The OHSAA State Track and Field Meet will be held Friday and Saturday, June 1 and 2, at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the campus of the Ohio State University in Columbus. Highland County will be represented by seven athletes from Fairfield, Hillsboro and McClain.
Fairfield, competing in Division III will be represented by one girl and four boys. Lady Lion Blake Adams will represent Fairfield in the girls’ discus throw and shot put. On the boys’ side Fairfield will be represented by the 4×800-meter relay team of Andrew Davis, Brandtson Duffie, Bennett Hodson and Matthew Mangus. Duffie also qualified individually in the boys’ 800-meter run and Mangus will be participating in the 3200-meter run.
Adams earned the right to participate in the State meet for the third year in a row in the shot put with a distance of 37-06.75 at the Regional meet. Adams will be making her first appearance at the state meet in the girls’ discus throw and earned a spot with a distance of 115-04 at Regionals.
The 4×800-meter relay team qualified for the State meet by posting a time of 8:20 at the Regional meet. Duffie earned his spot in the 800-meter run courtesy of a first place finish at Regionals with a time of 1:57.06. Mangus earned a return trip to State in the 3200-meter run with a time of 9:42.64 at the regional meet.
In Division II McClain’s Chayden Pitzer will represent the Lady Tigers track and field team in three events. Pitzer returns to State for the second year in a row in the girls’ 100-meter hurdles with a qualifying time of 15.37 and the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.75 at the D II Regional meet. Pitzer will also compete in the girls’ 300-meter hurdles as she qualified with a time of 46.50.
Hillsboro’s Draven Stodgel qualified for the State meet in the boys’ discus throw and shot put with qualifying distances of 147-04 and 51-03.50 respectively. Austin Goolsby returns to the State meet for the third straight year in the boys’ pole vault and looks to defend his 2017 State Title. Goolsby qualified for the State meet with a height of 15-04 at Regionals and is the top qualifier in the event.
Events are scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. Friday with the D II pole vault and boys’ shot put. The D III boys’ 4×800-meter relay is scheduled for 9:45 a.m.
Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.
