Horns aplenty: Waynesfield girls to second at New Bremen

NEW BREMEN - Track and field has been in the Horn family for a long time.

More than 80 years, as a matter of fact. And now a new chapter in the Horn legacy has begun.

Freshmen Ivy and Morgan Horn, the twin sisters of former Waynesfield track standout Gray Horn, helped lead the Waynesfield girls track and field team to an impressive second-place finish at Saturday's Cardinal Invitational at New Bremen.

Ivy took second in the 100-meter dash, fourth in the 200 and anchored the winning 400 relay, along with anchoring the 800 relay that finished second.

Morgan won the pole vault (9 feet, 6 inches) and competed on the 400 relay, 800 relay and 1,600 relay.

Ivy said, for her, running track is just part of being in the Horn family.

"Ever since our great grandpa won state in the discus in 1929, track has always been in the family," she said.

Ivy said the pressure of coming from a well-known track family has not affected her nor her sister.

"There's never been any pressure (to run track)," she said. "We've always known we wanted to run track."

Their brother Gray is a freshman on the University of Florida track and field team, where he competes as a decathlete. At Waynesfield, he was an eight-time All-Ohioan with two state titles (pole vault in 2006, long jump in 2008).

Their cousin, Joe Horn, is a junior on the Ashland University track and field team. Horn helped lead Waynesfield to its first-ever state title in track his senior year in 2006.

On Saturday, the Waynesfield girls were defeated by Fort Loramie, 132.5-86. New Bremen finished third (69), while Spencerville was a close third (67) in the 14-team field.

On the boys' side, New Bremen ran away with the title, scoring 137 points, while second-place Delphos St. John's had 75.5. Spencerville finished third (74), while St. Henry was fourth (73).

New Bremen's boys were exceptionally strong in the distance events. In the 1,600, the Cardinals went one-two as Jeff Kremer overtook teammate Justin Eilerman in the final 200 meters to win (4:34.43).

Eilerman bounced back in the 3,200, edging Lima Central Catholic's Jim Heider, winning in meet-record time of 9:56.33. Heider's second-place time of 9:57.92 also was faster than the original meet-record of 10:00.5.

Saturday's 1,600 race was just Kremer's second of his high-school career.

"I haven't done the 1,600 since junior high," Kremer said. "I've been doing the 800, but they decided to stick me in the 1,600. I ran it on Thursday and then (ran it) today."

Spencerville's Lyndie Brown was a double-winner for the Bearcats, taking first in both the 1,600 (5:33.20) and 3,200 (11:53.90).

Brown also was part of the winning 3,200 relay team (Kelli Ley, Alexa Brown and Claire McConnell). The Bearcats clocked a time of 10:11.88.

Brown, who is also a standout in cross country, said there is a difference between the two sports.

"I think it's a lot tougher to run three races in one day, than to run one (5,000-meters in cross country)," Brown said. "But, I do it just about every meet, so I'm used to it."

Parkway's Marian Bevington crossed the finish line first in both the 100 hurdles (15.79) and long jump (16-4 ½).

For the boys, New Bremen's Zach Speckman took first in both the 110- and 300-meter hurdles (15.31, 40.20).