Fairbanks’ boys 4 x 200 relay team placed third during the Division III regional and qualified for the state meet. Members of the team are from left, Will Cochrane, Beau Sloan, Zach Stewart and Nate Timmons. Sloan also won the regional title in the 100 dash.
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Fairbanks High School senior Beau Sloan will be making a return venture to the Division III state track and field meet this coming weekend.
Sloan earned that trip with a first-place finish in the boys’ 100-meter dash on Friday evening at the regional finals.
Sloan breezed down the track at Fairfield Union High School in 10.9, beating Tyler Boales of Centerburg, who was the runner-up in 11.01.
FHS’ Kayla Green will also return to the state meet in the girls’ 300-meter hurdles.
Green turned in a time of 46.16 during the regional finals. That earned her the first at-large bid to the state meet.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association takes the top four placers in each event, plus two at-large bids for the state semifinals, which will be held Friday at The Ohio State University’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
Green, also a Panther senior, placed fifth during the regional finals at Fairfield Union.
Fairbanks’ boys’ 4 x 200 relay team of Sloan, Nate Timmons, Will Cochrane and Zach Stewart also qualified for the state meet.
The foursome turned in a third-place regional time of 1:31.92.
The Panthers finished behind Northmor (1:31.02) and Nelsonville-York (1:31.38) during the finals.
“Beau looked very good coming out of the blocks and ran with confidence,” said FHS coach Jeff Powell. “He controlled the entire race.
“The 4 x 200 relay is our bread-and-butter event,” said the coach. “All of our hand-offs were very good and Zach ran a solid anchor leg to get us to the state.
“Kayla had the toughest route to the state meet with the at-large bid,” said Powell. “Both of the at-large hurdlers are from our regional.
“Kayla had a very good time and is ranked 11th among the 18 hurdlers who will be at the state.”
Marysville’s Jacob Ranker placed fifth during the Division I regional finals in the 300-meter hurdles on Friday.
Ranker was timed in 39.13.
The Lady Monarch 4 x 400 relay team of Celia Soller, Jacquelyn Witt, Julia Dickman and Jenna Rioch set a new school record on Friday during the regional finals.
The ladies raced around the track in a time of 3:57.45 at Pickerington North High School.
That placed them sixth in the race.
Ranker and the relay team just missed qualifying for the state meet under the new at-large bid criteria.
Both placed 19th in the state. A total of 18 places were taken between automatic qualifiers and at-large bids.
MHS freshman Brynn Rychlik placed 13th in the girls’ pole vault at 9-0. She was the only freshman girl to compete in the event on the regional level.
“Overall, the Monarchs came to compete at the regional championships,” said MHS coach Luke Sundermeier. “Jacob ran a PR out of Lane 8 and Brynn had some great attempts at a PR height in the pole vault. She had a valuable learning experience at regionals.
“The girls 4 x 400 rose to the occasion to smash the school record by more than 2.5 seconds. They impressed everyone with their tenacity and fearlessness in a highly competitive race.
“Division I track and field is on fire in central Ohio,” said Sundermeier. “It was great to see our athletes embrace the challenge of not just being at the regional meet, but being there to compete.”
Jonathan Alder’s girls’ 4 x 800 relay team will compete in the state Division II meet.
The team of Morgan Hicks, Maddy Killian, Emily Davis and Lexi Thorpe won the regional title at Lexington High School with a time of 9:33.59.
Davis and Thorpe also qualified for the state in individual events.
Davis placed second during the regional in the 1600 run with a time of 5:17.29.
Thorpe qualified in the 400 dash with a fourth-place regional time of 2:19.72.
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