By Chris Chaney
Sun staff

The saying goes, “it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” but if starts are any indicator of success, Clermont County should be well represented at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the campus of the Ohio State University come early June.

The New Richmond Invitational marked the beginning of the track and field season for many area teams and the plethora of talent around the local schools was evident to all who filled New Richmond’s stadium.

New Richmond, the host school, Clermont Northeastern, Felicity-Franklin, Milford, Glen Este, Goshen and Amelia all took part in the festivities.

On the girls’ side of things, the New Richmond Lady Lions took the top spot as they outscored the second-place Bishop Brossart Lady Mustangs by over 40 points. Milford finished in fifth place, followed by Felicity in sixth, Glen Este in seventh, Goshen in ninth, CNE in 10th and Amelia in 11th.

The Lady Lions got off to a good start, winning the first event of meet, the 4×800-meter relay. The team of Emily Belmont, Claire Burns, Sarah Glenn and Maren Hance won by over five seconds.

The Lady Lions’ Olivia Behymer and Kelsey Hardin finished the 100-meter dash in first- and third-place respectively as Clermont Northeastern’s Krista King and Kaitlin Reece went four-five.

Milford’s Alexis Armacost and Kaitlyn Haik finished the 100 in sixth and eighth place, respectively.

Behymer also won the 200-meter dash.

The 3200-meter run was a Clermont-dominated race as New Richmond’s Kara Burns won, AnneE Balziel of Milford came in second and Goshen’s Brittany Clark finished third.

New Richmond’s Behymer also topped the 400-meter dash with teammate Hance finishing in fourth place.

Felicity-Franklin’s Arica Stutz took home the top-spot in both the 100-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles, adding valuable point outputs to the Lady Cardinals total. Stutz also won the long jump and finished third in the high jump.

Glen Este’s Jamie Thomas took home the 800-meter run title, while Milford’s Lauren Best came in third and New Richmond’s Sarah Glenn finished fifth.

In the field, New Richmond’s Hannah Hall won the high jump and Goshen’s Tiera Martinelli won the pole vault. Milford’s Lia Sturgeon finished third in the pole vault.

New Richmond’s Eleanor Wildey won the discus throw and Amelia’s Rachel Smith took the top spot in the shot put.

On the boys’ side, Milford was the top local team, finishing in third place. New Richmond took fifth, Goshen and Glen Este tied for ninth, while Amelia came in 14th and Felicity came in 15th.

Milford’s David DiSilvestro took home both hurdling events, winning the 110-meter and the 300-meter run. Milford’s Cade Williams finished third in the 100-meter dash and Williams’ teammate, Wyatt Gemmer finished in fourth. Gemmer also came in third in the 200-meter dash

The Milford 4×200 relay team of DiSilvestro, Shawn Cooley, Dominic Dalessandro and Sebastian Boaz finished in second-place, just ahead of CNE and Goshen.

CNE’s 4×100 relay team of Dalton Miracle, Ben Frazier, Tramaine Smith and Austin Thompson finished second, just ahead of New Richmond.

Felicity’s Ethan Rudd won the 400-meter dash and New Richmond’s Austin Torrens won the 800-meter run.

In the field events, no Clermont athletes won an event, but Amelia’s Brown took third place in the long jump, edging out Milford’s Drew Richards.

New Richmond’s Branston Evans finished second in the discus with Milford’s Blake Cox coming in third. Goshen’s Calvin Phillips finished second in the shot put with a pair of Glen Este throwers coming in third and fourth: Austin Snyder and Alec Benjamin.