On the second and final day of the OATCCC Indoor Finale, some of the state's best in Division 1 meet at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva for another exciting day of track and field action.
Korbin Martino from Canal Winchester ended his stellar indoor track season by putting on a clinic in the 400m dash, winning the event, running an electrifying 47.43, and asserting himself as the US No. 1 runner in the event.
Steven McElroy from Pickerington North, who finished second in the event, finished the day behind Martino in the national standings at US No. 2. Ohio is well represented in the US 400m MileSplit rankings, with the top three all hailing from the Buckeye state, including Justin Braun who is ranked third.
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McElroy also competed in the 60m and 200m dashes on Saturday. In the 200m, McElroy brought home the gold, running a 21.67, giving him his fifth win in the event of the year. McElroy finished second in the 60m dash as well.
The distance boys brought the house down in Geneva as well, with several outstanding performances. In the 800m, Alex Justus from Kings ran away from the field, running a 1:52.49, which is a US No. 2.
In the 3200m, St. Xavier's Nathan Mountain and Uniontown Lake's Nathan Moore battled to the line and at the end, it was Mountain who came out on top, avenging his loss to Moore in the 2020 cross country state championships in the fall.
Mountain outkicked Moore in the final 100m en route to winning the race and running a 8:56.96. Moore crossed the line just behind, running a 8:57.83. The duo will face off once more and look to break the tie during their final outdoor season.
The Lakota West 4x800m relay team started the day by bringing home the first boys gold medal given out on Saturday. The team of Zach Beneteau, Cole Cronk, Sergio Negroe, and Zachary Plotkin won the event and also took down the US No. 1 4x800m relay time in the process.
The Granville boys relay teams also found success as well, capping the season off with two Indoor Finale wins and new OH No. 1 finishes in the 4x200m and 4x400m relays.
Entering as heavy favorites in their events, Zamen Siyoum from Pickerington North (60m hurdles), Malachi Collier from Maple Heights (long jump), Mondra Curry from Gahanna Lincoln (triple jump), Gabe Hickman from Turpin (shot put) and Tomas Rimac from Brunswick (weight throw) all won their events on Saturday and finish the year as the top performances in the state in their events.
Morgan Monesmith from Hathaway Brown continued on her roll this indoor season, with wins in the 800m and 1600m. In the 1600m, Monesmith took over late and never let up, finishing five seconds in front of Juliann Williams from Beavercreek. Monesmith won the race, running a 4:55.56.
In the 800m, Monesmith caught Thomas Worthington's Carina Napoleon with 100m to go and won her second event of the evening. Napoleon would finish second, racing to an impressive 2:12.39.
Paige Floriea from Mentor won the 200m dash event on Saturday, clocking a new OH. No 1 time of 24.52. Kaira Granger from Bedford also competed in the event and finished second, finishing just behind Floriea, running a 24.88. Both girls competed in the 60m dash as well. Granger placed second in the event, but set a new OH No. 1 time during the prelims, where she ran a 7.52.
Camden Bentley from Gahanna Lincoln (60m hurdles) and Victoria Lanese from Mentor (high jump) won their individual events on Saturday and also set new OH No. 1 marks in the process. Bentley collected her fifth win in the 60m hurdles this season, whereas Lanese secured her fourth in the high jump.
Two girls in the 3200m race clocked sub 11 performances at Saturday's Indoor Finale. Katie Clute from Olmsted Falls led the way, winning her third race of the year and staying undefeated in the 3200m, running a 10:38.74. Alex Bauer from Uniontown Lake finished in second, running under ten for the first time of her career at a 10:53.17.
All three girls relay teams that won on Saturday picked up new OH No. 1 times as well. In the 4x200m relay, Watterson edged out Gahanna Lincoln to win the event, running a 1:42.90. In the 4x400m relay, Mentor cruised to a gold medal victory with Watterson finishing second. Then in the 4x800m relay, Hilliard Davidson posted yet another OH No. 1 time, with help from their incredible third and fourth legs by Caitlyn Jones and Lindsay Stull to punctuate their race win.
