Athletes battle delays, rain to finish out state meet

COLUMBUS — Mother Nature came out the big winner in Saturday's portion of the state track meet, with storms causing multiple delays lasting several hours and even pushing part of the Division II meet into Sunday's portion.Still, three area athletes found their way to the podium before and after the rain.Clyde junior Dekin Crockett fared the best, claiming third in the boys Division III 300 hurdles while the Bellevue senior duo of Amerie Wagner and Lily Sosa wound up on the same step in different Division III girls events.Wagner ran sixth in the 400 while Sosa tied for sixth in the pole vault.Crockett's third in the 300 hurdles came after near disaster at the end.The junior clipped the last hurdle, stumbled and then dove across the line to finish in 37.99 seconds."It was crazy," he said. "I hit the hurdle at the last one (before the finish line) and I felt myself tumbling, I was like, 'I at least have to dive.' So I just knew what I had to do."I was pretty pleased with my performance. There's a little bit that I could've changed. I floated on a couple hurdles. My goal was a state championship and I got third, so I'm not going to sit here and be disappointed and get down on myself," Crocket said. "I just tried to run my best race and tried to give it everything I had, and I felt like I did that."Of course, it took a while to do that.His final was originally scheduled to go at 7 p.m. but he and the others in his race didn't hit the track until shortly before 10 p.m."Talk about overcoming adversity," Crockett said. "I was supposed to run at 7, I was trying to prepare for that. We got delayed, and we got delayed a couple more times, and I just kept telling myself … 'I'm going out here to run, it doesn't matter about the rain or the weather' and I don't think it really affected me that much, to be honest with you."Wagner thought the cool temperatures after Saturday's storm might have slowed the runners in her race a bit, but she said she countered that by feeding off the crowd as she rounded the final turn en route to sixth in 57.29 seconds."This crowd, you can't even hear your own thoughts. You can't," she said. "My legs are pumping, my arms are pumping, my legs are moving, it's like I'm floating. I just exploded right across the finish line."This crowd is insane, nothing like at home at Bellevue or anywhere close," Wagner said. "This is crazy. They help you, they help you."The race capped her Bellevue career and marked her first trip to state in an individual event. She competed earlier in the day with teammates Payton Taylor, Natalie Littlejohn and Hallie McCarthy in the 4x200, but the team ended ninth and didn't reach the podium."I went into it [400] super happy. I was like, 'This is my last race.' Finished off in the 4x2 ninth, not what we wanted, but I was genuinely just so excited (about the 400). It's my last high school race ever, so why not go in nerf free and just ready to have fun," she said.Sosa ended her prep career before the storms came Saturday, earning a bit of redemption while continuing a bit of family legacy by clearing 11-0 to tie for sixth in the pole vault."I made it to state my sophomore year and then struggled a little bit last year and I didn't make it to state," said the senior who will continue her vaulting career at Tiffin University. "This year I did, and to get on the podium, that was a goal of mine. It meant a lot to me. I had a terrible regional meet last year."Sosa missed all three of her attempts at 11-6, which would have topped her PR of 11-4"Eleven-six would've been nice but I was with a pole I've never used before and I was holding it at the top so I had some good looks at it," she said.But she did place, something she didn't do two years ago."I knew I had to vault clean to place. If I didn't jump clean I probably wouldn't have placed, so that helped a lot today," Sosa said."It's hard. Everyone's so good when you get to this level, so to place and compete with them is crazy," she said.She also became the third generation of her family to place in the event at state.Her grandfather, Shawn Russell, who is also her vaulting coach, took sixth for Bellevue's boys back in 1974 while an uncle and an aunt both won titles."My grandpa's my coach, he's put a lot of time into me and pole vault. To get on the podium has meant a lot to me," Sosa said. "I've been pole vaulting since, like, fifth grade. We have a club in Bellevue and I've been around it since I was child."Columbian freshman Caroline Newlove was scheduled to run in Saturday's Division II girls semifinals of the 300 hurdles, but that race and many others in Division were pushed to the next day. Semifinal races like hers were run as straight heats to determine places based on times Sunday.Newlove took eighth in her heat of nine runners in 45.76 seconds, finishing 14th overall in the 18-runner field.She didn't reach the podium, but said she will build off the experience for the future."Honestly I was just really glad that I got here because I was coming off a quad injury at the beginning of the season and it was really hard for me to just be patient with it. But making it down here, I didn't do everything I expected to do today, but I really went out there and gave it my all and that's all I can say," she said. "I know I'll be back the next three (years), coming back harder because it just gave me a bigger desire and I want it more."It just means I want it more," Newlove said. "I have a bigger desire to do better next year and the next couple of years."