State Feature: Young Lions earn state bid for Fairfield
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
The Fairfield Lions are back at the OHSAA State Track and Field Championships this weekend, and for the Lions in their Division III event, they look to gain experience and see where the chips fall following their Division III race on Friday.
Fairfield’s 4x800-meter relay team consists of no seniors, giving this group of junior Trent Swisher, sophomores Noah Richmond and Matthew Mangus and freshman Brandtson Duffie a chance to not only compete on the biggest stage at the state meet, but they also have a chance to gain valuable experience for both future track and field seasons and their cross-country team in the fall, as all four members are a part of that successful program as well.
“It is pretty exciting to qualify as a team this year, and we didn’t believe it at first because we are such a young team,” Matthew Mangus said. “I thought at the beginning of the year we had a chance to go to state in the 4x8, but the day before the regionals, I wasn’t sure if we could make it or not because it was going to be tough to do.
“I was very surprised we qualified, but after I handed off the baton, I knew then we were going to get fourth, and I was real shocked.”
The Lions changed the entire order of the relay team before the regional meet, and assistant coach Bill Mangus spoke of the switch and why they did it late into the season.
“We’ve been to regionals six years in a row in the 4x800, and one of my observations and one of the things I’ve learned is you must get out quickly in order to compete at that level,” he said. “We decided to take our top 800 runner, and although he’s just a freshman, we expect a lot out of him to run first, and he didn’t let us down. He got out to a tremendous start, and the rest of the boys were able to hold up their end and got us qualified to state.
“It is very exciting to watch the growth of these young men all season, and it was nice to see them compete and have success at regionals. Hopefully that carries over to our cross-country program in the fall and helps make it even more successful.”
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To qualify for state, the Lions 4x8 team placed third with a time of 8:26.35 at regionals. During their district meet, the Lions were champions of the event with a 4x8 time of 8:46.52, and they won the Southern Hills Athletic Conference 4x8 title with a time of 8:48.11 as the Lions also won the overall SHAC title as well.
The Lions achieved all of that success without having their own track, with the Lions practicing on a parking lot and at other schools who are kind enough to let them use their facilities.
“To achieve all of that without a track facility of our own, though we have one on the way … the kids can look at this as an example of hard work and perseverance, and hopefully we can get more kids qualifying to the state meet,” Bill Mangus said.
“Hillsboro and East Clinton have been very nice and let us use their facilities, and it has been a great help to be a guest at their facility. It makes it meaningful to qualify that way, but it also shows that hard work, diligence and focus can be accomplished anywhere, and these young men have proven that.”
This team has worked all season to get to this point, where they will be running at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the campus of The Ohio State University this weekend, and for the four runners, there have been changes in the order they run recently, but it was a welcome change for the group with Duffie being the new lead man of the squad.
“For the 4x8, being the first person out, the pressure is on you to get out fast enough to put your team into position to win, and at regionals, it was that and to help put us in a position to qualify for state,” Duffie said. “Starting the race is really nerve-wracking because you know it is on you to start it, and you have to go out with the top people and try to stick with them and stay consistent.
“When I came in this year and ran my first indoor meet, I ran well, but not as well as I would have thought, and I knew I had a lot of work to do. I put in the work, and I thought we could make it to regionals, but making it to state was a big accomplishment for us. Making it with this group of guys, it is really a great group to be around and race with.”
Assistant coach Mangus knew Duffie would succeed at the varsity level as a freshman this season.
“I was not surprised because he has a lot of talent, a tremendous work ethic and he’s a very smart kid,” Bill Mangus said. “I expected he would deliver, and I expected the 4x800 team to qualify for state … I was not surprised. I fully expected these kids would get to the top four at regionals.”
Next in the running order is Swisher, who is also making state for the first time, as he is now a three-time regional racer as well.
“It was amazing to make it as a young team,” he said. “Just having one freshman and two sophomores with me as a junior, it is just amazing we made it, being so young. A lot of work goes into the season. We work on our handoffs for a couple weeks, trying to get it down to have a faster time.
“Running second in the relay is normal, but it was the first time I ran second (at regionals), but I was okay with it. This season we started out at an 8:55 and to get down to an 8:26 is great.”
Third in the order is Matthew Mangus, as he spoke about seeing the relay team progress throughout the season.
“To see our team progress was interesting,” he said. “We were a lot slower at the start of the year, and we’ve experimented a lot with a few changes and such, but we decided to stay with the four runners we have now and it has really worked and been great for us to grow as a team and get faster together. We are really excited to run on Friday and to just run our best, and have another fast time.
“As for running third, I like it better than when I ran second, because our first two legs, with Brandtson and Trent, they get us off to a fast start, and when I get the baton, I just try to hang on with the front people.”
Rounding out the team is the final runner of the relay in Richmond.
“Pretty much you have to do the best you possibly can, because all three of them before me gave all they had, so if you mess up, their hard work is for nothing,” Richmond said of being the final leg of the relay team. “I was originally third leg but got moved to anchor, but I like being the anchor. There isn’t that big of a difference in running third to fourth, except one you pass the baton and the other you don’t.
“The feeling has sunk in that we will be competing at state. I knew we had the talent and coaching to get there, so it is real exciting to go and qualify for state. We have to do exactly what we did at regionals, but just better at state.”
Head coach Debbie Mangus spoke about the team chemistry of the relay team.
“You want kids who want to run and compete as a group, because all four members of a relay team need to rely and trust each other, and these four have a great chemistry because they are friends on and off the field and it shows up in their performance and makes a difference.
“We are going out at the highest level that you can go out with and made it to the pinnacle of the sport competition in the state championships, and we hope to have a solid performance.”
Fairfield’s 4x800-meter relay team consists of no seniors, giving this group of junior Trent Swisher, sophomores Noah Richmond and Matthew Mangus and freshman Brandtson Duffie a chance to not only compete on the biggest stage at the state meet, but they also have a chance to gain valuable experience for both future track and field seasons and their cross-country team in the fall, as all four members are a part of that successful program as well.
“It is pretty exciting to qualify as a team this year, and we didn’t believe it at first because we are such a young team,” Matthew Mangus said. “I thought at the beginning of the year we had a chance to go to state in the 4x8, but the day before the regionals, I wasn’t sure if we could make it or not because it was going to be tough to do.
“I was very surprised we qualified, but after I handed off the baton, I knew then we were going to get fourth, and I was real shocked.”
The Lions changed the entire order of the relay team before the regional meet, and assistant coach Bill Mangus spoke of the switch and why they did it late into the season.
“We’ve been to regionals six years in a row in the 4x800, and one of my observations and one of the things I’ve learned is you must get out quickly in order to compete at that level,” he said. “We decided to take our top 800 runner, and although he’s just a freshman, we expect a lot out of him to run first, and he didn’t let us down. He got out to a tremendous start, and the rest of the boys were able to hold up their end and got us qualified to state.
“It is very exciting to watch the growth of these young men all season, and it was nice to see them compete and have success at regionals. Hopefully that carries over to our cross-country program in the fall and helps make it even more successful.”
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To qualify for state, the Lions 4x8 team placed third with a time of 8:26.35 at regionals. During their district meet, the Lions were champions of the event with a 4x8 time of 8:46.52, and they won the Southern Hills Athletic Conference 4x8 title with a time of 8:48.11 as the Lions also won the overall SHAC title as well.
The Lions achieved all of that success without having their own track, with the Lions practicing on a parking lot and at other schools who are kind enough to let them use their facilities.
“To achieve all of that without a track facility of our own, though we have one on the way … the kids can look at this as an example of hard work and perseverance, and hopefully we can get more kids qualifying to the state meet,” Bill Mangus said.
“Hillsboro and East Clinton have been very nice and let us use their facilities, and it has been a great help to be a guest at their facility. It makes it meaningful to qualify that way, but it also shows that hard work, diligence and focus can be accomplished anywhere, and these young men have proven that.”
This team has worked all season to get to this point, where they will be running at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the campus of The Ohio State University this weekend, and for the four runners, there have been changes in the order they run recently, but it was a welcome change for the group with Duffie being the new lead man of the squad.
“For the 4x8, being the first person out, the pressure is on you to get out fast enough to put your team into position to win, and at regionals, it was that and to help put us in a position to qualify for state,” Duffie said. “Starting the race is really nerve-wracking because you know it is on you to start it, and you have to go out with the top people and try to stick with them and stay consistent.
“When I came in this year and ran my first indoor meet, I ran well, but not as well as I would have thought, and I knew I had a lot of work to do. I put in the work, and I thought we could make it to regionals, but making it to state was a big accomplishment for us. Making it with this group of guys, it is really a great group to be around and race with.”
Assistant coach Mangus knew Duffie would succeed at the varsity level as a freshman this season.
“I was not surprised because he has a lot of talent, a tremendous work ethic and he’s a very smart kid,” Bill Mangus said. “I expected he would deliver, and I expected the 4x800 team to qualify for state … I was not surprised. I fully expected these kids would get to the top four at regionals.”
Next in the running order is Swisher, who is also making state for the first time, as he is now a three-time regional racer as well.
“It was amazing to make it as a young team,” he said. “Just having one freshman and two sophomores with me as a junior, it is just amazing we made it, being so young. A lot of work goes into the season. We work on our handoffs for a couple weeks, trying to get it down to have a faster time.
“Running second in the relay is normal, but it was the first time I ran second (at regionals), but I was okay with it. This season we started out at an 8:55 and to get down to an 8:26 is great.”
Third in the order is Matthew Mangus, as he spoke about seeing the relay team progress throughout the season.
“To see our team progress was interesting,” he said. “We were a lot slower at the start of the year, and we’ve experimented a lot with a few changes and such, but we decided to stay with the four runners we have now and it has really worked and been great for us to grow as a team and get faster together. We are really excited to run on Friday and to just run our best, and have another fast time.
“As for running third, I like it better than when I ran second, because our first two legs, with Brandtson and Trent, they get us off to a fast start, and when I get the baton, I just try to hang on with the front people.”
Rounding out the team is the final runner of the relay in Richmond.
“Pretty much you have to do the best you possibly can, because all three of them before me gave all they had, so if you mess up, their hard work is for nothing,” Richmond said of being the final leg of the relay team. “I was originally third leg but got moved to anchor, but I like being the anchor. There isn’t that big of a difference in running third to fourth, except one you pass the baton and the other you don’t.
“The feeling has sunk in that we will be competing at state. I knew we had the talent and coaching to get there, so it is real exciting to go and qualify for state. We have to do exactly what we did at regionals, but just better at state.”
Head coach Debbie Mangus spoke about the team chemistry of the relay team.
“You want kids who want to run and compete as a group, because all four members of a relay team need to rely and trust each other, and these four have a great chemistry because they are friends on and off the field and it shows up in their performance and makes a difference.
“We are going out at the highest level that you can go out with and made it to the pinnacle of the sport competition in the state championships, and we hope to have a solid performance.”