PIQUA — Shelby junior Gavin Baker wasn’t going into the Division III regional championship 110-meter hurdle race looking to win.
Top 5 would have been just enough for him so he could advance to state where he was going to go for it all. But, Baker outraced the entire field by posting the winning time of 14.50 seconds besting second place by .31 seconds.
He will take it.
“The process going into today was just to get my snappiness down,” Baker said. “I haven’t been very snappy during the postseason so that is something I am going to keep working on before next week.”
Baker has been trying to find that snappiness and may have found it on Saturday, May 30 at Piqua High School during the regional championship meet. Or maybe he found it in the week leading up when he and the rest of the Whippets had an unorthodox practice week.
“I was lucky enough to be able to run the race that I did,” Baker said. “It was a close one at the beginning, but I am happy I came out with a win. I have been working very hard and event went over to a joint practice with Colonel Crawford because our coaches wanted us to hear different voices. It helped so much.”
The win qualified Baker for the state championships next week at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the campus of The Ohio State University. He is also going as a member of the 4×100-meter relay team that took third at regionals with a 42.67 despite missing one of their key runners in Brayden DeVito.
Brady Bowman, Luke Blevins, Renner Gano and Baker did enough to nab one of the Top 5 qualifying spots in the event.
“It has been so nice to see the process pay off,” Baker said. “I would have loved to have repeated in the 4×100, but give Luke Blevins a ton of credit for stepping in and helping us qualify for state. He is an amazing team player and a talented freshman.”
Baker is a returning All-Ohioan in the 110-hurdles after finishing sixth last year with a 14.56 in the state finals. He was also part of the sixth-place 4×100 team that posted a 42.61 to earn All-Ohio honors.
He would love nothing more than to add two more All-Ohio honors to his collection.
Shelby field event specialists also making trip to state
Baker will be far from alone in Columbus. To go along with his 4×100 relay teammates, sophomore Clayton Mitchell punched his ticket to state in the boys shot put competition by taking third overall with a toss of 55-09.75.
Senior Gavin Miller is also moving on to Columbus in the boys high jump after he took fifth place clearing 6-03 for a new personal best at the perfect time.
Both Mitchell and Miller are making their first appearances at state.
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Baker’s regional hurdles title part of big day for Shelby Whippets boys