Siblings Jenny and Matt Seas will be making return trips to Columbus for the OHSAA State Track Meet, both competing in the 3200 Meter Run. (Photos by Mark Carpenter)

 

Peebles siblings headed back to Columbus, Jenny as regional champion – 

By Mark Carpenter – 

The field is set for the 2018 Ohio High School Athletic Association State Track and Field Meet and two athletes from Adams County will be making return trips to Columbus and return trips to the podium. Brother and sister Matt and Jenny Seas, representing Peebles High School, will both be looking for state titles in the 3200 Meter Run, Jenny in her third consecutive trip to state and Matt in his second.
Jenny Seas will be heading to Columbus as a regional champion as she topped the field in the 3200 in the Division III Regional Meet last Friday night, easily outdistancing the meet’s second place runner with her winning time of 11:02.71. Jenny finished third in last year’s state meet in the 3200, but both runners ahead of here were seniors, which makes her the favorite going into this year’s race, which will kick off on Saturday, June 2 at 11:25 a.m. in Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the campus of Ohio State University.
Matt Seas will be making his second trip to the state meet in the 3200 event, where he placed eighth in last year’s race. Matt earned a return trip to the state capital with a fourth place finish at the regional meet, which was held at Fairfield Union High School in Lancaster. Matt’s time at the regional was 9:43.45, leaving him one spot behind Fairfield’s Matthew Mangus, who clocked in at 9:42.64. Last spring, Matt made the podium at the state meet with an eighth place finish and will be looking to bump that up more than a few spots on Saturday at OSU, race slated for 11:25 a.m.
The Seas siblings were the only athletes from Adams County to qualify for the state meet, though numerous others competed in the regional meet, where the county was very well represented. If you are a fan of the girls relay teams from Peebles, then you certainly must be savoring the thought of the next two seasons. The young quartet of freshmen Jacey Justice and Lilly Gray plus sophomores Kierra Stone and Alisan Behr placed seventh in the 4 x 400 at the regional meet, breaking their own personal record with a time of 4:13.94. The same foursome also placed eighth in the 4 x 200 relay with a time of 1:50.44.
It was a great all-around spring campaign for Coach Tyler Wilson and his Peebles track squads, with a lot of talented young athletes. The freshman Gray is just one of those and she placed ninth in the 400 Meter Dash preliminaries, failing to make the finals, but still with one very promising future. The same goes for the sophomore Stone, who was podium-worthy at the regionals, placing seventh in the Girls 300 Meter Hurdles with a time of 48.43, only four seconds off the winner’s time.
On the boys side, the Peebles 4 x 400 relay team of Corey Baldridge, Levi Skinner, Kyle Lightner, and Kalub Smith did not reach the regional finals, finishing 13th in the prelims. Smith also competed in the Boys 300 Meter Hurdles, finishing 13th in the preliminaries with a time of 43.80.
The West Union Dragons also were present at the regional meet, though no Dragons earned berths on Columbus this season. The Dragons’ Boys 4 x 800 relay team of Colt Parker, Steven Runyan, Braxton Blanton, and Adam Fulton placed 15th overall with a time of 9:21.81. West Union junior Conner Campbell finished 13th in the Boys 100 Meter Dash preliminaries (11.91) and 13th in the 200 Meter Dash Prelims (24.64), and finally was 10th in the Boys Long Jump with an effort of 19’3.25”.
Recently signed to continue his track career at the collegiate level, North Adams senior Dylan Ison finished off a solid senior season at the regional meet. Ison placed 11th in the 400 Meter Dash preliminaries 953.65), and just missed a trip to state by one spot in the High Jump, placing fifth with a best jump of 6’1”. The North Adams standout also was seventh in the Long Jump (20’1”).
Finally, another Adams County athlete finished off a more than memorable high school career at the Division III regionals. Manchester senior Ethan Pennywitt, who fought off health issues to put together another impressive season, making the podium with an eighth place finish in the 800 Meter Run, and in doing so, breaking his own school record, with a time of 2:04.93.