field events.
“I came in today thinking I was only going to get like 6-6, but all my friends came over and motivated me,” said Ellis, who cleared both 6-8 and 6-10 on his third attempt. “For the past few weeks I’ve only been getting 6-4 or 6-2. I surprised myself.
“I just felt good today.”
Ellis didn’t have time to celebrate his record-setting leap. He reported almost immediately to the starting line for the 200 and rallied in the final meters to pass Lexington’s Hunter Biddle. Ellis won in 22.45 seconds, while Biddle finished in 22.46.
“It was a good race,” Ellis said. “It was hard to (refocus) after the high jump.”
Ashland defended its boys team title with 153 points behind the record-setting performance of field events MVP David Amstutz and track MVP Hudson McDaniel.
Amstutz set meet records in the shot put (57-11.75) and the discus (180-0).
“We were nervous coming into it. We weren’t sure we were going to win,” said Amstutz, who repeated as OCC shot and discus champ. “I was really happy with the way discus went especially.”
A two-time swimming state champ, McDaniel won the 110 hurdles and turned around and won the 100 dash. He later won the 300 hurdles and capped his night be anchoring Ashland’s winning 4×400 relay team.
“I’ve only run the 100 three times in my life,” McDaniel said. “There’s not much time to rest (between events), but I knew I could do it.”
Like McDaniel, Mansfield Senior’s Alaysia Grose won four running events to claim the girls track MVP award. Grose easily captured the 100 and 200 and anchored Senior High’s winning 4×100 and 4×200 teams.
“I think we’re ahead of schedule from last year,” Grose said.
Lexington won the girls title with 132 points. Mackenna Curtis-Collins led the charge for Lady Lex, finishing first at the 800 in 2:21.33 and breaking the OCC record in the 1,600 in 5:03.12 — beating West Holmes distance ace Michelle Hostettler in the process.
“I knew Michelle’s (PR) was 5:07 and mine was 5:13 from indoor,” Curtis-Collins said. “I was like, ‘I’ll just hang on as long as I can.’
“I crossed the line and coach told me unofficially I was 5:02.”
Click here for complete race results.
