Perry’s Javin Richards won a state title and several other athletes from the Chagrin Valley Conference earned All-Ohio honors after one day of action at the 2021 OHSAA State Track & Field Championships on Friday at multiple locations in Columbus.
Richards cleared 15-feet, 6-inches to win the Division II state title in the pole vault. He also qualified for the finals in the 110-meter hurdles (3rd in the prelims, 15.35) and the 300-meter hurdles (1st, 38.84).
Beachwood’s Elizabeth Metz and Brooklyn’s Jenna Young finished as the state runner-up in their respective events at the Division II meet.
Metz threw the discus 142-feet, 1-inch while Young cleared 5-feet, 6-inches at the high jump. Metz will try to go two-for-two in All-Ohio honors when she throws the shot put on Saturday.
Wickliffe’s Jacob Lewis placed third in the long jump with a best leap of 22-feet, 5-inches and Chagrin Falls and Hawken both earned a spot on the podium in the 4×800-meter relay.
Rose Hoelzel, Claire Stinson, Claire Coffey, and Azzurra Opperman led the Tigers to a fourth-place finish with a time of 9:30.76, and Hawken’s Juliana Metz, Lena Sylvan, Leila Metres, and Ella Gilson placed eighth in 9:36.41.
A host of CVC athletes qualified for Saturday’s Division II state finals.
That group includes Chagrin Falls’ Abigail Alberts (6th, 300 hurdles, 47.08), Andrew Neimeier (6th in 110 hurdle prelims, 15.67), and Camron O’Connor (5th, 400, 49.65), Hawken’s Makayla White (2nd, 200, 24.81Keu and 4th, 100, 12.17), and Orange’s Gregory Beard (5th, 100, 11.04),
Beachwood advanced three relays to the finals including the 4×200 team of Kylie Walters, Dakota Houston, Amelie Cotta, and Lauren Luxenburg (7th, 1:45.04), the 4×400 team of Jack McPhillips, Braylen Eaton, Noah Saidel, and Caleb Berns (7th, 3:25.60), and the 4×100 team made up by Houston, Sarah Brown, Cotta, and Luxenburg (4th, 49.63).
Chagrin Falls pushed both of its 4×400-meter relay teams into Saturday’s finals.
Morgan Kittle, Coffey, Tallulah Haskett, and Alberts placed fourth in the girls’ prelims with a time of 4:01.79, and Michael Tropf, Neimeier, O’Connor, and Zachary Lechman finished third in 3:24.22.
Hawken’s boys’ 4×100-meter relay team also will run on Saturday. Destynn Keuchel, Samuel Pan, Jordan Harrison, and Andrew Bukovnik placed fourth in the prelims with a time of 43.10.
Also competing in the finals on Saturday are Chagrin Falls’ Coffey (800) and Hoelzel (1600, 3200), Edgewood’s Lydia Randolph (3200), Geneva’s Emmy Bryan (pole vault) and Gabbi Selman (pole vault), Hawken’s Gilson (1600, 3200) and Metz (3200), and Orange’s Katherine Hamilton (pole vault).
In Division III, Independence went 4-for-4 in the prelims on Friday.
Emmett Stralka advanced in both the 100 (5th, 11.17) and 200 (6th, 22.79), and Kyle Zygmunt ran the sixth-best preliminary time in the 400-meter dash as he qualified for the finals in 50.71.
Independence’s 4×200-meter relay team of Jack Taliaferro, Zygmunt, Stralka, and Josh Belitz broke its own school record with a time of 1:31.33, good for seventh place in the prelims.
Trinity’s Jack Maloney also advanced as he placed fifth in the 400 with a time of 50.49 seconds.
Berkshire’s Dana Shale (pole vault), Cuyahoga Heights’ Darien Tillett (1600), and Independence’s Casey Adams (long jump) and Madison Stepanik (shot put) also will compete in Saturday’s Division III finals.
Geneva’s Charlie Taylor (discus) and William Hanchosky (800) will compete in the Division I finals.
Elizabeth Metz of @BeachwoodBison PR’d by 10 feet today to finish as D2 state runner up in the discus. pic.twitter.com/KmxrQdGIyp
— News-Herald preps (@NHPreps) June 4, 2021
Jacob Lewis of @WHS_Blue_Devils finishes in third place in the D2 Long jump with a personal record 22-5 on the final jump of his career. pic.twitter.com/xxQBpfoxTg
— News-Herald preps (@NHPreps) June 4, 2021
