LeFevre makes it to finals in 200

COLUMBUS, Ohio — There was just one freshman in the state field in the 200-meter dash.
He was faster Friday than all but three of his competitors.
Fort Recovery High School’s Robby LeFevre earned himself a spot in today’s finals of the 200-meter dash at the OHSAA Division III Boys Track and Field State Finals at Ohio State University’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
He was the only one of the Tribe’s six athletes competing to advance to the finals, and can earn a state medal with a top-eight finish today.
Running in the second of two heats, LeFevre zoomed down the track in lane seven with Cole Fortner of Wynford on his left and Isaac Urban of Toledo Christian on his right. They were neck-and-neck, and with Ty West of Toronto out in front, LeFevre knew he needed to edge his neighbors in order to guarantee himself a spot in the finals.
He crossed the finish line in a school-record time of 22.35 seconds, just three hundredths ahead of Urban and five hundredths ahead of Fortner. That broke his own record of 22.68 set at the Troy regional meet.
The top two athletes from each heat and the next five best times advance to the finals.
“I really, really wanted to come back tomorrow and I knew that it would take everything I’ve got,” said LeFevre while catching his breath. “I went as hard as I could. I feel terrible right now, but I’m sure I’ll be happy later tonight.”
LeFevre’s time was the fourth-best Friday, trailing No. 3 seed Jared McCullough of Independence by just three thousandths of a second. Mason Warnimont of Cory-Rawson earned the top seed in 22.13 seconds, and West was No. 2 at 22.25.
The rest of the field is made up of Urban, Fortner, Xavier Bailey (22.47) of Brookfield and Caleb Stevens (22.48) of DeGraffe Riverside.
LeFevre will race out of lane three today flanked by Warnimont in lane four and Urban in lane two. He will need to beat just one of his fellow competitors to earn a state medal.
“I’ll have a fresh set of legs tomorrow, which will help,” said LeFevre, who ran in the preliminaries of the 100 dash and the 4x200 relay prior to his race in the 200 Friday. “I’ll have to really focus on recovery and focus on giving it everything I’ve got even though I’m fresh.
“I want to feel just as bad afterwards, because that is a good thing.”
LeFevre also ran to a school-record of 11.17 seconds in the preliminaries of the 100 dash, falling just short of a spot in today’s finals. He was 10th, coming in 0.02 seconds behind ninth-place Andrew George of St. Thomas Aquinas.
He broke his previous mark of 11.22 seconds, also set at Troy as he won the regional title.
After three quality runs for his freshman speedster Friday, coach Nick Kallas is looking forward to today’s finals.
“Composure,” he said, identifying the key to LeFevre’s success. “He is able to keep his composure and focus on one race at a time. He didn’t have a bad race today at all. Good 100, solid 4x2, and then he comes back in the 200 knowing this his last shot to make a final and he executed it perfectly.”
Fellow freshman Cassy Martin competed in the preliminaries of the girls 400 dash Friday. She finished sixth in her heat and 13th overall in 1 minute, 1.01 seconds.
Wes Wenning, Tanner Koch, Caleb Martin and LeFevre were also 13th in the 4x200 relay in 1:32.98. Tribe junior Tyler Acheson finished 15th in the shot pot with a toss of 44 feet, 11 ¾ inches.