Boys
Talk about going out with a bang, and that's what Mateo Medina (Elyria 2024) plans on doing this weekend, as he quite literally will be going into this weekend as the top sprinter in all of Ohio across all divisions, sitting on top of the rankings for the 100m, 200m, and 400m Dash; all of which he set personal bests in at OHSAA Division 1 Region 2 - Port Clinton. After having a wild breakout season this past winter, Medina has carried that momentum into the spring and demolished all of his personal bests from the previous year, going undefeated this entire spring. Now the only question we have about him: Will he join Justin Braun (Wester. Central 2022) as the only other person in OHSAA history who has dipped under the 46 second barrier?
100m - 10.43
200m - 20.96
400m - 46.05
Looking to what could possibly be the deepest field ever assembled on Ohio soil, the Boy's 4x800m Relay has been lighting up back-and-forth around the state the last few weeks, and this weekend is going to be no different, as a staggering 5 teams are seeded under 7:50 on the performance list, with the rest of the field being under 8 minutes. Out of the 18, Olentangy and Mass. Jackson lead the way with the only sub-7:45 performances coming out of regional competitions, with St. Xavier being the other team who has dipped under that barrier at a point this season. Given that it is the first running event, add on a little bit of optimism, we could see a scare to the state record, which was 7:36.33 set by St. Xavier back in 2014. It remains as one of five sub-7:40 efforts in the event, all of which were set prior to 2020.
Olentangy - 7:44.49
Mass. Jackson - 7:44.96
Wester. North - 7:46.72
Lexington - 7:49.20
Tol. St. Francis - 7:49.68
For likely what will be the only (individual) distance event in which its state record could fall on the boy's side, the 1600m could have its All-Time List rewritten by Ben Gabelman (Wester. North 2024). Despite coming into the meet seeded at 4:09.22, Gabelman actually asserted himself as the top miler in the state earlier this spring with a scorching 4:05.24 1600m, (which was actually enroute to a 4:06.80 in the full mile (1609m)) which was set at the Mason Rod Russell Invitational at the start of May. As of now, he is comfortably sitting at OH #2 All-Time, just behind Dustin Horter (Lak. East 2018)'s 4:03.40, which was also at the same meet, at least the 2018 installment. Given that is the only running event he is slated to compete in, if he takes it out from the gun, given the conditions, he has a realistic chance of putting himself on top of that list.
The High Jump will definitely be one to keep an eye on, as the Top-2 names in the entire state this spring both have set new personal bests of 6-9 in the event: Nate Hollingsworth (Olen. Liberty 2024) and Markeise Smith (Ak. Garfield 2024). As expected with many of the top seeds, Hollingsworth has won all but one competition from early in the season, while Smith has gone undefeated so far up until now. Two other names to look out for are Elijah Harris (Wester. Central 2026), and Delton Wright (Berea-Midpark 2024). When taking into consideration indoor performances as well, Harris stacks against this lineup as a 6-9 jumper (New Balance Nationals Indoor) along with being the only underclassman in this group. Wright could be the dark horse of the lineup, having a personal best of 6-8.5, which he set at OHSAA Division 1 District - Brunswick.
Rounding out this preview will be the 4x100m and 4x200m Relays, with two teams seeded just right next to each other within the Top-3 (along with all 3 teams being from different parts of the state: central, southwest, northeast).
4x100m
Olen. Orange - 41.56
Wayne- 41.65
GlenOak - 41.75
4x200m
Pick. Central - 1:26.15
Wayne - 1:26.47
GlenOak - 1:26.49
Based off of last years results', two of the three teams above in both lineups are new names to look out for: Olen. Orange and GlenOak in the 4x100m Relay, and Wayne and GlenOak in the 4x200m Relay.