Bellevue wins girls title at Pirates Invite

SANDUSKY --Amerie Wagner piled up wins, helping the Lady Red capture the girls team title with 124.5 points at the Jim Hauser Pirate Relays Meet that was held at Perkins High School on Friday. "It's kind of a fun meet," Bellevue coach Lee Booze said. "You get to do some events you don't normally get to do. It allows you to get some young girls some experience in a big meet that you wouldn't normally do at a regular invite because of entry limitations. "We were able to get some girls some really good reps and experience and expose them to a big meet." Wagner started her day with a win in the 100 dash in a time of 12.39 seconds. "I was really hoping to get first," Wagner said. "We haven't had a meet yet, so here I wanted to get out and have a good race with a good time under my belt. I was trying to push for a PR and work on my block starts. I wanted to stay smooth throughout the race. I tend to lean at the end. I wanted to stay tall." Bellevue's first meet that was scheduled for Tuesday at Perkins was postponed due to weather. She then teamed with Hallie McCarthy, Lilly Sosa and Natalie Littlejohn to capture the 4x200 relay. Wagner had the lead when she took the baton and never wavered. "My team is great," Wagner said. "They gave me a good start where I can focus. I focus on form and getting us higher times." Wagner (5-04) teamed with Kaitlyn Turinsky (5-04) and Payton Taylor (4-06) to take the high jump victory. She tagged with Bella Slater, Ava Jakubcin-Theis and McCarthy to win the 800 sprint medley in 1:53.11. "She came off a really good indoor season and she's been training well," Booze said. "She has high expectations and works pretty hard for it." Slater, Jakubcin-Theis, Littlejohn and Taylor won the 4x100 relay in 52.03 while Littlejohn, McCarthy, Lilly Sosa and Emma Raymond won the 4x400, crossing the line in 4:27.06. "We can run some relays that we want to run pretty strong later in the year," Booze said. "That gives us a baseline of where we're at. When it comes to the state level, we're always looking to build good relay teams. This is where you start experimenting." Bellevue (34 points) won the field portion championship, as well. McCarthy (17-00.25), Littlejohn (16-07.25) and Brooklyn Stovall (13-05.50) won the combined long jump relay. Sosa had the top mark in the pole vault with a score of 10-6. "Lilly Sosa was our only vaulter today. She won the vault individually and still got fourth overall," Booze said. "I told her to go out there and have fun and win it. You can't win the relay part, but you want her to jump well. Our long jumpers did great. Our throwers are coming along, too. The field event trophy is fun because you don't get to do that at most meets."