BaldwinCity.com

Photo by Jimmy Gillispie

Baldwin High School freshman Shalisha Poe won her heat of the 400-meter dash Friday.

Photo by Jimmy Gillispie

Baldwin High School senior Anthony Ciambrone releases the shot put during one of his throws.

Photo by Jimmy Gillispie

Baldwin High School sophomore Connor Twombly runs the leadoff leg of the 3,200-meter relay Friday at the Redbud Classic.

Wellsville — The Baldwin High School track teams went through their final tune up for the three most important meets of the season here Friday.

BHS competed at the annual Redbud Classic last week, but will be looking to rebound with strong performances at the Frontier League meet today in Spring Hill.

"We have league this week, so we are going to try and get in there and compete as well as we can," BHS boys' coach Spielman said. "We'll see what happens."

A year ago, both Baldwin teams finished fourth in the league, which was then 13 teams. It has now shrunk to eight teams, but the usual powerhouses remain in the league.

The BHS boys are battling some injuries heading into the meet and will be without a few point scorers, while the BHS girls are hoping to be healthy as they try to make a run toward a league title.

"We haven't seen Gardner head-to-head and they have a pretty solid team," BHS girls' coach Ted Zuzzio said. "We also haven't seen much of Ottawa or De Soto. I think it could come down to several teams."

The meet will begin at 3:30 today in Spring Hill. The meet will be held at the district stadium, which is located at the former high school, not the new building.

Baldwin's final preparation for the league meet was the Redbud Classic Friday. While it wasn't the best meet for the BHS girls, the boys' team had a nice showing, according to Spielman.

"I thought the guys did a nice job at meet and placing third was big for us," he said. "There were a bunch of teams that were really close together and we just happened to get a couple more points than the other teams so we ended up third. It was a good day for us."

Baldwin won a pair of events on the boys' side. Senior Dustin Schiller won the 400-meter dash and anchored the 1,600-meter relay to gold. Schiller ran 50.6 in the 400 and the 1,600 relay ran 3:30.2.

"The big performances were Dustin Schiller winning the 400 and winning the honorary plaque and the 4x400 winning the Jim Wright plaque," Spielman said. "It's a special deal to win those plaques and have your name engraved on them."

Other top performances included the 400-meter relay placing second, freshman Carson Barnes running a season-best time in the 300-meter hurdles, senior Beau Elder throwing a near personal-best in the shot put, junior Logan Schiller's runner-up in the pole vault and freshman Tony Weiss running a solid 3,200-meter run to end the night.

The BHS girls' team headed into the meet with a few injuries and health issues. Despite those setbacks, Zuzzio said there were a few performances that highlighted the meet.

"The Redbud was done with mixed emotions," he said. "We were going through a series where we had some kids who were not feeling 100 percent. Courtney Harris was home with Strep. throat and she's kind of an important key to our team.

"We had some other kids that weren't at 100 percent at the meet, but still competed," Zuzzio said. "We weren't able to beat any of our previous times. Overall, we wouldn't say it was a blue-chip performance."

Senior Heather Garcia won the 3,200 run and helped the 3,200-meter relay win gold Friday. She also ran on the 1,600-relay that finished second and finished third in the 400 dash. Freshman Lyndsey Lober placed fourth in the 100-meter hurdles, while fellow freshman Ramie Burkhart finished just ahead of Lober in the 300 hurdles in fifth place.

"We are looking to regroup for the league meet," Zuzzio said. "We want to compete at the top of our game."