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Solon captures fourth straight Ranger Relays
(by Tony Lange - April 25, 2012)
Solon captures fourth straight Ranger Relays
By TONY LANGE
Solon's Khoury Crenshaw and Rod Jackson appeared to have wings attached to their shoes as they flew by their competition, leading the Comets to a fourth straight Ranger Relays title at Eastlake North last Saturday.
Solon won 10 of the 18 events and scored 164 points to best St. Ignatius, 144 points, and the rest of the 13-team field.
Crenshaw won his 100- and 200-meter dashes with times of 10.79 and 22.381. A photo finish in the 200 determined him as the winner against St. Ignatius' Marquee Montgomery who ran a 22.383.
While Crenshaw's best times, a 10.6 in the 100 dash and a 21.8 in the 200, are tied for the best in Solon history, that's still not good enough for the junior track star. "I try to break those marks every meet, every chance I get," he said. "I like my name being on the records and looking at it every day."
Crenshaw shares the 100 dash school record with Jim Neueschwander, who ran a 10.6 in 1983. Crenshaw shares the 200 record with Jared Butts, who ran a 21.8 in 2007.
Despite being the fastest runner in Solon history, Crenshaw is not undefeated this season. During the Medina Relays April 7, St. Edward's Anthony Young, at 10.74, and Berea's Donovan Robertson, at 10.79, beat Crenshaw, who ran a 10.86 that day. Young is the fastest returning runner in the 100 from last year's Division I state meet. Robertson was the state champion last year in the 110-meter high hurdles.
"That is my goal, to beat those guys," Crenshaw said. "I'm just going to keep working hard trying to get better and improve my start and get down there to just hang right with those guys. I know I'm capable of doing it, so I'm going to work hard to do that."
Meanwhile, Jackson also captured two individual events for the Comets last Saturday, winning his 110-meter high and 300-meter intermediate hurdles races with times of 14.31 and 39.41.
"The push that's really got me is I made it to states last year in the 110's, and I had terrible form," Jackson said. "I hit the first hurdle, and it was not my best race. I'm trying to fix that this year, so I can be on the podium, because this is my senior year. I want to go out with a bang, to try to win states this year. That's my goal."
Jackson's fastest hurdles times are a 14.2 in the 110 and a 38.5 in the 300. That puts him fourth and second on Solon's all-time records.
Adam Stanowick, who ran a 38.2 in the 300 hurdles in 2004, is the only Comet faster than Jackson in that race.
Crenshaw and Jackson also teamed with Darian Hicks and Kollyn Crenshaw to win the four-by-100 relay in 43.82.
Hicks, who led off that relay, said, "Coming out of the blocks is just so natural to me. Coach says that I've got the best start on the team, so he puts me in for the pop-up in that race."
Hicks also led the Comets in the jumping events as he placed first in the long jump at 22 feet, 1/4 inch and second in the high jump at 5 feet, 9 inches.
While his long jump wasn't far off his personal best of 22 feet, 8 inches, which is fourth on Solon's all-time list, Hicks' high jump mark was way short of his 6-foot-6 personal best, which is third in the records book.
It should be noted that Hicks is just 5 feet, 10 inches tall.
Pacing the Comets in the distance events, sophomore Kevin Blank made his move on the last lap of a competitive 1,600-meter race to win first with a time of 4:25.58.
"I like to lay low at the beginning," Blank said. "I never like to go out too hard and die at the end. So I like to stay relaxed and keep a calm mind-set at the beginning of the race, and then, when the second half of the race comes, I just turn it on."
Blank's fastest time this season was a 4:22.16, which is fifth in Solon's all-time records.
"In the beginning of the indoor season, I had set my goal time in the mile at a 4:19," he said. "I think at this point I could maybe shave off a few more seconds off that. I'm really looking forward to it. A lot of work has been paying off. So it's been great so far."
Adding another individual victory for the Comets, Reggie Jagers threw the discus 159 feet, 4 inches. His personal best of 175 feet, 10 inches is second best in Solon history.
Karl Pierce won the pole vault for Solon, clearing 13 feet, 6 inches, which is sixth best in Solon history.
Solon's shuttle hurdle relay team of Morgan Barnes, Justin Orr, Brandon Reynolds and Kegan King won with a 1:04.96.
The Comets run next at noon April 28 at Thomas Worthington High School near Columbus.
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