Hoppel leads Eagles to Avon Relays win

AVONLed by Jordan Hopple, the North Olmsted boys won their first big track and field meet of the season here at the annual Reynolds Relays.

North Olmsted was followed by Buckeye and Aurora. Rocky River ran fourth, Avon fifth and Elyria Catholic ninth.

Avon was last year's champion among the boys. N.O. and Avon are the only two West Side schools to win the boys' title since 1999.

Most races were naturally relays, but an open 100 meters was added, which was won by Hopple. He also ran legs on the Eagles' championship 800 and 1,600 relay teams.

"We go to a lot of these relays and it's nice to know that there are some open races," Hopple said. "That way, I could control how many points I could get for my team.

"There were some good runners in that 100 meters, like Bryent Robertson (Avon, who took third).

"We made up for it then in the 800 relay because we did not run well in the 400 relay. We needed to do well in the running because teams like River have strength in other areas, like pole vaulting."

Hopple will run next season for Ashland University, ranked No. 1 nationally in Division II.

"The Southwestern Conference meet is in two weeks, so winning this gave us confidence," Hopple said. "If we run as we did today, we should win it at Brecksville."

This was North Olmsted's first year in the Reynolds Relays. The Eagles had been going to Berea during the first weekend in May in previous years.

"We wanted to get the chance to go against a different array of teams," North Olmsted coach Mike Ptacek said. "We've been seeing the same teams every weekend and also in duals during the week since many SWC teams have been going to the same big meets....