Recapping Ohioans At adidas Indoor Nationals

That being said, we'd be remiss not to take one last look back at the stellar work put up by Ohio's own in Virginia Beach this past weekend at adidas Indoor Nationals. 

While some of our standout athletes opted out of adidas, presumably, in lieu of training for their upcoming OATCCC meet, we had many athletes make the trek to the stunning VA Beach Sports Center to test themselves against the country's best. 

Here's how our top performers fared. 

Pole Vault Supremacy 

(Members of 'Team Ohio') 

In men's action, Conner McClure and Jimmy Rhoads went 1-2 with successful clearances of 16-10.75 and 16-8.75, respectively.

The duo, who've gone head-to-head on several occasions this season, led a group of five Ohioans who placed inside the Championship Division's top 10.

For McClure, it was his ninth victory in ten outings during the 2021 campaign while Rhoads has now either taken wins or runner-up efforts in the standings during all eight of his starts.

Both marks represent new personal bests for the talented senior-class vaulters and they stand as No.'s 2 and 3 in the national rankings, trailing only Clayton Simms (Live Oak, LA) and his 17-4.75 showing at the Austin Classic.  

Results

On the ladies side, Kenna Stimmel captured the national title with a 13-11.25 performance. Already well known in pole vault circles throughout the country, the Margaretta native reaffirmed that she's a threat to win any competition she enters.

In claiming her victory, Stimmel outdueled California's Paige Sommers, who has an amazing 14-6 vault (outdoors) on her resume. Sommers cleared 13-9.25 for second place in what was her 2021 indoor debut.  

In the 400, Korbin Martino impressed during both his prelims and finals races. First, he came out of the qualifying round as the second seed by virtue of a 48.85 winning effort in Heat 3.

Read more about Martino's prelims experience. 

• Korbin Martino Cruises Into 400m Finals At adidas

It came down to him and the top seeded Ashton Schwartzman (IMG Academy, FL) in the finals, as they battled all the way to the line. Martino led at the bell lap, but Schwartzman clawed back late to edge the Penn State bound senior from Canal Winchester.

Schwartzman's winning mark was 47.83 while Martino produced a new personal best clocking of 47.97 for second.

Martino's confidence will be riding high heading to the OATCCC Division 1 meet on Saturday where he's likely to line-up against fellow state-side national talents Justin Braun and Steven McElroy.

Watch Schwartzman & Martino Go Toe-To-Toe In The 400

The Rundown 

Gabe Singh won his Open Division 400 section in a time of 50.62 and wound up 3rd overall when all results were merged. Read more about Singh's 2021 season's journey in his feature article. 

• Gabe Singh Collects 400m Section Win At adidas 

Other Open Division top finishes included efforts from Miya Brines and Mackenzie Hartman. Brines, from Loveland, leaped 5-3 to take the high jump triumph and Hartman, a junior at Seven Hills, took third in the the 60 with a time of 7.83. 

Back to the Championship Divisions, Mackenzie Palinski, who attends Gilmour Academy, earned 4th place in the weight throw competition with a 49-10.50 mark and Kings' Alex Justus produced a 1:54.51 clocking for 7th in the 800 meter standings.  

Finally, in relay action, Ohio-based teams from Hoover-North Canton and Hilliard Davidson netted the 5th and 7th placements in the 4x800 with marks of 8:00.01 and 8:09.91, respectively.