New State Leaders Emerge At Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon, OH -- Mount Vernon High School hosted the final invitational of December with their annual Jackets Holiday Indoor meet on Thursday at the Energy Fieldhouse. 

As is the case annually, the Ohio indoor schedule begins on the first Saturday of the month and keeps a steady schedule in the early portion of the season. 

With that there has already been big marks produced across all events in the opening few weeks of competition, as the pursuit to the 2024 OATCCC State Championships is well underway. 

Following the action at Mount Vernon, we have a shake-up of our state leaderboards, particularly with respect to the field events. 

Meet Coverage

Results I Photos I Videos

Boys Highlights

Elijah Harris secured his second triple jump meet title of the season with a 45-0 showing. The sophomore from Westerville Central had previously won at Kent State with a 44-3 mark. 

The OATCCC Division I runner-up in 2023 with his personal best of 45-11.5, look for Harris to be a major factor state-wide across not only the TJ, but also the high jump and long jump as the season unfolds. 

He cleared 6-5 to win at Kent State on December 9th and has yet to debut this season in the long jump. 

Eric Pugh decisively won the pole vault competition for his third meet title in as many outings this month. The junior from Wayne delivered by far his best effort of the indoor campaign to date with a successful 16-0 clearance, a mark that separates him by a foot and a half from Ohio's next top vaulters. 

He's been steadily improving with a 15-4 to begin the season at Findlay and then a follow-up performance of 15-8 at the Midwest High Performance Series (IN). 

Pugh's 16-0 stations him in a tie for No. 4 nationally. 

Girls Highlights

Katie McFarland started her season on a winning note with a 12-0 vault. 

It was a strong opener for the senior from Lehman Catholic and is quite likely just a glimpse of bigger things to come as she rounds into mid-season form. 

McFarland holds an impressive resume that includes an OHSAA Division III state title, an OATCCC Division II/III state runner-up performance and all-time bests of 12-8 (outdoors) and 12-6 (indoors). 

McFarland gained big meet experience by vaulting well at Nike Indoor Nationals in 2023, finishing 10th overall at 12-0.5. 

Her 12-0 at Mount Vernon puts her at a tie for No. 21 on the current year national charts. 

The new state leads were not exclusive to the field events, as John Glenn scored a 4x800m relay victory in a time of 11:13.77.

The Muskies took it to the line in front of Granville, Mapleton and Wayne. 

Photo Credit: David Nguyen - MileSplit

Top level performances were far from confined just to the new state leaders, however. See below a listing of the MileSplit USA Elite Marks achieved at the meet.

Girls Elite Performances

Boys Elite Performances