By Dee Grenert Sports Editor
LAKEVILLE — John Glenn senior track and field standout John Bogucki cheered on classmate Austin O’Connor as he closed on LaVille’s Isiah Withey at the Lancer Relays.
“It’s about exclamation,” Bogucki said, as O’Connor — anchoring the 4 x 800 relay — completed his first lap in the meet’s final race Tuesday.
O’Connor succeeded in placing that exclamation mark on the Falcons’ third consecutive crown. With the meet’s outcome already determined, O’Connor pulled even with Withey on the backstretch, edged ahead through the corner and sprinted to a 2-second victory. Glenn won by 20 points over second-place LaVille.

Both Bogucki and O’Connor played a part in four Glenn first-place finishes. The duo teamed up to win the high jump, and later joined triple winner Tyler Thornton and Michael Childs for a win in the 4 x 200 relay. O’Connor also erased a big deficit to lead the Falcons to a win in the distance medley relay.
Bogucki, meanwhile, anchored Glenn’s winning shuttle hurdle relay team that included three-event winner Chris Patton, double winner Chris Lawler and Tanner Harman. Bogucki’s other win came in the 4 x 400.
For the meet, the Falcons claimed the top spot in eight of 11 events, including six of seven races.
“Our seniors have been solid all through the year,” Glenn head coach Jeff Kaiser said. “Those two guys — Austin is signing with Bethel Thursday, and John’s going to run at Wabash College — have given us great leadership.
“This is definitely a meet we look forward to,” he added. “We mark this one on the schedule at the beginning of the season.”
The 4 x 800 race provided plenty of drama before the gun fired. Senior Jake Singleton, scratched from the 4 x 400 earlier in the meet, made a surprise appearance in that final race. In fact, he was listed on the event card, marked out and then penciled in again.
“Jake Singleton’s been battling the flu,” Kaiser said. “We pulled him from the 4 x 4, and Patrick Shetler ran a terrific leg in his place. I was looking for someone to run the 4 x 8 and Jake said he wanted to. After the 4 x 4, we pulled our guys together and told them we needed to put ourselves in a position that it doesn’t come down to the last race, and they did.”
Bogucki, the reigning Northern State Conference champion in the 110 and 300 hurdles, paced Glenn’s winning shuttle hurdle relay squad, in a race run on the infield grass.
“Hurdles on the grass,” Bogucki said. “It’s different from the 110 coming out of the blocks, and is definitely difficult. For me, I start in a dead sprint. I keep the same forms, stay as low as I can and run like hell, as my dad would say.”
The Falcons had to collect their latest hardware after rain forced a one-day postponement.
“Yesterday, there was wind, rain and we sat in the parking lot for 30 minutes and then went home,” Bogucki said. “It was a little disappointing, but it’s definitely big for us to come back today and get the three-peat. Our goal was to come in here and sweep them all. I don’t want to say that we wanted to walk over everyone, but we definitely hoped to come in and dominate.”
Andrew Alexander and Shetler each chipped in a pair of wins, while Henry Ayala, Aaron Hunsberger and Jacob Feece helped the Falcons to one win apiece. Craig Fitzgerald, Austin Davis and Scott Applegate combined for a Glenn win in the shot put relay.
The Lancers prevented a sweep of the running events, with Terrell Newkirk, Cody Spaulding, Doug Spencer and Darren Spencer winning the sprint medley relay.
Culver Community’s Justin Master, Jon Davis and Jeremy Rhode won the long jump, with Myles Pinder, Kenton Lovely and Matt Kornblith taking top honors in the discus.
• LANCER RELAYS
At Lakeville
BOYS
Team scores: John Glenn 78, LaVille 58, Culver Community 54, Knox 27, Oregon-Davis 11.
Shuttle hurdles: 1, Glenn (Chris Lawler, Tanner Harman, Chris Patton, John Bogucki) :50.2.. 2, LaVille :52.7. 3, Culver :53.1. 4, Knox :56.4.
Sprint medley (100-100-200-400) relay: 1, LaVille (Terrell Newkirk, Cody Spaulding, Doug Spencer, Darren Spencer) 1:42.2. 2, Culver 1:43.4. 3, Glenn 1:45.3. 4, Knox 1:47.9. 5, Oregon-Davis 1:53.7.
Distance medley (200-200-400-800) relay: 1, Glenn (Chris Patton, Tyler Thornton, Henry Ayala, Austin O’Connor) 3:56.2. 2, LaVille 4:01.8. 3, Culver 4:10.7. 4, Knox 4:29.4. 5, Oregon-Davis 4:41.3.
4 x 400 relay: 1, Glenn (Aaron Hunsberger, Andrew Alexander, Pat Shetler, John Bogucki) 3:41.2. 2, LaVille 3:50.2. 3, Knox 3:56.5. 4, Culver 4:09.4. 5, Oregon-Davis 4:13.7.
4 x 100 relay: 1, Glenn (Chris Lawler, Jacob Feece, Chris Patton, Tyler Thornton) :47.2. 2, LaVille :48.3. 3, Culver :49.2. 4, Knox :52.5.
4 x 200 relay: 1, Glenn (John Bogucki, Austin O’Connor, Michael Childs, Tyler Thornton) 1:38.2. 2, Culver 1:46.1. 3, Knox 1:46.8. 4, Oregon-Davis 1:52.2. LaVille disqualified (uniform violation).
4 x 800 relay: 1, Glenn (Patrick Shetler, Andrew Alexander, Jake Singleton, Austin O’Connor) 8:50.1. 2, LaVille 8:52.1. 3, Knox 9:31.7. 4, Culver 10:03.5. 5, Oregon-Davis 10:31.6.
High jump: 1, Glenn (Austin O’Connor, John Bogucki) 11-6. 2, LaVille 11-4. 3, Culver 11-2. 4, Knox 5-8. 5, Oregon-Davis 5-2.
Long jump: 1, Culver (Justin Master, Jon Davis, Jeremy Rhode) 53-7 1/4. 2, LaVille 52-0. 3, Glenn 51-0 1/4. 4, Knox 50-2 1/4. 5, Oregon-Davis 44-1 1/4.
Shot put: 1, Glenn (Craig Fitzgerald, Austin Davis, Scott Applegate) 122-0. 2, Culver 120-9. 3, LaVille 116-6. 4, Knox 112-3. 5, Oregon-Davis 86-1.
Discus: 1, Culver (Myles Pinder, Kenton Lovely, Matt Kornblith) 362-8. 2, Glenn 355-10. 3, LaVille 269-4. 4, Oregon-Davis 205-9. 5, Knox 170-8.
Official: Ross Havens