Chagrin Valley Conference athletes turned in an impressive opening day performance Thursday at the 2026 OHSAA State Track and Field Championships, collecting All-Ohio honors and qualifying for multiple finals at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
Leading the way were All-Ohio finishers Charlie Vignero of Kirtland, Billy Verbic of Berkshire, Aden Ewelt of Cuyahoga Heights, and Kirtland’s girls 4×800 relay team of Izzie Copeland, Kylie Sayle, Megan Urbanick, and Danika Schaum.
Vignero placed seventh in the Division IV shot put, Verbic finished eighth in the Division IV high jump, and Ewelt earned a seventh-place finish in the Division V pole vault. Kirtland’s 4×800 relay squad captured sixth place in the Division V final to secure All-Ohio honors.
Several other CVC athletes and relay teams advanced through preliminary competition and will return Friday with opportunities to compete for state championships and additional All-Ohio finishes.
Athletes Advancing to Friday’s Finals
Independence junior Carter Howard qualified second overall in the Division V 110-meter hurdles, running 14.73 to position himself as a contender for a state podium finish.
Cuyahoga Heights advanced all three of its boys relay teams to Friday’s finals. The 4×100 relay team of Gavin Chamberlin, Kurtis VanDivner, Maurice McClardy, and Tristan West qualified second overall in 43.21 seconds.
The Red Wolves also advanced in the 4×200 relay, where Matthew Cowling, VanDivner, Chamberlin, and West posted the third-fastest qualifying time of 1:29.81.
Cuyahoga Heights secured another finals berth in the 4×400 relay as Chamberlin, McClardy, VanDivner, and West grabbed the seventh and final qualifying position.
Beachwood dominated the Division IV girls’ sprints. Meena Abdul-Basser recorded the fastest preliminary times in both the 200 meters (24.76) and 400 meters (54.83), while teammate K’Dyn Harris-Tate advanced to the finals in both the 100 and 200 meters.
Marley Readance also qualified for the Division IV 100-meter dash final, giving Beachwood three individual sprint finalists.
The Bison’s 4×200 relay team of Harris-Tate, Kyrsten Ginn, Abdul-Basser, and Readance posted the fastest qualifying time in 1:40.00. The same quartet also led all qualifiers in the 4×400 relay with a time of 3:57.40.
Independence sophomore Peyton Bechlem advanced to the Division V 100-meter hurdles final after placing fourth in the preliminaries with a personal-best time of 15.75 seconds.
Trinity’s boys 4×100 relay team of Lucciani Hamilton, Dustin McClain Jr., Jayden Moore and Davarie Bennett qualified seventh for Friday’s final. Moore narrowly missed advancing individually in the Division IV 200 meters, finishing ninth.
