GIRLS  PREVIEW:

The Rod Russell Mason Invitational this weekend promises to be a great event.  Things kick off with field events at 4:15, and running prelims of the short sprints at 4:30.   After Senior Night and the 4x800s the meet begins.  This meet pits Ohio Girls State Champions Reynoldsburg against a super strong Mason girls’ team!  The meet will face the #2/3 (Ohio) girls 4x100 relays, the #2/3  4x200 relays and very strong individual races as well.   Destinee Gaus (#6 Ohio) of Reynoldsburg will most likely face Khara Walker and/or Sarah Hunter (#12 Ohio) of Mason in the 100 dash, along with Jonaysha Burrow (#17 Ohio) of St. Ursula.  They may also face each other in the 200 dash, where they are all ranked as well.   It may take under 60 seconds just to score in the 400 meter dash, where Haley Walters of Kings looks to lead the field.  The hurdle events appear tight, with the 100 hurdle race featuring some of the best hurdlers in the state.  Washington (#10 Ohio) will face Dickens of Chaminade Julienne and Reid of Mason, all of who have gone sub 16.0. 

The 800 looks strong as well, with the top 8 entries all under 2:25, and a few who have split under 2:20 already this season.   Johnston of St. Ursula appears to lead the way, with many others close behind.  Depending on who runs the mile, it could be led by Lake of Mason (5:10 pr) but Siler of Sycamore and the St. Ursula girls will be not be far away.  The 3200 appears to be the distance race of the day, 8 girls have PRs of under 11:45, and it may take sub 11:00 to win this one.   The field events also look tough.  Pole Vault has 3 girls who have all gone over 10 feet, and the shot and disc will take big throws to win as well, with Donyelle Brown (#7 Ohio) of Reynoldsburg leading the field.   Long jump has the state #1, Sarah Hunter facing a strong field of 17+ footers in this event.   The 4x800 and the 4x400 have local rivals facing one another in what looks to be some tough battles.  St. Ursula will battle Mason for the win, but in the 4x400, all teams will be chasing the 2010 state champs in their 4x400 relay (all of whom return).  Overall, Mason and Reynoldsburg look very strong, but in the individual races, it appears to be an epic night of track and field. 

BOYS PREVIEW:

The Boys’ races appear to be equally tight.  The 4x800 looks to be tough, with St. X, Wayne and Mason all battling it out.  The 100 has Northmont’s Jared Walker (10.92.)  The hurdle races will feature the super strong Walker of Moeller, Cain of Chaminade Julienne and Hammons-Scott of Wayne.   All have gone sub-15 in the 110s and look strong in the 300 hurdles as well.  The 200 dash looks very strong with 22.8 being the cutoff to make it to finals based upon entries, with Walker of Northmont again the top seed.  The 400 should be a solid race; someone will have to go sub-50 to win, with 6 entries nearing that mark already.  Once the race gets to the sprint relays, the meet gets much better.  The 4x100 and 4x200 have very strong teams, with some of the strongest teams in the region.  Princeton, Winton Woods and Wayne look to be the top teams in the sprint relays, but many teams are not far behind.

The distance events are where this meet becomes epic!  The 1600 has a number of athletes, including Kincaid of Mason, Bachman of St. X and Hiluf of Reynoldsburg all having near sub 4:20 times.  The 3200 is the big question… who will run??  Hiluf of Reynoldsburg is the defending indoor state champ and Matt Kincaid now has the top 3200 time in the state.  St. X has 2 great guys in the 2 mile and several other teams have guys that have gone under 9:45 this year. The 800 appears to be the race of the night.   “Quick” of Northmont (#2 Ohio) @ 1:55 has one of the top times in the state, and several others are not far behind.  It might take 1:59 to score in this event, and provide a great regional preview.  In the field events, Wayne appears to have the upper hand.  They could double score in the pole vault, with Shiverdecker and Russell.  The shot is also a strong event for Wayne with a 60 foot thrower in Tyler Dukes.  Wayne also has two 170 foot discus throwers in Jared Harrison and Lovell Peterson.  However the discus could be tight, with 8 entries over 150 feet including Murray of Sycamore, Flohr of Turpin, and Schneiber of St. X.   The long jump appears to be relatively open with Dooley of Mason slightly ahead (22’2”) but the next 7 jumpers could all go over 21 feet.   Overall, the meet appears to be very strong!  Both the boys’ and the girls’ races and field events could provide the best times in the state.