Relay teams from the area dominate in 4x800 at state
4x400 relay:
COLUMBUS — Multiple athletes competing at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium at Ohio State University on Friday mentioned the vibe, contrasting it sharply with what they experienced last year when the Divisions I, II and III meets were split between three high school venues in the Columbus area.
On Friday, thousands of fans filled the stands on the first day of the Ohio High School Athletic Association track and field championships from 9:30 a.m., when the Division III events began, until 7:25 p.m., when the final Division I preliminaries started.
“This place is awesome,” Fort Loramie senior Colin Gasson said. “I’m so glad they brought it back here. Being at a smaller school last year, it just didn’t bring the same vibe that this place has.”
“The vibe is good,” Oakwood junior Bella Butler said. “Everyone’s excited to be here, and it was really good competition. I think that kind of fueled us to run our best today. I’m proud of these girls, for sure.”
The Oakwood girls, Minster girls and Fort Loramie boys provided three early highlights by winning state championships in the 4x800 relay, the only running final on day one.
Oakwood’s team of juniors Butler and Emma Almoney, freshman Elizabeth Erwin and senior Grace Hartman raced to victory in D-II in 9 minutes, 14.83 seconds, beating their season best by seven seconds and repeating as state champions.
Last year, Butler, Almoney, senior Hannah Moulton and Hartman kicked off their run to the first team championship in program history by winning
the same event (9:14.98) at Pickerington North High School. Two years ago, the entire spring sports season was canceled because of the pandemic. Three years ago, when Hartman was a freshman, she raced the final leg of the 4x800 relay as Oakwood finished fifth (9:28.08). That was the last state meet held at Jesse Owens until this weekend.
This year, Hartman seized the lead about three quarters of the way through her first lap and lengthened the advantage until a late charge by Woodridge, which finished in 9:15.58.
“Last year, I think we had a little bit more of a lead,” Hartman said. “I remember we definitely had a different race strategy last year. This year, we didn’t really know what to expect going into it. I think racing is so tactical. You never know what’s going to happen. All of our girls did great in the way that the race played out. They did what they needed to do, and I think we’re all really pleased with our result.”
Hartman will defend her state championships in the 1,600 and 3,200 races today. Oakwood hopes to score enough points in her events and others to repeat as state champions. This was a good way to start the weekend — especially in front of the packed stands at Ohio State.
The Minster girls 4x800 relay team kicked off the state meet by winning the first medal of the meet in the first event of the day.
Margaret Hemmelgarn, Cameo Cedarleaf, Chaney Cedarleaf and Taylor Roth raced to victory in the D-II race in 9:28.67. Minster took the lead on the third lap, with Chaney running.
With Hemmelgarn and Roth racing on the 4x800 relay last year, Minster finished third at state (9:23.39).
Fort Loramie’s Mylee Shatto, Colleen Borchers, Lauren Moore and Claire Rethman finished second (9:34.91). Coldwater’s Ava Giere, Carlee Goodwin, Kiersten Keller and Haley Alig placed third (9:43.31). West Liberty-salem’s Megan Adams, Ashley Yoder, Teagan Boyd and Mallory Bostick took fifth (9:48.11).
The Fort Loramie boys won a D-III championship in the 4x800 with Gasson crossing the finish line.
“All I could think about was we did it,” he said. “Finally.”
Colten Gasson ran the final leg, and his twin brother Colin ran the first leg. Frank Rethman and Trey Ranly ran the second and third legs, respectively.
Fort Loramie’s time (7:53.18) was more than seven seconds better than second-place East Canton, which had the top qualifying time (8:00.04). Fort Loramie placed 11th in the event last year (8:16.50) with the Gassons and Ranly and Adam Ballas.
The Gassons, who are seniors, started running together in sixth grade, competing in triathlons and 5Ks in the summer. In seventh grade, they were inspired by older classmates. Then they won a state cross country championship as freshmen.
“That was exciting,” Colten said, “and it just kind of showed us your time will come. Sure enough, it paid off.”
Some field event finals were held Friday. Botkins senior Aleah Jones won a D-III state championship in the shot put with a throw of 137 feet, 5 inches. That was her fifth of sixth attempts of the day, and it was more than 6 feet farther than the second-place finisher.
Here are other results from Division II and III finals involving area athletes Friday:
DIVISION II
Chaminade Julienne: Freshman Brooke Haywood, 13th, high jump, 5-0.
Greeneview: 4x800 relay (Samuel Powers, Noah Sylvester, Max Powers and Zeke Powers), 14th, 8:15.20.
Miami East: Anika Paton, 14th, discus, 112-7; Josh Amheiser, eighth, pole vault, 14-10.
Milton Union: Blake Brumbaugh, seventh, long jump, 21-3¾; Carter Tinnerman, 10th, pole vault, 14-6.
Oakwood: Sadie Knostman, 15th, discus, 111-8.
Versailles: Taran Tyo, ninth, shot put, 52-3¼; senior Brayden Keihl, 15th, shot put, 50-0¾.
West Liberty-salem: Logan Saylor, sixth, long jump, 21-4; 4x800 relay team (Isaac Brown, Tate Yoder, Quentin Rudolph and Dylan Lauck), eighth, 8:04.04.
DIVISION III
Coldwater: Jesse Meyer, seventh, shot put, 55-6¾.
Here’s the list of athletes who raced in D-II and D-III preliminaries Friday and qualified for finals Saturday:
DIVISION II GIRLS
100: Jadyn Haywood, Chaminade Julienne, second, 11.77.
4x200 relay: Chaminade Julienne (Airreana Clark,*
Brooke Haywood, Cayden Turner and Haywood), eighth, 1:44.93.
4x100 relay: Chaminade Julienne (Jakala Fletcher, Airreana Clark, Cayden Turner and Haywood), ninth, 50.44.
300 hurdles: Leeyah Samuels, Northridge, eighth, 46.54.
200: Haywood, Chaminade Julienne, first, 24.60.
4x400 relay: Oakwood (Grace Bauer, Butler, Almoney and Hartman), fourth, 4:00.44.
DIVISION II BOYS
400: Jack Osborne, Versailles, ninth, 50.70.
DIVISION III GIRLS
100 hurdles: Sam Hoelscher, Marion Local, fourth ,15.06; Aurora Schubert, Dayton Christian, fifth, 15.14.
100: Delaney Jones, West Liberty-salem, third, 12.19.
4x200 relay: Marion Local (Lynn Schweiterman, Natalie Pohl, Maddie Keller and Sam Hoelscher), fourth, 1:46.14.
Anna (Tanner Spangler, Gabrielle Myers, Ashley Bertke and Kaitlyn Harris), second, 49.64; Coldwater (Izzy Zahn, Shelby Linn, Kiersten Keller and Allison Hamberg), ninth, 51.06.
400: Maddy Merritt, Legacy Christian, third, 58.30.
Hoelscher, Marion Local, second, 44.70.
Coldwater (Haley Alig, Carlee Goodwin, Izzy Zahn and Ava Giere), third, 4:04.30; Minster (Cameo Cedarleaf, Lillian Barhorst, Keri Heckman and Taylor Roth), fourth, 4:05.68; Marion Local (Hoelscher, Schwieterman, Keller and Jayden Huelsman), seventh, 4:06.19.
DIVISION III BOYS
110 hurdles: Tyler Schwieterman, Coldwater, seventh, 15.36.
100: Justin Richards, Anna, second, 10.98; Ashton Young, Catholic Central, fifth, 10.95.
4x200 relay: Mechanicsburg (Kailen Butler, Jack Wolf, Peyton Leeson and Jake Hurst), fourth, 1:31.23; Anna (Brandon Axe, Xavier Mceldowney, Ben Mcdermott and Justin Richards), sixth, 1:31.24.
4x100 relay: Catholic Central (Tyler Young, Tyrone Myers, Daeshawn Martin and Ashton Young), first, 43.23; Anna (Brandon
Axe, Xavier Mceldowney,
Ben Mcdermott and Justin Richards), third, 43.76; Marion Local (Brayden Pavelka, Kyle Otte, Peyton Moeller and Peyton Otte), sixth 44.02; Mechanicsburg (Kailen Butler, Jack Wolf, Jake Hurst and Peyton Leeson), seventh 44.05.
400: Dewey Hill, Dixie, third, 49.35.
300 hurdles: Tyler Schweiterman, Coldwater, second, 39.64; and Joseph Slonosky, Minster, seventh, 41.00.
4x400 relay: Fort Loramie (Colin Gasson, Trey Ranly, Colten Gasson and Frank Rethman), fifth, 3:28.27.