After earning four individual titles at the Division III Norwayne regional, Trinity junior Iniyah Charlton is peaking at the right time.
Charlton won four events—three individual and one relay—in leading the Trojans to a runner-up finish at the Division III Norwayne regional track meet.
“It feels good,” Charlton said. “Going from my freshman year when I barely made it to last year when I placed seventh or eighth, and then last year, I made it, but I barely made it. Going up from three or four places each year feels pretty good. It feels pretty good going from seventh or eighth my freshman year to first place my junior year.”
In last spring’s regional meet, Charlton finished second in the 100-meter dash, third in the 200, and she ran in a leg in the 4×100-meter relay that finished fourth.]]
She went on to earn All-Ohio honors by finishing seventh at the state meet in both the 100 and 200 and she teamed up with Imari Charlton, Miracle Head, and Toni Jamison to place seventh in the 4×100-meter relay.
What she did at the 2024 Norwayne regional last weekend can only be described as legendary.
Charlton won the 100 in 12.33, the 200 in 25.14, and she set a new school record in winning the long jump with a best leap of 17 feet, 10 ¾ inches.
She also ran a leg in the winning 4×100-meter relay, which finished in 49.17 seconds. Head, Jamison, and Courtney McCray teamed up with Charlton to set the school record for the fourth consecutive week.
Charlton is now the school record holder in the 100, 200, long jump, and 4×100-meter relay.
“I always felt like I had it in me, I just didn’t know when it was going to come,” Charlton said. “I think they were all good performances, but my long jump wasn’t what I was expecting.”
Charlton entered the regional with the third-best long jump of the season but she found her rhythm early and cleared a new personal record on her second attempt of the meet.
“I was having a really good day,” she said. “I ended up (setting a new PR) by a whole foot and an inch and I really surprised myself.”
Breaking 12 seconds in the 100-meter dash was a first for Charlton, and she’s looking forward to carrying that momentum into this weekend’s state meet.
“My 100 was exactly where I wanted it to be,” she said. “I finally broke 12, and that was really exciting for me, I was really happy. On the same day, I finally broke 25 (in the 200). I’ve been trying to do that since last year.”
Trinity coach Dan Giangrande watched in awe as Charlton dominated the track at the regional meet.
“My first reaction was we had to figure out who did our record board so we can get that fixed this summer,” he said. “That was definitely my first reaction. It was great to see.”
Giangrande is confident Charlton can ride the momentum she created with a strong performance at the regional meet to a spot on the podium in Columbus.
He’s also excited to see what his 4×100-meter relay team can accomplish this season and next.
“The best part, not a single one of them graduates this year, so looking at a state championship next year is definitely in the realm of possibilities,” he said. “Hopefully, they can get a full-ride scholarship for track & field, too. It’s been since 2017, so that would be something big we’re looking for.”
