COLUMBUS — Run a couple of events, rain delay. Run a couple more events, rain delay.
This was the ironic stop-and-go pattern at the state track & field tournament at Ohio State’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
Several Delaware County schools made the tournament, but Olentangy, Liberty, Orange, Big Walnut and Buckeye Valley headlined Saturday’s podium finishers and Sunday’s qualifiers.
Liberty senior Elena Aldrink took home the Division I girls 3,200-meter title, reclaiming it after last topping the podium for the event as a sophomore.
Buckeye Valley senior Austin Browning won the Division III boys 110-meter hurdles event by one hundredth of a second — truly jaw-dropping.
Here are some other top 8 finishers, their respective events, divisions and times/heights:
- Brooke Chapman, Olentangy Orange: Third place in Division I girls 3,200-meter with a time of 10:40.92
- Leighton Coey, Lindsey Cochran, Kylie Cochran and Grace Buskirk, Big Walnut: Second place in Division II girls 4×800 relay with a time of 9:08.30
“I think we were nervous going into it; the adrenaline of getting on the Jesse Owens state track is enormous,” Buskirk said after the 4×800 relay. “It’s just a lot of monumental, memorable moments — I just wanted to get out there and see what we could run.” - Erin Hoover, Big Walnut: Eighth place in Division II girls high jump with a height of 5-02.00
- Grace Buskirk, Buckeye Valley: Sixth place in Division III girls 3,200-meter with a time of 10:43.17
- Sincere Godsey, Malakhi Ross, Keagan Bertke and Hayden Mays, Buckeye Valley: Eighth place in Division III boys 4×100 relay with a time of 43.23
The qualifiers who ran Saturday, but did not race in a finals race yet, will be mentioned in later articles. All photos below are credited to Jack Slemenda and Curt Conrad.
