High school track: Buckeye's Brayden Bonnett fastest at home relays

YORK TWP. — Buckeye senior Brayden Bonnett knew he had only one chance to show what he could do individually at the Buckeye Relays. He did so Thursday by being named the fastest runner of the meet with a win in the 100-meter dash. Bonnett led from start to finish, ending in a time of 11.23 seconds to beat Matisse Williams of Elyria Catholic by more than a half-second. 'When I get in the blocks, I get more nervous for this than I do for football," Bonnett said. "It's like you got one shot and if you mess up, that's it. You have 100 meters. "I felt like I stayed low and drove hard. I got up to my stride phase, and I felt like I ran pretty good." Bonnett then anchored the 4x200 relay that included Eddie Hondroudakis, Cael Miller and Brady Salazar to a first-place 1:32.70, beating second-place Elyria Catholic by 5.01. Salazar, Joseph Stahl, Gavin Waibel and Dimitry Pshonyak started the day by breaking the school record in the 4x1,600 in 19:05.78, breaking the previous best by almost six seconds. "We put in a lot of work during this week," Stahl said. "We knew that we really wanted to break this record and (distance) Coach Renee (Harden) had our plan set up to break this record." Salazar finished the night by anchoring the 4x4 and took the baton from Gavin Waibel with the Bucks trailing Brunswick. It wasn't long before Salazar was sprinting past the competition and to the finish line. "I knew I had him as soon as I got the baton," Salazar said. "The 400 has kind of been my event recently, and I just have this confidence that just doesn't let me lose, I guess. I tried to get him by the 200-meter mark, but I had to get him on the curve, so it was good race." Over in the field events, Jacob Bally-Freiberg won the discus with 142 feet, 8 inches — Denis Shevchenko was second at 141-1 — while Caden Pike was second in pole vault at 12-0. It was an all-around team performance for the Bucks, who finished in first place with 113 points, 28 ahead of runner-up Elyria Catholic. "I'm glad that we got our home victory," said Salazar, who ran four events. "It's been a long meet, but it's worth it if we win." The Buckeye girls finished second, falling just two points shy of Fairview, 94-92. In the shuttle hurdles relay, Kaylee Limbert, Aubrey Keenan, Leah Bengough and Blakely Herman set a school record with a 1:09.98, breaking the previous record by 1.55 seconds. "It was really exciting," Keenan said. "We've been really excited about it all year and we've been talking about it." On the track, the Bucks finished second in the 4x1 and 4x8 and third in the ironwoman 4x1, a relay event for throwers. Ellen Steppenbacker finished second in the pole vault with a 10-6 — Leah Bengough was third at 9-6 — and Madison Gillin's 4-10 was good enough for runner-up in the high jump. Despite the meet having several events that won't be run in the postseason, the Bucks will use things they learned Thursday to move forward. "It just helps us adapt to things," Kennan said. Contact Ryan Isley at sports@medina-gazette.com. Results BOYS Standings: 1. Buckeye 113, 2. Elyria Catholic 85, 3. Fairview 76, 4. Waynedale 74, T-5. Garrett Morgan 49, T-5 Chippewa 49, T-7. Strongsville 40, T-7 Wellington 40, 9. Valley Forge 34, 10. Brunswick 30, 11. Padua 22, 12. East Tech 10. Shuttle hurdles — 1. Elyria Catholic 1:02.76. 100 — 1. Brayden Bonnett (Buc) 11.23. 4x100 — 1. Elyria Catholic 45.48, 2. Buckeye 45.53, 3. Brunswick 45.58. 4x200 — 1. Buckeye 1:32.70. 4x400 — 1. Buckeye 3:34.85, 2. Brunswick 3:37.75. 4x800 — 1. Waynedale 8:28.49, 3. 8:50.18. 4x1,600 — 1. Buckeye 19:05.78. Sprint medley — 1. Elyria Catholic 1:41.79. Mid medley — 1. Chippewa 3:56.76. Distance medley — 1. Waynedale 11:00.31, 2. Buckeye 11:27.65. 4x100 ironman — 1. Wellington 50.00, 3. Brunswick 51.83. High jump — 1. Camden Hall (C) 6-2. Long jump — 1. Sean Finch (F) 18-8.50. Pole vault — 1. Wyatt Moore (Wayne) 14-0, 3. Caden Fike (Buc) 12-0. Discus — 1. Jacob Bally-Freiberg (Buc) 142-8, 2. Denis Shevchenko (Buc) 141-1. Shot put — 1. Gatlin Herman (Wayne) 56-2, 2. Shevchenko (Buc) 46-2. GIRLS Standings: 1. Fairview 94, 2. Buckeye 92, 3. Elyria Catholic 86, 4. Padua 75, 5. Waynedale 65, 6. Chippewa 60, 7. Valley Forge 59, 8. Wellington 25, 9. Strongsville 20, 10. Garrett Morgan 19, 11. East Tech 10, 12. Brunswick 8. Shuttle hurdles — 1. Buckeye 1:09.98. 100 — 1. Neveah Hall (VF) 12.42. 4x100 — 1. Elyria Catholic 52.77, 3. Buckeye 54.19. 4x200 — 1. Valley Forge 1:50.30. 4x400 — 1. Fairview 4:15.64. 4x800 — 1. Fairview 10:32.86, 2. Buckeye 10:54.71. 4x1600 — 1. Padua 25:10.16. Sprint medley — 1. Elyria Catholic 1:57.66. Mid medley — 1. Padua 4:31.35. Distance medley — 1. Fairview 14:07.09. 4x100 Ironwoman — 1. Padua 1:02.19, 3. Buckeye 1:03.56. High jump — 1. Delaney Kercher (VF) 5-2, 2. Madison Gillin (Buc) 4-10. Long jump — 1. Hall (VF) 16-11. Pole vault — 1. Anna Pittman (Wayne) 11-6, 2. Ellen Steppenbacker (Buc) 10-6, 3. Leah Bengough (Buc) 9-6. Shot put — 1. Nia Simms (GM) 37-1. Discus — 1. Sims (GM) 116-10.