COLUMBUS—Brooklyn junior Jenna Young won the Division II high jump state championship highlighting a strong day from Chagrin Valley Conference athletes at the OHSAA State Track & Field Championships at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on Friday.
Young cleared 5-feet, 7-inches to win her title.
Lutheran West’s Evelyn Albers placed 12th in the event with a top height of 5-feet.
Several other CVC athletes earned a spot on the podium on the first day of state action.
Perry senior Javin Richards finished as the state runner-up in the Division II pole vault competition with a top vault of 15-feet, 10-inches, and teammate and younger brother Brayden Richards placed sixth with a mark of 14-feet, 10-inches.
Chagrin Falls’ 4×800-meter relay team of Claire Coffey, Azzurra Opperman, Bella Radomsky, and Rose Hoelzel placed third in Division II with a time of 9:23.36.
Perry’s 4×800 team of Alyssa Vis, Holly Vis, Grace McKoon, and Corinne Lynch narrowly missed out on All-Ohio honors as they finished ninth in 9:35.04.
Beachwood’s boys’ 4×800-meter relay team finished as the state runner-up in Division II.
David Steckner, Gregory Perryman, Noah Saidel, and Caleb Berns finished that race in 7:55.41.
Beachwood junior Braylen Eaton placed 12th in the Division II long jump competition with a top leap of 20-feet, 9 ¾-inches.
Independence sophomore Casey Adams placed 10th in the Division III long jump competition with a best mark of 16-feet, 7 ½-inches, and Cardinal senior Karalyn Rutkowski tied for fourth in the high jump with a top height of 5-feet, 2-inches.
A host of CVC athletes kept alive their All-Ohio dreams by finishing among the top nine and will compete in Saturday’s finals.
In Division I, Geneva’s Connor Boland advanced to the finals in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.56 seconds.
The Division II finals will include Hawken’s Jordan Harrison, Leila Metres, and Makayla White, and Perry’s Richards brothers.
Harrison qualified for the finals in the 100 and 200-meter dashes. He ran the 100 in 10.63 seconds and the 200 in 21.68 seconds, good for the fifth-fastest time in both preliminary races. Metres ran the 400-meter dash in 57.99 seconds, the eighth-best time in the preliminary heats. White qualified for the finals in both the 100 and 200. She ran the third-fastest time in the 100 (11.99) and 200 (24.75).
Javin Richards advanced to the finals in the 110 and 300-meter hurdles. He ran the 110s in 14.59 seconds, the fifth-fastest time in the two preliminary heats, and the 300s in the second-best time of 38.71 seconds. Brayden Richards ran the 300-meter hurdles in 40.17 seconds, the eight-best time.
Beachwood advanced three relays into Saturday’s finals while Hawken and Perry will compete in one relay final each.
Dakota Houston, Sarah Brown, Amelie Cotta, and Lauren Luxenberg finished the 4×100 in the second-fastest time of 48.96 seconds. That same group finished the 4×200-meter relay with the fastest prelim time of 1:42.06.
Eaton, Mattix Revells, Caleb Berns, and Steckner led the Bison into the 4×400-meter relay finals with a time of 3:23.61, good for second-best on the day.
Hawken’s 4×100-meter relay team of Dominic Johnson, Anderson, Andrew Bukovnik, and Harrison continued its dominant postseason run with the fastest time of the day, 41.98 seconds.
Perry’s 4×200-meter relay team of Brock Sivon, Jackson Roberts, Jaden Hacking, and Brayden Richards advanced with a time of 1:29.15, good for fifth-best.
Beachwood’s Berns (800), Sarah Brown (shot put), and Kylie Walters (long jump), Chagrin Falls’ Hoelzel (1600), Geneva’s Gabbi Selman (pole vault), Hawken’s Nick Garcia-Whitko (1600), Orange’s Brian Gent (1600), and Perry’s Addy Trefzger (pole vault) also will compete in the finals on Friday.
Independence advanced two athletes and a relay team into the Division III finals.
Emmett Stralka set a new personal record of 22.24 seconds to finish with the third-best time in the 200-meter dash preliminary round. He also advanced in the 100 with a time of 10.99 seconds. Kyle Zygmunt finished with the eighth-fastest time in the 400. He ran his preliminary heat in 50.37 seconds.
Stralka and Zygmunt teamed up with Lucas Martinez and Jack Taliaferro to post the fastest time of the day in the 4×200-meter relay of 1:30.24.
Cuyahoga Heights’ Jack Klamert finished 12th in the pole vault.
