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Grose ECOL Runner of the Year

What a difference a year makes.

Last season, the Marietta High track teams were near or at the top of the East Central Ohio League, as the girls were second and the boys placed first in the league meet.

This season, not so much, as the boys placed eighth and the girls ninth out of 10 teams in the ECOL Championship meet Friday at Don Drumm Stadium.

Dover ran away with the ECOL title on the girls side with 138.5 points, 42.5 points ahead of second place Zanesville. River View claimed the boys championship, beating out Cambridge and Zanesville by a score of 97-85.

In comparison, the Marietta boys and girls scored 53 and 46, respectively.

However, the night did not end without some bright spots for the orange and black.

Mitchell Grose claimed a pair of individual league championships in the 800 meter run (2:00.37) and the 1600 meter run (4:27.32) to earn ECOL Runner of the Year honors.

Grose won the 1600 by a whopping 15 seconds, with the next closest finisher being Dover’s Conner Limbaugh, who came in at 4:42.54.

The 800 was much more competitive. Limbaugh led most of the way but Grose was able to catch up to the Tornado runner down the stretch and beat him by half a second to claim his second victory of the night.

“That was a great race in the 800,” said MHS boys head coach B.J. Mayer. “(Grose) nipped that kid from Dover at the line. That’s a heckuva double for him.”

The Tigers also saw two placers in the boys pole vault.

Caleb Hall set a personal record with a vault of 13-feet-6 inches, good for second. Will Cogswell notched a height of 12-feet to finish fourth.

“The vaulters did well,” Mayer said.

“To score two in the vault, that’s a good day.”

Pole vault was also a bright spot for the girls, as Lizzie Crum soared 9-feet-6 inches into the air, high enough for an ECOL crown.

“She’s (Crum) got a really good chance of continuing that way next week at districts and making it out to regionals,” said Lady Tiger head coach Mollie Schramm. “Lizzie had a good night.”

Julie Fobes just missed being an ECOL champ twice, finishing second in both the 800 (2:26.81) and 1600 (5:30.49) . Fobes was just a second behind Coshocton’s Casey Fortney in the 800 and five seconds behind Katherine Lehman of Dover in the 1600.

“Julie had a great night,” Schramm said. “Julie went out and ran really well in the mile.

“She did four events and did very well in them. She had a good night for me.”

The girls also saw the 4 by 800 meter relay team of Erica Dawson, Brittany Deskins, Josie Miracle and Fobes place third with a time of 10:37.50.

Outside of that, it was not a great night for the ladies.

“Honestly, I’m a little disappointed in some of the performances,” Schramm said.

“I told them it really wasn’t about times and it wasn’t about distance. It was about places today and some of our girls just didn’t come through. I would be lying if I didn’t say I was disappointed.”

Mayer was a little more content with how his team performed.

“Even though we finished eighth out of 10 teams, I think we still had a great day,” he said. “There were a lot of PRs, a lot of season bests.

“With 20 kids, it’s really tough to field a competitive team. The kids here that competed did very well. I can’t ask any more out of them.”

The Tigers will be right back on their home turf Thursday as Don Drumm will be the site for the Division I Southeast District Tournament meet.

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