As they say when it comes to team titles, "every point matters," which in this case for overall Division I winners, Cleveland Heights, it most certainly did, as it came down to the 4x400m Relay. After a second-place finish at last year's championships to Lancaster, the Tigers were slowly heating things up throughout the winter leading up to the state championships with their guys posting some big personal bests last weekend.

Starting with Michael Middleton (Cle. Heights 2024), who now sits on the national rankings board as US #2 in the 400m Dash after winning the title in the event by over a second, clocking 47.10. Amazingly, according to the database, he only just started competing in track and field since last indoor season, the year as previously, was when Cleveland Heights took second to Lancaster as a team. That same year, he didn't eclipse the 50-second barrier for the 400m Dash, let alone, qualify for the outdoor state championships individually for Division I. Fast forward to these last few months, he set a new personal best of 49.23 late-January, followed by a huge jump to 47.58 at SPIRE Scholastic Showcase.

The same can be said for the sophomore, Jay'vier Kerr (Cle. Heights 2026), who finished right behind him on Friday, who also clocked a personal best of 48.29, a jump of over two seconds from his previous season best of 50.89 set at Oberlin earlier in the year. To top it off for the underclassman as well, he set a huge personal best in the Triple Jump as well, taking the silver with a mark of 44-2.75. This was just a little under a foot and a half improvement from his previous best of 42-9.

As for the relays, respectively, they set season bests in both relays, clocking 1:28.69 in the 4x200m Relay for silver, and 3:23.31 in the 4x400m Relay for gold after narrowly holding off Olentangy Orange, and the Tiger's first team state title.

Both relays were actually made up of the same athletes, which the quartet included:

Jay'vier Kerr (Cle. Heights 2026)
Michael Middleton (Cle. Heights 2024)
Aiden West (Cle. Heights 2026)
Marquise Davis (Cle. Heights 2024)