The temperature and the competition both got hot for the Division 2 meet.
In the girls 100 meter dash, we saw another state record fall when Kya Epps of Akron SVSM broke it in 11.57 seconds. Epps would return later in the 200 meter to grab another gold medal and another state record as well. She took home the 200 title in a record time of 23.81.
In the Girls 1600, we got treated to another record performance. This time it was a State Meet record time, and it was set in a winning performance by the All-Division State record holder in the girls 1600 Elizabeth Whaley of Indian Hill. Her time of 4:43.31 is another top 25 US time (according to MileSplit). Elizabeth would come back to finish a close second in the 800.
In the Boys 1600 it was Marlington sophomore Colin Cernansky taking home the win in a time of 4:14.18. 2nd and 3rd place finishers Brian Gent of Orange and Joshuah Taylor of Bryan also ran 4:14.
The Boys 4×100 saw a 41 year old record go down courtesy of the quartet from Hawken. Dominic Johnson, Christian Anderson, Andrew Bukovnik and Jordan Harrison ran a time of 41.66 which surpassed the existing record of 41.79 which had been set by Dayton Jefferson Township back in 1981.
Perhaps the most impressive performance of the day was by a birthday girl, Alexa Fortman of Ottawa-Glandorf. She pulled off the elusive 400/800 double win. In the 400 she won in a time of 55.74, and then came back to defeat the forementioned Whaley in the 800 in a D2 State record time of 2:08.60. I’m not sure I’ve seen that double pulled off before at the state meet. Congratulations and Happy Birthday!
In the girls 3200, Oakwood’s Grace Hartman won her third straight gold medal in the event. She won as a sophomore, junior and now as a senior. Her winning time was 10:43.97 seconds.
Another great meet with lots of record setting performances. Two meets down with Division 1 to go.
