The area has several connections to the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France: Trevor Bassitt, the husband of John Glenn grad Harlie Gregory, in track; Dover's Hunter Armstrong.
Most area folks probably know about Dover High grad Hunter Armstrong qualifying for the 2024 Olympics in swimming, but here’s another reason to root for a USA athlete in Paris.
Bluffton High School and Ashland University grad Trevor Bassitt finished third in the 400-meter hurdles to earn a spot on the United State Olympic Team with a 47.82-second clocking.
Bassitt’s local connection? His wife is John Glenn High graduate Harlie Gregory! Harlie Gregory was a soccer standout at John Glenn (Class of 2017), earning second team All-Ohio Division II honors as both a junior and senior. She scored a school-record 119 career goals, including 47 during her senior season. Also a graduate of Ashland University, she has become a top-notch marathon runner, competing in Chicago, Boston and Columbus among others.
Harlie’s father – Frank Gregory - is also familiar to local sports fans. A Cadiz High graduate, he was head coach of Meadowbrook’s state championship girls’ basketball team in 1989 and later was principal at John Glenn.
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In case you missed it, Dover’s Armstrong earned a return to the Olympics in swimming, finishing second in the 100-meter backstroke (53.72) and as a member of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay team by finishing fourth in the 100-meters (47.78).
Armstrong - a 2019 Dover High graduate - was a member of the gold medal-winning 4x100-meter relay team in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics which, of course, were held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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On another Olympic related note, Newcomerstown High graduate Hunter Garrettson competed in the Olympic Trials in the pole vault. He reached the finals, but failed in his three attempts at 17-11¼ and finished 12th.
Garretson (NHS Class of 2020) was the OHSAA Division III state champion in 2020 with a 16-6 effort after finishing second as a sophomore (15-0) and third as a junior (14-4).
Currently a member of the University of Akron squad, he earned All-American status with a runner-up finish in the 2023 NCAA Championships (18-8 ¼). This year, he was the Mid-American Conference champion (17-5).
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