DARKE COUNTY – A track and field athlete who is establishing herself as one of the best in Ohio and a baseball player who is helping his team earn statewide respect are this week’s Daily Advocate athletes of the week.
This week’s Daily Advocate athletes of the week are Greenville girls track and field athlete Riley Hunt and Mississinawa Valley baseball player Matt Slob.
As a sophomore, Hunt has had a breakout season, which includes winning the Division I girls pole vault competition at the Ohio Association of Track-Cross Country Coaches Indoor State Championships in March.
“She’s really doing well,” Greenville pole vault coach Micah Coblentz said. “I have been extremely impressed with how dedicated she’s been to just improving. She’s been listening very well.”
Hunt continued her great season this week at the Stillwater Valley Invitational at Versailles. There she broke meet and school records by clearing 12 feet 7 inches in the pole vault.
“She was hitting some poles that she hadn’t hit before,” Coblentz said.
The Greenville sophomore has been very dedicated to improving, Coblentz said. With the support of her family, she’s put in a lot of time throughout the year going to meets and training sessions.
She’s also been very open to coaching and has worked on small details to help her improve.
“She has good aggression,” Coblentz said. “She can attack at the plant and attack the run very, very well. She’s not hesitant. She’s very willing to do anything extra to make herself improve.”
Along with having the best mark among girl pole vaulters this season, Hunt is second in the county in the girls 100 meter hurdles with a time of 17.09.
“She’s just a very well rounded athlete,” Coblentz said.
Slob has been a key piece of Mississinawa Valley’s success during the 2018 baseball season. The Blackhawks started the year 7-1 and are ranked 14th in the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association Division IV state rankings.
“We’re very competitive,” Mississinawa Valley baseball coach Max Guillozet said. “I feel we can win any game we play.”
Slob has been one of the reasons Mississinawa Valley has been so competitive. In his first six games on the mound he recorded a 4-1 record with a 2.19 ERA across 32 innings.
“He’s definitely matured as a pitcher from last year to this year,” Guillozet said. “He’s done a nice job hitting spots.”
The Mississinawa Valley senior has struck out 20 batters and has limited opposing hitters to just a .241 batting average.
“He’s pitched well this year,” Guillozet said. “A lot of the games that he’s pitched the defense has played well behind him, too.”
One of Slob’s most impressive performances came when he pitched the complete game in MV’s 5-0 win at Twin Valley South and he needed just 55 pitches to get through the seven-inning game.
“He’s been very efficient. He had a 55 pitch complete game against Twin Valley South,” Guillozet said. “When you tell people that it’s always like they don’t believe it because it doesn’t seem possible.”
Slob also has contributed offensively to the Blackhawks’ success. He hit a walk-off grand slam against Arcanum to give Mississinawa a 16-4 run-rule victory.
“Hopefully we can get some more wins here down the stretch going into the sectional tournament,” Guillozet said. “Hopefully we can do some good things with that.”
