ONTARIO, Ohio — Nobody would blame Hebron Lakewood shot putter Mat French if he petitioned the Ohio High School Athletic Association for a change in regional assignment.
The junior ran into a Richland County blockade at last week’s Division II Lexington regional meet.
French’s best throw of 56 feet, 7.5 inches would have been good enough to qualify for this week’s Division II state meet at any of the other three regional meets last weekend. It landed him in fifth place — one spot shy of a state berth — at Lexington.
Three of the four qualifying spots at Lexington went to Ontario’s Cole Gehrisch and Bronson Krull and Clear Fork’s Eric Jackson.
Gehrisch won the regional crown and broke his own school record with a throw of 59-11.75. Krull topped his season best by more than two feet with a third-place throw of 58-7.25. Jackson picked up the fourth and final state qualifying spot with a heave of 56-9.50.
All three will be making return trips to Ohio State’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium for this weekend’s state meet and will be among the favorites when the Division II shot put competition begins at 9:30 a.m. Friday. Gehrisch owns the second best qualifying mark, while Krull is fifth and Jackson is seventh.
“There is so much good competition in the area,” Jackson said earlier this season. “I love it. It’s always good to have people pushing you.”
The terrific trio all earned podium finishes at the ultra-competitive Mehock Relays earlier this year, with Krull taking third, Gehrisch finishing fourth and Jackson taking fifth. At the Oak Harbor district meet, they swept the top three spots with Gehrisch winning the title, followed by Jackson and Krull.
“With Clear Fork in the area, it’s a friendly rivalry between us,” Gehrisch said. “You are always looking around to see what the other guys are doing.”
Last year at state Jackson earned a podium finish with a sixth-place throw of 54-3.50. Krull was ninth (53-10.50) and Gehrisch was 11th (50-10.50).
All three could wind up on the podium Friday morning. The exact finishing order, however, is a coin-flip. Jackson beat Gehrisch and Krull at the Shelby Invitational early in the season. Krull won at the Bucyrus Elks Invitational while Gehrisch has gotten the better of his Richland County cohorts the past two weekends.
“It’s kind of a toss-up,” Krull said. “We’ve gone back-and-forth all year.”
Regardless of Friday’s outcome, all three have benefited from the intracounty rivalry.
“It drives me,” Gehrisch said at the Ontario Invitational. “I think we all push each other to work harder.”
“It drives me,” Ontario’s Cole Gehrisch said at the Ontario Invitational. “I think we all push each other to work harder.”
