Fairbanks will have athletes competing in four events during this week’s OHSAA state track meet at Welcome Stadium at the University of Dayton. Lady Panthers on the track will be, from left, Alexis Wojcehowicz (4×400 relay), Mollie Thrush (4×400 relay), Rachael Hoover (800, 1600, 4×400 relay), Charley Shope (300 hurdles, 4×400 relay) and Allie Boyd (4×400 relay alternate).
(Journal-Tribune photo by Bob Putman)
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The ultimate goal for a high school student-athlete, no matter the sport, is to be able to be part of the final week of their particular season.
To be able to do that once is a pretty good accomplishment and it would be special to maybe do that a second time.
Fairbanks senior Rachael Hoover has been able to exceed making it to the final week not once, not twice, but four times as a track athlete.
Oh, by the way, this is not the first sport Hoover has been a four-straight year state qualifier.
She did the same thing each fall by reaching the state cross country meet.
Hoover will be among the participants, including several area athletes, who have extended their high school track season to the final week as they prepare to compete in the Ohio High School Athletic Association state track meet.
Action begins on Thursday at Welcome Stadium at the University of Dayton and will conclude on Saturday.
Competing in the Division III meet, Hoover will be running in the finals of the 800 and 1600.
Hoover was the champion in both events last week during the regional meet at Heath.
She will also be joining sophomores Alexis Wojcehowicz and Mollie Thrush and freshman Charley Shope in Thursday’s 4×400 relay preliminary.
“I am really grateful to be able to pull this off,” Hoover said of her achievement. “Some of it feels the same the past four years, but I have grown as a runner.”
As a middle school student, Hoover said she did not have that much interest in cross country and track.
“I did not run in middle school,” Hoover said.
That, however, all changed for Hoover when during her eighth-grade year Fairbanks was one of the 20 teams to reach the state meet.
“In middle school I wasn’t sure running was for me,” she said. “But then I found a home in track and cross country. I have a love-hate relationship with cross country, but I love track with my whole heart.”
Hoover will continue to show off her skills in cross country and track as she will be a scholarship athlete at Bowling Green State University in the fall.
“Rachael has been like another coach for us,” head coach Nate Stewart said. “She has been able to instill that confidence she has to the other runners.”
Being able to help others on the team is important for Hoover as she remembers back to her start with the Lady Panthers.
“I want to inspire them like I was inspired when I was a freshman,” she said. “I am so excited for them and to see what they can do.”
“She is a great role model for us,” Shope said. “She keeps us hyped up at practice.”
“Rachael has shown us what is possible and maybe we can do that,” said junior Allie Boyd, who is an alternate on the 4×400 team.
Hoover’s ability to show the way may have led to the relay team making it to the state.
“It was surprising to make it,” Wojcehowicz said. “We’ve been close and we came together in the regional.”
The team finished third (4:04.24) in the regional, knocking seven seconds off its previous best time of the season.
“I am both nervous and excited,” Thrush said of being part of all that is a state meet.
“The girls may have surprised themselves in the 4×400, but I knew they had what it takes,” Stewart said.
In addition to being part of the relay team, Shope will also be on the track Thursday for the preliminary round of the 300 meter hurdles.
While knowing nothing is guaranteed, Shope felt she would make it to the state meet.
“I have confidence in myself and could see myself there,” Shope said.
Joining the Lady Panthers on the Welcome Stadium will be athletes from Jonathan Alder, North Union and Triad.
In the Division I girls meet, Jonathan Alder’s Avery Murdock will be competing in the discus.
She was fourth (120-1) in the regional at Pickerington North.
North Union’s Gabby Lindsey finished sixth in the long jump (17 feet) in the Lexington Division II regional.
The top four in the event automatically qualified for the state meet. However, Lindsey’s jump was among the next best two of all the regional meets to qualify.
Jonathan Alder will be sending three athletes in Division II boys meet.
Luke Goode (800), Cameron Jewell (400) and Brady Tremayne (1600) each qualified after competing in the regional at Lexington.
Goode was a regional champion in the time of 1:53.07, while Jewell and Tremayne were second in their respective events.
Competing in the Division III girls meet with the Fairbanks athletes will be Triad’s Cayla Eaton.
Eaton finished fourth in the 100 hurdles during the Troy regional in the time of 15.39.