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Nov 11, 2023

High school track and field Division III state meet capsule

What: Division III State Track and Field Championships. Where: Jesse Owens

What: Division III State Track and Field Championships.

Where: Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, Ohio State University, 2450 Fred Taylor Drive, Columbus, 43210.

When: June 2 (field events 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., running events 9:30 a.m.); June 3 (no field events, running events9:30 a.m.).

Who: The top four finishers in each event at each of the four regional meets, plus the next two best performances as at-large qualifiers.

Area boys qualifiers: Lake Ridge—Daniel Ambar (long jump); Oberlin—Evan Hudson (100, 200, 400); Wellington—Spencer Brasee (4×400), Joe Fox (4×400), Josh Nocella (4×400), Baron Turner (4×400).

Area girls qualifiers: Columbia—Alyssa Goebel (100 high hurdles); Oberlin—Olivia Hudson (400).

What to look for There are lots of stars in the Division III meet, led by Kaleb Nastari of Hanoverton United. Headed to Penn State next year, Nastari became the first Division III athlete to break 1:51.00 last year in the 800-meter run and this year he has his time down to 1:49.19, fastest in the state regardless of division. Another boy to watch is Cole Miller of Bainbridge Paint Valley, who has the fastest qualifying times in the 100 and 200 and also is the top entrant in the long jump. Brylan Holland of East Canton and Luke Snyder of Rittman started a distance rivalry during cross country and it has continued into the track season. They have the two fastest entry times in the 1,600 and 3,200, with Holland winning both times at the regional meet.

Another star in Division III is Jaylee Wingate of Creston Norwayne, who is headed to Tennessee next year. She leads the way in the 1,600 and also qualified in the 800 and 4×400 and 4×800 relays. Having scored 91 points in the regional meet, Norwayne is among the teams favored to win the girls state title. A fascinating matchup to watch involves Wingate and Sydnee Sinn of Haviland Wayne Trace, who will compete for Michigan State next year. Sinn is the defending state champion in the 400 and also has qualified first in the 800, where she will face Wingate. The two are also listed on their respective 4×400 relays. Led by Leah Smith, Tiffin Calvert also should score well. Smith is the top seed in the 100, anchors the top-seeded 4×200 and 4×400 relays and is seeded second in the 200.

It wouldn't be accurate to call Oberlin's Evan Hudson a star just yet, but he certainly is headed that way. The junior qualified to the state meet in the 100, 200 and 400 dashes and is seeded to win the 400 in dominant fashion. Of course, it all has to play out on the track, but Hudson's seed time of 48.38 is not just the only entry time under 49 seconds, it is the fastest by nearly 1.5 seconds. In track and field, that's a lifetime.

Hudson finished fourth in the regional in the 100, so he will need to put together two exceptional races to place in the short sprint. His regional winning time in the 200 is the fifth-fastest entry time and places him among a group of seven sprinters who all clocked between 22.33 and 22.47 at their respective regional meets. Miller has by far the fastest seed time at 21.93, but anyone of those next seven could place very well, including Hudson.

Speaking of Hudson, Evan's younger sister, Olivia, also qualified in the 400 and has the fifth-fastest seed time. The freshman has gotten better each week as the competition has gotten better, and if that trend continues, she could find herself high up on the podium.

Columbia's Alyssa Goebel had a storybook method of getting to the state meet. During the regional finals of the 100 high hurdles, she was interfered with by a runner who went down, and the officials decided to allow her to re-run the race all by herself. Whatever time she got would be her official time and would be inserted into the results. As it turned out, her time of 16.79 placed her fourth, earning a spot in the state meet. However, she is seeded 18th in the field and will need to go much faster to move on to the finals.

Wellington's boys are in much the same boat as Goebel, as the Dukes qualified in the 4×400 relay with the 13 th-fastestqualifying time of 3:28.86.

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