Rockets could be on the verge of greatness

Press Sports Editor
sports@presspublications.com

It takes a village.
For a variety of reasons, the Oak Harbor boys track team has established itself as one of the best in Northwest Ohio, and it’s looking to elevate itself to being one of the finest in all of the Buckeye State.
The community support, great coaching and superbly talented athletes are the primary reasons for the Rockets’ success.
Oak Harbor has won five league titles (four in the Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division and one in the Northern Buckeye Conference) under Andy Augsburger’s 16 years leading the program and were district champions last season while finishing one point short of winning the regional title.
The highlight of the season, which included an Ottawa County Invitational title, was winning the NBC by over 60 points in the Rockets’ first year in the new league.
With five seniors — Dan Allen, Evan Hall, Brayden Schimmoeller, Kane Arebaugh and Tait Dusseau — leading the way, the Rockets have climbed the ladder and are looking to make noise in the postseason.
At the league tournament, Evan Hall (shot put), Travis Bouyer (discus), Wyatt Augsburger (110 hurdles, 300 hurdles), Tyler Thompson (100, 200) and Carson Ridener (400) all claimed titles in their respective events. Hall was also second in the discus, Garry Brooks took second in the 100, Bodee Miller was second in the 800, Dan Allen was third in the 110 hurdles and Braden Schultz placed fourth in the high jump.
The 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 relay teams finished in first while the 4x800 relay took second.
To say this club has talent and depth would be an understatement.
Andy Augsburger, who is quick to credit others, talked about the assistant coaches that have helped him.
“I think that it’s very nice to be able to have depth. One thing – we’ve worked really hard, especially on the boys side, and the girls have had success for a while,” he said. “We have a good junior high program and a great coaching staff — Beth Hubans (throws), Cole Weirich (sprints, relays), John McKitrick (hurdles, jumps), Ashley Augsburger (jumps, hurdles), Gina Warnke (distance) and Steve Weirich (pole vaulters).”
There are good athletes that can’t even compete in certain invites because there are only two spots in each event.
“We’ve had kids like Isaac Schulte, who’s pushing Jacob Ridener in the shot put, fighting the whole month of May,” said Andy Augsburger. “Matthew Hubans is a freshman and he is putting pressure on Evan (Hall) and Travis (Bouyer) in the discus. They’re at 140 (feet), and (Hubans) is throwing 120 as a freshman.”
One of the great things about track and field is how much it helps athletes become better in other sports.
“I would love to see data on how participating in track and field helps other sports, like collegiate athletes in other sports who did track and field in high school, how many professional athletes did track and field. I’m not saying our program is perfect, but there are a lot of people who know how to teach someone the correct form and what a kid needs to do to correct their form. There is a way to do that, and that will correlate with the soccer field, on the football field, on the basketball court,” said Augsburger. “You have to know how to run the correct way. A major component to track is that there’s a massive mental game — you step on the track and you’re between two really good runners, and you start doubting yourself, but you have to keep all those things together. I’ve seen kids step on the track, and they kind of give up, they think, ‘I can’t do this, I can’t win, so I’m not going to try.’ Track makes you mentally tough; you have to keep things in order — you have to have what it takes to keep going.”
A few weeks ago, the Oak Harbor community lost one of its finest coaches. Ed Jordan, who passed away. Jordan was nominated by Mike May and was recently inducted into the Oak Harbor Athletic Hall of Fame for his efforts coaching football and track for over four decades.
Jordan was instrumental in helping Augsburger over the years.
“Ed Jordan was a big part of my life. In 2008, we had been coaching football for a little while, so we knew each other, and he came to me because he thought that Tom Osborne was going to step down, and Ed took the position in ’08, I was having kids and getting my master’s degree. I think we had 22 boys on the ’08 team. In ’09, Ed stepped down, and I was able to become the head coach,” said Augsburger.
“Progressively, we got more and more and more boys out for the team. We’ve had a couple of teams where we had 50 kids, and this year, we have 41 boys on the team. It’s been something really fun to watch. It takes a long time to build a good program,” he said. “You’ve got to have really good people around you. Ed Jordan was part of that; John McKitrick was an integral part, not just of the girls’ program, but also the boys’ team. When you have good people like them around you, it breeds success. People like Ed and John Lucas were part of that for a couple of years. There was also Bill Blue and Dick Sievert. It’s just been fun to watch how things have changed from ’08 to ’24.”