BANNER YEAR
Top 10 central Ohio high school sports stories of 2021
In recent years, central Ohio has become a hotbed in track and field, swimming and diving, golf, field hockey and lacrosse. That trend held in 2021. ● But there were plenty of memories created in football, baseball and basketball, as well. There also were numerous coaches who stepped away after long and successful tenures. ● Here is a look at central Ohio's top high school sports stories of the year:
1. SHOWING HIS BRAUN ON THE TRACK
In his first season competing in boys track and field for Westerville Central, junior Justin Braun captured the Division I state title in the 100 meters in 10.47 seconds, tying the state record, and also won the 200 (21.13) and 400 (46.4), giving him the program record in all three events.
He also became the first big-school boys athlete to win the sprinting triple crown since Dayton Dunbar's Chris Nelloms in 1988.
Although he was the Warhawks' only state participant, his 30 points earned Central the state runner-up trophy.
Braun won the state title in the 400 as a freshman at Thomas Worthington but didn't compete as a sophomore after the 2020 season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. DUNKING ON THE COMPETITION
For the first time, central Ohio had three teams reach the boys basketball state finals in one season.
Westerville Central, making its first appearance at state and with Tasos Cook leading the way, lost to Centerville 43-42 in the Division I final to finish 23-3. Cook plays for Stetson.
Desmond Watson, who plays for Davidson, finished with a program-record 1,722 career points while leading Desales to a Division II state runner-up finish and 19-8 record.
In Division III, Worthington Christian lost to Cleveland Heights Lutheran East 61-56 in the championship game to finish 28-2. D.J. Moore, who finished with 1,333 career points, graduated a year early and is playing for Liberty.
3. FOOTBALL MEMORIES
It was a year of transition for central Ohio football.
In addition to Pickerington Central having its five-year run of making it to at least a Division I state semifinal end, seven Central District programs produced perfect regular seasons: Upper Arlington, New Albany and Marysville in Division I, Big Walnut in Division II, Granville in Division III, Bloom-carroll in Division IV and Berne Union in Division VII.
UA reached a state semifinal for the first time since it won the title in 2000. Granville advanced to its first state semifinal. Harvest Prep made it to a state semifinal in Division V. West Jefferson reached a state semifinal in Division VI. Newark Catholic was the Division VII state runner-up.
4. SAYING GOODBYE
A number of prominent coaches decided it was time to move on.
Anne Horton led the Columbus Academy field hockey program to a state-record 12 state championships and a 52635-29 record in 31 seasons before stepping down in November.
The state's most successful girls lacrosse coach, Upper Arlington's Wendy Pinta, stepped down June 21 after leading the program to a 382-97-14 record and nine state titles in 26 seasons.
In girls basketball, Africentric's Will Mckinney ended an 18-season tenure in which his teams went 389-70 with two Division IV and five Division III state titles to tie him for the most all-time.
Mike Golden retired after 31 seasons coaching football. He guided Watterson from 1989-2002, leading the Eagles to the Division III state title in his final season there, and followed with tenures at New Albany (2004), UA (2005-13), Delaware Hayes (2014-17) and Bexley (201921), compiling a 225-118 record.
Also in football, Mark Crabtree guided Dublin Coffman to a 179-55 mark that included 18 playoff appearances in 20 seasons with two state semifinal appearances before stepping down in January. Reynoldsburg's Buddy White, Olentangy's Mark Solis and Bloom-carroll's Wade Bartholomew were among those who left after the 2021 season and following successful tenures.
Joe Lang retired after leading the Ready girls basketball team to a 534-366 record in 40 seasons.
Michael Murphy stepped down after leading the Coffman girls lacrosse team to the 2021 Division I state title. He went 123-59-1 in 10 seasons.
5. LAX POWER
The biggest big-school moments in lacrosse involved Dublin programs, with the Jerome boys joining the Coffman girls as state champions.
Jerome beat Upper Arlington 12-11 in the Division I state final for its fourth championship, but it was its first since the OHSAA sanctioned the sport in 2017. The Celtics, who made it to state for the first time since 2014, finished 22-2.
Third-seeded Coffman beat New Albany 13-12 in the state final to finish 18-5. 6. MAKING A SPLASH
The New Albany girls swimming and diving team captured its first Division I state championship, with its 400-meter freestyle relay of Carly Meeting, Olivia Hovorka, Ashlyn Morr and Ava Lachey and its 200 medley relay of Meeting, Sydney Boals, Hovorka and Lachey winning titles.
Olentangy's Martina Peroni was named Swimmer of the Meet after she set a state-meet record in the 200 individual medley (1:57.77) and was runnerup to teammate Cameron Kuriger in the 100 butterfly.
Upper Arlington's Riley Huddleston won the 100 free and shared the 50 free title with teammate Caroline Porterfield, and the Golden Bears' 200 free relay of Avery Catalano, Lizzie Oliphant, Porterfield and Emma Schueler also was first.
Winning for Coffman were Emily Brown (200 free, 500 free) and Ellie Andrews (100 breaststroke) in the girls meet and Zac Stump (500 free) in the boys meet.
Also winning boys state titles were UA'S Avery Voss in the 100 free as well as the 200 free relay of Voss, Grant Gooding, Hayden Jay and Joe Miller.
This fall, the UA girls water polo team won its third consecutive state title and the UA boys water polo team captured its first state title since 2012.
7. RUNNING FOR GLORY
Braun's exploits were far from the only successes that central Ohio athletes enjoyed in track and cross country.
At the state track meet, the Pickerington North boys team won the title and the Gahanna Lincoln girls were runners-up. The Coffman boys cross country team was state runner-up.
Gahanna senior Alyssa Shope shined in both sports, capturing the 3,200 in girls track and winning the first state cross country title in program history.
Also in the Division I state boys track meet, winning were Pickerington North's 800 relay of Daylon Duncan, Carl Allen II, Zemen Siyoum and Steven Mcelroy and Jerome's Silas Kayuha in the 110 hurdles.
In the Division I girls state track meet, joining Shope as champions were Gahanna's Camden Bentley (300 hurdles), Westerville South's Marissa Saunders (100 hurdles), Hilliard Davidson's Lindsay Stull (800), Watterson's girls 800 relay of Cailin O'reilly, Grace Jenkins, Anna Kessler and Sydney Workman and its 1,600 relay of Jordan Morales, O'reilly, Erin Connors and Jenkins.
Bexley's Mason Louis won the 400 in the Division II state boys meet. In Division III, Africentric's Justin Fudge won the long jump and ran on the first-place 800 relay with Kaylin Spence, Josiah Smith and Dan Wagner.
8. WRESTLING CHAMPS
Six central Ohio boys wrestlers won state championshipst.
In Division I, Coffman's Seth Shumate won his second title at 195 pounds. Westerville North's Connor Euton (145), Olentangy Liberty's Dylan Russo (220), Hilliard Darby's Bradley Weaver (heavyweight) and Dublin Scioto's Ty Wilson (113) also captured titles.
In Division II, Licking Valley's Dylan Dodson won the 160 title.
In the girls tournament, Olentangy Orange's Taryn Martin (170) won her second championship to complete a two-year run in which she went 42-0. 9. THE BOBCATS ROARED
The Grandview Heights boys soccer team finished a job it had been working toward for nearly a decade when it beat Columbiana Crestview 4-2 in the Division III state final.
The Bobcats, who have won eight consecutive district titles and finished 17-4-2, got a hat trick from Danny Claypool as they won the school's first team title in any sport.
“It was just like the whole city was here watching us,” Claypool said. “It's a great feeling.”
Advancing to state semifinals were the Jerome boys and New Albany girls in Division I and the Bexley girls in Division II.
10. HITTING A HOME RUN
With a 6-5 victory over Cincinnati Elder in the Division I final, the New Albany baseball team earned its second state championship.
The Eagles, whose other title came in Division III in 2004, went 29-5.
Bloom-carroll lost to Akron Hoban 2-1 in the Division II state final.
In softball, Watkins Memorial beat Pickerington Central 13-3 in a regional final and went on to a state runner-up finish in Division I, and Lakewood (Division II), Johnstown (Division III) and Newark Catholic (Division IV) all were state semifinalists.