COLUMBUS — The McClain High School girls 4 x 100-meter relay team made it all the way to the 47th annual OHSAA Girls State Track and Field Meet at the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the campus of The Ohio State University last Friday.
The team, comprised of sophomore Luca Matesic, senior Iva Easter, freshman Katie Cook and junior Ryan Butterbaugh, placed 11th out of 17 teams with a time of 50.59 in the state meet preliminaries, just .02 of a second off the school record. McClain was .16 of a second from qualifying to the state finals.
The conditions Friday afternoon were clear and warm with bright sunshine with a moderate level of humidity. In other words, virtually ideal.
McClain was competing against teams from Toledo Central Catholic, Sandusky Perkins, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, Dayton Chaminade Julienne, Cincinnati Roger Bacon, Steubenville, Gilmour Academy (near Cleveland) just to name a few.
Toledo C.C. won the state 4 x 100-meter relay in Division II in a time of 48.94.
“Other than middle school, this is my first time in high school track going to state,” Matesic, the lead leg of the relay, said. “It’s very exciting. I’m glad I got the opportunity to run with people, like, a lot faster than me, my competitors. I’m glad I had fast people to push me.”
“I went to state in middle school, but I don’t know if you count that,” Butterbaugh (the second relay leg) said. “It was just a mix of emotions. I mean, we’re all happy to be here, along with (being) very nervous. We were up in the stands watching how fast all these girls were. We really pushed ourselves the best that we could.”
Cook, the third leg, said, “It’s very impressive. This is my first time at state. To make it as a freshman is even more impressive. Being here, overall, is a great experience. I just love the support from our community. Our community’s great; we always travel well. I’m so excited to have all of these people here supporting us.”
Iva Easter, the anchor for the relay, is a recent graduate of McClain High School.
“Finishing off coming to State, it was really different, the practices,” Easter said. “I wouldn’t be coming from school, I’d be coming from home. I’d be coming from a day off, pretty much, so, I had that much more to give.
“It’s really awesome to be here as a senior, especially finishing my season with the girls that made my last season fun,” Easter said. “It was just great to be here with the girls I enjoy having a team with.
“Honestly, everyone this season has made my track season great,” Easter said. “But these three (indicating Matesic, Cook and Butterbaugh), we’ve all wanted this. We wanted to make it here and that’s what we did. Being with them has just made it spectacular.”
McClain head coach Drew Hamilton said the teammates were just excited to make it to the state meet.
“They were nervous this morning,” Hamilton said Friday. “For them to take the amount of time off they did over the last week is a testament to how much they wanted it and how hard they were able to be pushed. They really allowed our coaching staff to say, ‘let’s go get it.’” And they went after it. We had the 18th fastest time coming in and we finished 11th.”
McClain was fourth at the Chillicothe Regional with a time of 51.30.
“That is great to take that much time off,” Hamilton said. “From lane one, that is an amazing thing to do. Two days ago we had a bad practice, the worst hand-offs we’ve ever had. We weren’t going to practice (Thursday), and they wanted to. They came in and everything was smooth. (Friday) those were probably the best hand-offs we’ve had all year. And to put that together here, in front of this crowd, it’s amazing.”
Hamilton spoke about the senior, Easter.
“Iva is a true leader,” Hamilton said. “This is my first year as a high school girls’ coach. I’ve coached middle school. To come in and have someone who works as hard as she does, is as good a teammate as she is, is truly a gift to me as a coach. Those aspects of her are going to be hard to replace. She really did a great job for us. She comes in and she’s going to be the hardest worker we have, every day. She pushes those around her.
“She has truly been a great leader for us. We wish her all the best. I know she’s going to do great things.”
Chris Hoppes is the sports editor for the Record-Herald in Washington C.H.
