Bly's special day highlights Clear Fork girls regional titles haul

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PIQUA — Clear Fork junior Taylor Bly had a target when she walked in the stadium at Piqua High School for the Division III regional championship track and field meet on Saturday, May 30.

Her own target was a desperate desire to post a sub-55-second time in the 400-meter dash and the other target was the one she had one her back going into her specialty race.

She nearly hit a bullseye when she won the 400-meter dash regional championship with a blistering 55.03 seconds and the other target she outran by .91 seconds, which was how far second place was behind her in the race.

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“I was so close,” Bly said smiling. “I actually had goosebumps before this race. I was so nervous because I knew there was a target on my back and I was going in trying to do something crazy like go for 54 seconds. It is right there and I am so close.”

Bly advanced to next week’s Division III state track and field championships at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the campus of The Ohio State University for the second consecutive year in the 400. Last year, she needed an at-large bid after not earning an automatic qualifying spot. She turned it into an All-Ohio honor as she finished eighth in the state, but this year, she didn’t want to leave it up to chance. She wanted an auto spot and ended up with a regional title.

“My push was how much I hated going to state last year out of luck,” Bly said. “This year, it was not happening. It was in my head that I am leaving nothing to chance and I was going to make sure I was going to state on my own accord. It just happened to be a 55.03 is the best in this region.”

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The 400 was just the first of Bly’s regional championship performances. She teamed up with Katie Beck, Quinn Stover and Asia Bechtel on the Division III regional championship 4×400-meter relay team that posted a 3:53.45 to take home the title.

It took a lot of personal glory sacrifice for the betterment of the team and each one of them are happy to have made it. Bly passed up on competing in the 100 and 200-meter dashes in the postseason so she could have fresh legs in the 400 and the relays.

Sophomore Quinn Stover made a difficult decision to pass up on competing in the 800-meter regional championship so she didn’t have to turn around on tired legs and try to compete in her leg of the 4×400. It worked out just as she predicted, with one of her best splits of the season.

“Dropping the 800 was the best decision I could have made because we needed a good split for the 4×400,” Stover said. “I don’t think I could have given the team a good split after running the 800 and not having fresh legs. It is so tough to do that and my legs are always so dead. I am happy I chose to drop it because now we have a regional championship.”

Freshman Katie Beck started the race off with a blistering pace that set the tone for the rest of the team. She knew she needed to find another gear if the Colts were to win a regional championship.

“I always feel like first leg is so important because you need the rest of your teammates to be in a good spot for the rest of the race,” Beck said. “You can’t come in looking at fourth or fifth at the start of the second leg because that just throws us off the game plan. I knew I had to decide to give it everything I had and I am glad it paid off for all of us.”

Bechtel took the third leg and was matched up with Ontario’s Tessa Crum as well as several other fast 400 runners. Bechtel kept the Colts within striking distance.

“All I wanted to do was put my anchor in a good spot,” Bechtel said. “I knew there were some good runners with great kicks in the last 200 meters, so all I was thinking about was keeping up with them and giving Taylor a chance to go win it for us. It was all ‘don’t think, just do’ today.”

Bly followed that mentality and cruised around the track at break-neck speed to give the Colts a regional championship. She refused to take any individual credit.

“All these girls put me in an amazing spot and put me exactly where I needed to be,” Bly said. “They did their jobs perfectly and I just happened to be the one to tie it all together and put all the puzzle pieces together to complete the race.”

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Beck, Bechtel, Taylor Richmond and Bly are also moving on in the 4×200-meter relay after taking third place in the regional meet with a 1:42.35 to earn an automatic state qualifying spot.

Bechtel joins Bly as a three-event state qualifier after she earned an at-large bid in the girls high jump after taking sixth clearing 5-02 in the regional championships.

Clear Fork distance specialist Katrina Neal will be competing at state in the 1,600 and 3,200-meter run. She was third in the 1,600 with a 5:05.05 and third in the 3,200 with an 11:04.97.

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Clear Fork’s Bly, 4×400 relay win Division III regional championships