Francis 16th in 100

WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Abbie Francis was almost four tenths of a second faster than she was at regional.

She came up a bit short of getting to run on day two of the state finals.

Francis, a Fort Recovery High School junior, placed 16th on Friday in the 100-meter dash preliminaries during the OHSAA Division III Track and Field State Championships at Jim McCann Stadium at Westerville North.

The top two runners in each heat plus the next two times advance to the finals, set for 2:10 p.m. today.

The Indians have two other individuals competing in field events beginning at 10 a.m. today.

Francis, was seeded 16th heading into the race with her time of 13.15 seconds she set had at regional, was sixth in her heat with a time of 12.87 seconds. Top-seeded Greta Barker, a senior from Crooksville who was eighth in the state as a sophomore, backed up her performance by running to a blistering 12.29 seconds to win the same heat Francis was in and earn the No. 1 seed for today’s finals.

Liberty Center’s Kennedy Roell is seeded eighth with her time of 12.51 seconds.

Fort Recovery Junior Whitley Rammel is seeded third for today’s shot put, while freshman Mara Pearson is the No. 5 seed in long jump.



Pioneer crushes Williams

Pioneer Packaging racked up 24 runs and kept Williams Auto Parts off the scoreboard in a 24-0 lopsided win on Friday in their Portland Junior League Rookie baseball contest.

Bryce VanSkyock doubled and hit three singles to pace Pioneer, which also got four singles from Gabe Bentz and three singles from Bentley Berry.

Parker Huntsman led Williams with a pair of singles, while Liam Schrieber and LJ Carter each singled once.