COLUMBUS – Tri-Village senior Austin Bruner placed second in the OHSAA Division III 400 meter dash with a time of 49.47 at the Buckeye’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus.
“I’ve been working hard all winter, in the beginning of the season for this,” said Bruner. “I wanted to come in more events but wasn’t the plan but I am happy with what I got today.”
“Austin has a unique style in terms of how he’s pacing himself for the race and we didn’t mess with it,” said Tri-Village coach Scott Warren. “I had a lot of thoughts in terms of what to tell him to do but I really didn’t tell him to do anything other than go out and do his best.”
Bruner earned a lane in the championship race with a fifth place 49.75 time in the Friday preliminary race.
New Middletown (Mahoning County) Springfield High School’s Garrett Walker took first place in the state championship race.
Bruner nosed out Cooper Brown by one one-hundredth of a second to earn second over Hannibal River High School junior.
“I know there are kids running faster than Austin had coming in to today,” Warren noted. “Austin had never ran a 49 but then he had never had to, so that was the really interesting thing about it. He is a really determined young man.”
As will all events held at the state track meet, every seat in large OSU stadium was filled capacity while cheering on all athletes.
“Austin is real comfortable with this type of setting,” said Coach Warren. “Our morning routine was the same as it was yesterday. We didn’t do anything any different, we laughed, we didn’t really talk a whole lot about running.”
“We just went about the getting prepared to come over here” continued Warren. “We did the same thing today we did yesterday. He stretched the same, he ate pretty much the same thing, everything stays exactly the same and that’s the way it’s been as long as I’ve been involved with these athletes.”
Bruner took time to thank his family, friends and family that came to cheer him on in his final Tri-Village high school sporting event.
“I want to thank everybody, my entire family, my coach, my parents, thank them to death,” said Bruner. “I thank everybody that came out to watch and support today, just everybody who supported me throughout the season, the whole Tri-Village community, everybody.”
Bruner thanked each family member: (parents) Matthew Bruner and Nadia Hall, (grandparents) Mike and Robin Bruner, (brothers) Aaron and Alan Bruner, (girlfriend) Alana Holsapple and Coach Scott Warren.
“Having everyone cheer it’s just an extra boost that got me up there today,” concluded Bruner.
