Division 2/3 Highlights
Beachwood Sweeps Team Competition
The Beachwood boys and girls swept the team competition in Division 2/3 on Saturday in impressive fashion. The girls scored 57 points, 24 ahead of second place Chaminade Julienne, and the boys edged out Heath by 2 points, posting 37 in their victory.
Led by Ashley Perryman, who won the 200m dash and long jump, placed second in the 60m dash, and ran a leg on the fourth place 4x400 relay, the Lady Bisons were able to avenge their runner-up finish from 2019.
Perryman posted an OH No. 3 25.11 en route to her 200m victory, while also putting together an OH No. 5 mark in the 60m dash (7.64). Her 17 feet, 1/2 inch clearance in the long jump was 6 inches back of her indoor personal best.
Senior Maddie Alexander contributed 18 points with a high jump win, fourth place finish in the long jump, and sixth place finish in the triple jump.
The boys were led by freshman Freddie Lenix, Jr.
Lenix, Jr. earned a fourth place finish in the 60 meter dash and third place finish in the 200 meter dash and contributed to the fourth place 4x200 relay and third place 4x400 relay. In all, he contributed 22 of Beachwood's 37 points.
Christian Mayfield contributed an important 10 points with his triple jump victory. After finishing 6th in 2019, Mayfield was able to clear 43-5 en route to the win.
----
Caleb Brown Shatters State Meet 3200 Record
For those of you who may be wondering why Shelby's Caleb Brown was displaying the number 7 as he was crossing the line in the D2/3 3200 on Saturday, he was simply asking you to do some math.
4 individual state championships (1 indoor, 2 outdoor, 1 cross country) + 2 4x800 Relay state championships (1 indoor, 1 outdoor) = 6 total state meet golds. Add the individual state title he secured on Saturday and you get 7.
And that's not including the two team titles Shelby won at the 2019 indoor and 2019 outdoor state championships.
Brown secured that seventh victory on Saturday basically from the sound of the gun. Even before the race started, the writing was on the wall: Brown was going to win. The only real questions were: by how much and will it be a state record?
The margin of victory turned out to be a whopping 40 seconds as Brown placed ahead of Ayersville's Noah Fisher, a University of Findlay commit, who has finished in the top four at a state meet five times now. Brown's 8:57.68 would, in fact, shatter the D2/3 state meet record, as well.
It was also 6 seconds ahead of the Division 1 meet record.
Brown is now one of only two athletes in the entire country to have broken 9:00 twice so far this season. He holds the second and fourth fastest performances in the country and earned his third straight 3200 victory (including the 2019 outdoor season).
He is now on track for a bid at the New Balance Nationals Indoor 2 Mile title. Of the athletes standing in his way, only Liam Murphy (NJ) and Gavin Sherry (CT) have run faster than Brown, but that margin is less than a second. We should be in store for quite a race from Brown in New York City.
Hawken Juniors Go 1-2 in 1600
The Division 2/3 mile was all Hawken's on Saturday as the squad received all 18 of its points from the 1-2 finish by Ella Gilson and Juliana Metz.
Gilson, the Division 2 cross country state champion this fall, pulled in her third career championship in the 1600 and second on the indoor track. Though it wasn't a personal best for her, Gilson was able to add to her impressive resume in the middle distance events with the 5:08.80 mark.
Right behind her was teammate Juliana Metz who achieved her first career top five state finish. After crossing the line in 10th this past fall, Metz posted her fourth personal best of the season in the 1600 en route to the runner-up finish.
The junior duo should be on every Division 2 coach's radar heading into the spring season as it's hard to believe there isn't much more to come from them.
- Ella Gilson (5:08.80) and Juliana Metz (5:09.78)
- Finished 1-10 in the XC State Meet
- Gilson's third mile championship, Metz's first top five state finish
----
Kerrigan Myers Shatters D2/3 State Record In 60m Hurdles
Galion senior Kerrigan Myers absolutely obliterated the D2/3 record in the Girls 60m Hurdles not once, but twice on Saturday.
Myers started her day off with an 8.70 victory in the prelims, .06 seconds faster than the previous record, before closing out her indoor hurdles campaign with a US No. 10 8.58, breaking the record by .18 seconds.
Her 8.58 personal best makes her the only Ohioan and one of only 12 girls nationally to be under 8.60 in the event this season. It was her second career individual championship and first indoor after finishing 2nd in the event in 2019.
----
_pv_(indoor_state_3-7-20).jpg)
Kenna Stimmel Clears New State Meet and SPIRE HS Record
Margaretta sophomore Kenna Stimmel continued to impress with her Division 2/3 victory on Saturday. Stimmel climbed to a new D2/3 and SPIRE Institute record of 13 feet, 1/4 inch, shattering the old state record and edging out the old facility record.
Stimmel burst onto the scene last spring when she cleared 13-5, won the Division 3 pole vault, and, as the only freshman in the field, finished fifth in the New Balance Outdoor Nationals Championship pole vault.
She now holds the indoor and outdoor Division 3 overall and state meet records, as well as the Ohio state records in the outdoor pole vault among freshmen and indoor pole vault among sophomores.
After this victory by over a foot, Stimmel has already cleared 13-0 five times in her young career.
----
Calvin Hatcher Sweeps Short Sprints
Chaminade Julienne's Calvin Hatcher capped off a stellar senior campaign with victories in the 60 meter dash and 200 meter dash on Saturday. He finished the season as the only Division 2/3 runner with a sub-7.0 60 mark and sub-22.0 200 best this season.
After finishing 7th in the 60 and 2nd in the 200 in 2019, Hatcher was able to return for the golds in 2020. His 6.94 and 21.82 personal bests in each event were strong indoor personal bests for Hatcher, which should make him a front-runner to bring home the sprint events in Division 2 this spring.
Hatcher, with his 21.99, was able to hold off Shawnee Springfield's Robie Glass in the 200 (22.01), but Glass would get his revenge in the 400. Hatcher's 48.99 would prove good enough for second behind Glass, who posted a 48.77 personal best.
Hatcher's 28 points helped Chaminade Julienne finish 3rd in the team rankings.
WATCH: 60m Dash Finals
WATCH: 200m Dash Heat 3
Dunbar Sneaks Under 4x200 State Record
Perennial sprints powerhouse Dayton Dunbar continued their run of success in the 4x200 relay on Saturday, sneaking under the Division 2/3 state record with their 1:29.44 mark. The previous record was from the 2015 Dunbar team who ran 1:29.47.
The lone short sprint relay usually highlights the deepest of the deep sprint squads on the indoor circuit and this year Dunbar was able to secure the win over Glenville.
The boys put together the only sub-1:30 mark in Ohio this season and a new US No. 13.
The team of Brandon Wright, Deandre Jolly, Myles Lacking, and Jaquan Lusbrough were able to secure Dunbar's fourth state title in the last six years in the event.