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MANSFIELD - Will Perkins will tell you that track practices at Lexington are bearable only because of what’s waiting at the end of the week.
Take Saturday.
The Minutemen borrowed last year’s script, coming on strong at the end to overtake Ashland and best 19 other teams for a repeat title in the 92nd Mehock Relays.
ONTARIO RELAYS: Colonel Crawford, Crestview rise to the challenge at Ontario Relays
They finished with 111 points to out-distance the runner-up Arrows, their main Ohio Cardinal Conference rival, by 23. Columbus Walnut Ridge (63), Sandusky (50) and Clear Fork (43.5) rounded out the top five.
This marked the third weekend of the 2025 spring season. So far Lex is three-for-three, with titles in the Grove/Keller Invitational at Colonel Crawford and its own Ray Mitchell Invite preceding Saturday’s repeat crown.
“It’s tough at practice,” Perkins said, “but when it’s meet time, and everybody’s winning, it’s a good time.”
Perkins only ran 700 meters in the Mehock, but it probably felt more like 700 miles in terms of importance for the Lex senior.
He ran the anchor leg on the winning 4x200 meter relay squad, collaborating with Bryson Hess and twin brothers Latrell and Dantrell Hughes to set a school record in 1:28.74.
Perkins also ran lead-off on the first place 4x400 team (3:23.71) to make sure the five points he scored in the 100 dash (fourth place) wouldn’t matter.
Since he did both Saturday in the relays, which does he prefer … popping off or anchoring?
“I have always led off to get a good start for our team and set everybody else up,” Perkins said. “I haven’t anchored much, but I know Latrell loves to chase anybody if they’re in the way.”
In the 4x4, the baton went from Perkins to Chance Basilone to Nathan Reed to Latrell Hughes, who earlier set a school record in the 400 dash (48.21).
To kick off the running finals, Basilone ran anchor on the 4x800, joining forces with Gage Devaney, Lincoln Rice and John Bartone to win in 8:11.53.
“We had a lot of guys come in and PR today,” Lex coach Mike Moore said. “It was pretty windy, so to fight through that and go two-three in the (3200) … a lot of our distance guys put in a double (two events). Chance even had a triple (three events).”
Basilone epitomizes the versatility on Lex’s squad. A reigning state indoor champ in the 1600, he’s not pigeonholed into that race. Last week at his school’s invite, the only individual event he ran was the 3200. On Saturday, his only individual race was the 800.
You never know where he’ll show up next. You can say that about a lot of guys on the team.
“That makes it fun,” Moore said. “It keeps the guys on their toes. Chance ran an 8-8-4 (800 leg on the 4x8, the open 800 and a 400 leg on the 4x4), so that’s a little more speed work for him versus running the (3200) last week at home. That’s different training for him.”
Last year, the Minutemen took the lead in the final two events, scoring 12 points in the 3200 on a first by Basilone and a seventh by Devaney and 10 more points by winning the 4x4.
Even though Basilone didn’t win the 800 on Saturday, he did finish third and Devaney placed seventh, which was good enough for Lex to take an 86-80 lead over Ashland.
From there, Lex added a third from Hess in the 200, and a two-three finish from Luke Haring and Bartone in the 3200 before claiming the 4x400 to win the meet going away.
Perkins set the tone in the 4x4 and his teammates followed suit as Lex won the relay by nearly 11 seconds.
“We trust Will so much (to lead off) because he’s been popping off for us for three years,” Moore said. “He’s easy to trust there because he gets out so fast he clears traffic for us.
“But as he showed in the 4x2 today, he can also close fast. He hates chasing, but he loves pushing the pace to the end.”
If not for Shelby’s Gavin Baker closing fast in the 110 meter hurdles, Ashland’s Jayden Goings would have come away with two Mehock gold medals.
He had to settle for a victory in the 300s (40.56) after getting passed on the final hurdle by Baker in the 110s. Baker’s margin of victory was 15.19 to 15.23.
“Gavin is very talented for how young he is,” Goings said of the Shelby sophomore. “His start is a lot better than mine right now.”
Baker, who transferred from Madison to Shelby this past winter, opened some eyes when he returned to his old stomping grounds and won the hurdles and 100 dash back-to-back in the season-opening Madison Invite.
He didn’t attempt that seldom seen double at Mehock.
“Coach (Chris Zuercher) threw me in, so I tried to give it a shot,” Baker said. “It depends on how I’m feeling because I like to be fresh and I don’t want to risk hurting myself.”
Goings vindicated himself in the 300s and he had to do it without a push from Baker, who opted for the 200 dash over the longer hurdles race.
“Battling a torn hamstring during indoor season and coming back from that, I haven’t felt like this since (before the injury),” Goings said. “It feels good to get that wake-up call that “I’m still here and I can still run.”
Goings is lucky to have assistant coaches who were both hurdlers– his dad, Jason, the athletic director at Ashland, and his brother Kameron.
“My dad’s the wisest,” Jayden said. “Most of the time, my brother’s getting wisdom from him, too. He’s a different animal when it comes to knowing hurdles.”
Given his family’s background, Jayden seemed destined to be a hurdler.
“Ever since I was in fourth grade, I’ve been doing hurdles,” he said. “I started doing high jump and long jump, just because I like those events a little bit more. But I kinda fell out of love with the jumps … not really me, but my dad did, so I migrated over to the hurdles.”
The only thing stopping Crestview junior Liam Kuhn on Saturday was the weather. He already had a repeat pole vault title sewn up when a brief thunderstorm hit. That was his cue to stop and settle for a first place height of 14-6.
“I got in my head a little because of the weather, but after (clearing) the first bar I relaxed and got back into my groove,” Kuhn said. “But, of course, Mother Nature let go, so we had to stop.”
Just two days earlier, Kuhn had his personal best, winning the Ontario Relays at 15-3. He cleared 15 feet several times during the indoor season and just a week ago at Sandusky Perkins.
The school record is 15-10. He had several inches to spare on his winning vault at Ontario, so it’s reasonable to assume the record eventually will fall.
“I’m hoping for 16 because it’s going to take the state record (16-1) to win it this year,” Kuhn said. “There’s several good vaulters. Division III is really strong this year.”
That was a big factor in Kuhn giving up wrestling this past winter despite being a two-time district qualifier.
“If I want to be on the level of the top guys, I needed to have an indoor season,” said the indoor and outdoor state medalist. “That way I won’t be months behind and trying to regain it.”
Kuhn has put on about 25 pounds in the last year and can now see eye-to-eye with his 6-5 brother Ross, a former state champ in the 800.
“(The added weight) helps for football,” Kuhn said.
It’s also nice to not be starving himself to make weight for football. He can pretty much eat to his heart’s content.
“That’s the best part,” he said, smiling.
Clear Fork junior Julian Mills is on a roll. He won the shot put in the season-opening Madison Invite and followed the next week by taking first in the Ray Mitchelll Lexington Invite with a throw of 56-9, just four inches off the school record.
He won again in the 92nd Mehock, with a toss of 54-6.
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Lex boys celebrate Easter early, ride relays to repeat Mehock title
Continue reading...
Take Saturday.
The Minutemen borrowed last year’s script, coming on strong at the end to overtake Ashland and best 19 other teams for a repeat title in the 92nd Mehock Relays.
ONTARIO RELAYS: Colonel Crawford, Crestview rise to the challenge at Ontario Relays
They finished with 111 points to out-distance the runner-up Arrows, their main Ohio Cardinal Conference rival, by 23. Columbus Walnut Ridge (63), Sandusky (50) and Clear Fork (43.5) rounded out the top five.
This marked the third weekend of the 2025 spring season. So far Lex is three-for-three, with titles in the Grove/Keller Invitational at Colonel Crawford and its own Ray Mitchell Invite preceding Saturday’s repeat crown.
“It’s tough at practice,” Perkins said, “but when it’s meet time, and everybody’s winning, it’s a good time.”
Perkins only ran 700 meters in the Mehock, but it probably felt more like 700 miles in terms of importance for the Lex senior.
He ran the anchor leg on the winning 4x200 meter relay squad, collaborating with Bryson Hess and twin brothers Latrell and Dantrell Hughes to set a school record in 1:28.74.
Perkins also ran lead-off on the first place 4x400 team (3:23.71) to make sure the five points he scored in the 100 dash (fourth place) wouldn’t matter.
Since he did both Saturday in the relays, which does he prefer … popping off or anchoring?
“I have always led off to get a good start for our team and set everybody else up,” Perkins said. “I haven’t anchored much, but I know Latrell loves to chase anybody if they’re in the way.”
In the 4x4, the baton went from Perkins to Chance Basilone to Nathan Reed to Latrell Hughes, who earlier set a school record in the 400 dash (48.21).
To kick off the running finals, Basilone ran anchor on the 4x800, joining forces with Gage Devaney, Lincoln Rice and John Bartone to win in 8:11.53.
“We had a lot of guys come in and PR today,” Lex coach Mike Moore said. “It was pretty windy, so to fight through that and go two-three in the (3200) … a lot of our distance guys put in a double (two events). Chance even had a triple (three events).”
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Basilone epitomizes the versatility on Lex’s squad. A reigning state indoor champ in the 1600, he’s not pigeonholed into that race. Last week at his school’s invite, the only individual event he ran was the 3200. On Saturday, his only individual race was the 800.
You never know where he’ll show up next. You can say that about a lot of guys on the team.
“That makes it fun,” Moore said. “It keeps the guys on their toes. Chance ran an 8-8-4 (800 leg on the 4x8, the open 800 and a 400 leg on the 4x4), so that’s a little more speed work for him versus running the (3200) last week at home. That’s different training for him.”
Last year, the Minutemen took the lead in the final two events, scoring 12 points in the 3200 on a first by Basilone and a seventh by Devaney and 10 more points by winning the 4x4.
Even though Basilone didn’t win the 800 on Saturday, he did finish third and Devaney placed seventh, which was good enough for Lex to take an 86-80 lead over Ashland.
From there, Lex added a third from Hess in the 200, and a two-three finish from Luke Haring and Bartone in the 3200 before claiming the 4x400 to win the meet going away.
Perkins set the tone in the 4x4 and his teammates followed suit as Lex won the relay by nearly 11 seconds.
“We trust Will so much (to lead off) because he’s been popping off for us for three years,” Moore said. “He’s easy to trust there because he gets out so fast he clears traffic for us.
“But as he showed in the 4x2 today, he can also close fast. He hates chasing, but he loves pushing the pace to the end.”
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Baker, Goings are hurdles champs
If not for Shelby’s Gavin Baker closing fast in the 110 meter hurdles, Ashland’s Jayden Goings would have come away with two Mehock gold medals.
He had to settle for a victory in the 300s (40.56) after getting passed on the final hurdle by Baker in the 110s. Baker’s margin of victory was 15.19 to 15.23.
“Gavin is very talented for how young he is,” Goings said of the Shelby sophomore. “His start is a lot better than mine right now.”
Baker, who transferred from Madison to Shelby this past winter, opened some eyes when he returned to his old stomping grounds and won the hurdles and 100 dash back-to-back in the season-opening Madison Invite.
He didn’t attempt that seldom seen double at Mehock.
“Coach (Chris Zuercher) threw me in, so I tried to give it a shot,” Baker said. “It depends on how I’m feeling because I like to be fresh and I don’t want to risk hurting myself.”
Goings vindicated himself in the 300s and he had to do it without a push from Baker, who opted for the 200 dash over the longer hurdles race.
“Battling a torn hamstring during indoor season and coming back from that, I haven’t felt like this since (before the injury),” Goings said. “It feels good to get that wake-up call that “I’m still here and I can still run.”
Goings is lucky to have assistant coaches who were both hurdlers– his dad, Jason, the athletic director at Ashland, and his brother Kameron.
“My dad’s the wisest,” Jayden said. “Most of the time, my brother’s getting wisdom from him, too. He’s a different animal when it comes to knowing hurdles.”
Given his family’s background, Jayden seemed destined to be a hurdler.
“Ever since I was in fourth grade, I’ve been doing hurdles,” he said. “I started doing high jump and long jump, just because I like those events a little bit more. But I kinda fell out of love with the jumps … not really me, but my dad did, so I migrated over to the hurdles.”
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Repeat title for Kuhn
The only thing stopping Crestview junior Liam Kuhn on Saturday was the weather. He already had a repeat pole vault title sewn up when a brief thunderstorm hit. That was his cue to stop and settle for a first place height of 14-6.
“I got in my head a little because of the weather, but after (clearing) the first bar I relaxed and got back into my groove,” Kuhn said. “But, of course, Mother Nature let go, so we had to stop.”
Just two days earlier, Kuhn had his personal best, winning the Ontario Relays at 15-3. He cleared 15 feet several times during the indoor season and just a week ago at Sandusky Perkins.
The school record is 15-10. He had several inches to spare on his winning vault at Ontario, so it’s reasonable to assume the record eventually will fall.
“I’m hoping for 16 because it’s going to take the state record (16-1) to win it this year,” Kuhn said. “There’s several good vaulters. Division III is really strong this year.”
That was a big factor in Kuhn giving up wrestling this past winter despite being a two-time district qualifier.
“If I want to be on the level of the top guys, I needed to have an indoor season,” said the indoor and outdoor state medalist. “That way I won’t be months behind and trying to regain it.”
Kuhn has put on about 25 pounds in the last year and can now see eye-to-eye with his 6-5 brother Ross, a former state champ in the 800.
“(The added weight) helps for football,” Kuhn said.
It’s also nice to not be starving himself to make weight for football. He can pretty much eat to his heart’s content.
“That’s the best part,” he said, smiling.
Another title for Mills
Clear Fork junior Julian Mills is on a roll. He won the shot put in the season-opening Madison Invite and followed the next week by taking first in the Ray Mitchelll Lexington Invite with a throw of 56-9, just four inches off the school record.
He won again in the 92nd Mehock, with a toss of 54-6.
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Lex boys celebrate Easter early, ride relays to repeat Mehock title
Continue reading...
