Boys
It might be too early to tell, but we could potentially see the triple crown for the sprints happen this weekend in Division 3, with Evan Hudson (Oberlin 2024), who will be coming into the meet as the second fastest seed in the 100m Dash, but the top seed in both the 200m and 400m Dash. So far up until now, Hudson has remained nearly undefeated in all three events this season, although has gone 9 for 9 in the qualifying competitions leading up to this weekend. As we saw last spring and this past winter, he will be returning as the reigning champion in the 400m Dash, except with a significant jump last week with a new personal best of 47.70 in the event; his first time dipping under the 48-second barrier. As for the other two events, we will see a matchup between him and Gabe Oppong (Tree of Life Christian 2025), who is the current top seed in the 100m Dash, and the second seed for the 200m Dash.
If Hudson does manage to pull off the triple, and wins it, he will be joining Sherron Jones (Hopewell-Loudon 2022) as possibly being the only two who have successfully stood on top of the podium for those events in one weekend at the OHSAA Division 3 State Track and Field Championships.
In the distance events, it will be anybody's race to win, especially looking back to the cross-country season up to now. In the 1600m Run, after winning his first ever state championship title in the event during the indoor state championships, Riley Nixon (Ottawa Hills 2024) will be looking to end his high school career on a high note, being the top seed in the event with his season best of 4:14.97 that he clocked at OHSAA Division 3 Region 10 - Fostoria. This is actually very close to his personal best of 4:14.42, which was set last year at the state championships where he took the runner-up spot. Given how strong of a turnover Nixon has in the latter stages of his races, we could see him add to his collection on Friday. Additionally, he will be doubling back with the 3200m Run, although he will be joined by a few names that are also making an appearance in the 1600m: Landen Eyre and Blake Rodgers.
We may have not seen him compete at the indoor state championships, but back in the fall, Landen Eyre (Whiteoak 2025) put himself on the radar after taking second at for Division 3 at the OHSAA Cross-Country Championships. Despite entering into the meet with the top seed time of 9:24.20, Eyre actually set a personal best recently of 9:15.03 at his respective district competition. This also has him as the top performer in Division 3 this season. Just mere seconds behind him however, asides from Nixon, are also the second and fourth seed, Blake Rodgers (Belpre 2024) and Asher Long (Covington 2024), both of whom took part in the event at last year's installment of the state championships, although both now having set new personal bests after going 9:20 this season. It is certain that this race could potentially be much faster than last year's ordeal. Sneaking into the mix, Luke Ellerbock (Columbus Grove 2024) will be one to look out for as well, having set foot on the podium during the indoor season along with returning to toe the line after taking fourth in this event last year to round out the group seeded under 9:30.
Expect a potential photo finish in the 4x100m Relay, as the Top-2 seeds are separated by a mere hundredth of a second, with United having the top seed time of 43.32 and Black River just behind them with a 43.33. To top it off, as unexpected as relays can be, it will be a fight for a position in the finals, and ultimately, the podium, as a whopping 10 teams are all listed under 44 seconds for the event, with the third and tenth seeded teams being separated by .30 seconds.
United - 43.32
Black River - 43.33
Mooney - 43.58
Marion Local - 43.63
LaBrae - 43.72
Seneca East - 43.75
Margaretta - 43.75
Trinity - 43.81
Versailles - 43.84
Independence - 43.88
The same can be said for the 4x200m Relay as well, with Marion Local and Margaretta leading the charge with sub-1:30 performances, followed by a slew of teams under 1:31, which consists of Allen East, Warren JFK, Dalton, Lowellville, Tinora, Ansonia, Van Buren, Edgerton, and Bluffton.
Marion Local - 1:29.59
Margaretta - 1:29.83
Allen East - 1:30.11
Warren JFK - 1:30.25
Dalton - 1:30.47
Lowellville - 1:30.52
Tinora - 1:30.52
Ansonia - 1:30.65
Edgerton - 1:30.70
Bluffton - 1:30.95
Rounding out the boys with the field events, Charlie Schmiesing (Minster 2024) has recently thrown himself not just onto the top of the performance lists for the Discus Throw, but also onto the All-Times list for Division 3, after his monstrous throw for a new personal best of 190-3 at his respective regional competition. Previously, his personal best was 177-4 set at the Spencerville District meet, which evidently means that he just skipped both the 180-0 and 190-0 milestones completely. As previously mentioned, this performance and seed has now put him #5 All-Time for Division 3, which also means he is only the fifth person in the division is eclipse that mark.