Jonny ran in the OSU High School Qualifier #4 today. Next Saturday the meet is in Akron at the University of Akron. After week following Akron is the Arnold Classic back at the French Fieldhouse at OSU. Then the final week is back to the University of Akron for the State Indoor Track Finals which they get invited to by having an outstanding performance at one of the Qualifier meets held throughout the state.
Jonny ran in the 4×800 relay and the 4×400 relay today, just like last week. The 4×800 didn’t go well for the boys. The boys were put in the first heat for the 4×800 and running with the fast group. Jonny was the lead leg and ran a good time for him of 2:12. He found himself near the back of the pack early, but passed several kids as he made his laps. He kept contact with the lead group and his hand off was clean. The problem came between the 2nd and 3rd leg, when the 3rd leg runner asked for an exchange and the hand off was given one lap early, which earned them a DQ for the race. Even with the 3rd leg having forced himself into running 1000 meters and his last 200 meter lap at a pace well below normal, because he gave it his all the previous lap, the boys would have finished 8th overall using 2 Juniors, 1 Sophmore and 1 Freshman in the race.
The 4×400 relay has Jonny running the last leg. When he got the hand off he was pretty much by himself and that hurt him as he still learning his own abilities in the 400 meter. With no one around to help pace him, he started very slow for a 400 meter race. He realized at about the 150 meters in and picked up his pace significantly and started to catch the runner who had started way ahead of him to begin with and extended his lead in the first 150 meters. Jonny came close at the end and could have easily beat him if he just kept pace with him at the beginning. Coach counted that up as a learning experience. The boys finished 9th overall out of 21 teams.