Character builder

CELINA, Ohio — The conditions made getting solid, and accurate, times difficult.

Wind gusted on the back stretch throughout the meet. At the start, it rained, and by the finish four hours later, runners had to battle snowflakes.

Regardless of score, all half dozen schools that participated Friday can walk away with something — character.

The Fort Recovery and South Adams high school track teams battled weather more suitable for wintry outdoor sports than a track meet on Friday in the Celina Relays.

“If anything it builds a little bit of character,” said first-year FRHS track coach Kylee Moody. “We ran in the snow, we ran in the wind. We dealt with it. We had some really good performances and hopefully come the end of May and June when it’s hot out we can think back to this and how it just made us stronger.”

Fort Recovery’s girls scored 54 points to finish third, six points ahead of South Adams.

Complete results, including boys scores, were not available.

“We talked about (the weather) last night and how this is a life lesson,” South Adams coach Clint Anderson said. “You’re not always going to have conditions the way you want. Not everything is going to fall in line the way you want. You’re not always going to have the best conditions. You make the absolute best of it.

“Tonight we came over here just looking to improve our mindset when the weather isn’t quite what you want.”

With a strong wind at his back, Fort Recovery’s Jared Timmerman set a career best in long jump with his distance of 19 feet, 3 inches. Brayden Schoen won high jump with a height of 5 feet, 8 inches. He then joined Owen Moorman, Robby LeFevre and Schoen to take first in the 4x100 relay.

“Our sprinters did really well today as well as our jumpers,” Moody said. “We had some good long jump and good high jump showings today.”

South Adams senior Addie Wanner passed her way to 5 feet, 2 inches, in the high jump competition. Coldwater’s Erin Kremer jumped 4 feet, 10 inches, and chose to stop there, meaning all Wanner had to do was clear her opening height to get the victory.

The 2017 fifth-place finisher at state and Louisville commit made easy work of the height, then went straight to 5 feet, 8 inches, one inch higher than her school record. She missed all three attempts.

Anderson, whose teams split with Winchester on Thursday in slightly warmer temperatures than Friday, was pleased with the effort his teams put forth on what he called the coldest meet he’s ever attended.

“We’ve had a tough two days,” he said. “Weather hasn’t been the best … What stood out to me is the kids just kept trying hard and pushing through things. A meet like this is kind of hard, especially for our girls, because we have small numbers and you’re asked to put four kids in each event.

“There were a few (events) tonight we didn’t even go in just to give them a chance to have a little bit of a break over the course of the meet. Just the fact everyone went out there, kept their spirits high even though they’re probably freezing, and just kept working hard.”