Olentangy Orange’s Saketh Rudraraju and Olentangy’s Hugh Jacobsmeyer cross the finish line in the final of the 4×800 relay during the Division I state track and field championship meet Friday night at OSU.
Ben Stroup | The Gazette
Olentangy Orange’s boys and girls 4×800 relay teams earned spots on the podium to highlight the first day of the OHSAA Division I state track and field championship meet Friday night at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
On the boys’ side, Carter Giacomelli, Matthew Schroff, Colin McCloskey and Saketh Rudraraju joined forces to finish third in the state with an effort of 7:47.42 — a mark just a couple seconds behind first-place St. Xavier’s 7:45.21.
Olentangy was right behind Orange in fourth as Jason Rettinger, Parker Reed, Tommy Richards and Hugh Jacobsmeyer teamed up to cross the finish line in 7:47.69.
Olentangy Liberty (Aldi Joshi, Noah Miller, Jaxson Eckert and Jacob Rygielski) was also in action, finishing 11th in 7:54.32.
In the girls’ race, Orange’s Brooke Chapman, Ava Otey, Mairin O’Brien and Abby Wells finished fourth in 9:14.96. Westlake won the state title with a mark of 9:04.74.
In preliminary action, Orange’s Cassidy Shimp qualified for Saturday’s finals in the girls 100-meter dash (11.94 seconds) while the Pioneers’ Nick Robinson punched a ticket to the finals in the boys 200 (21.37 seconds).
Orange also qualified for the finals in a couple relays. The 4×200 quartet of Taylor Levy, Shimp, Josephine Davis and Teresa Christian finished with the third-best time (1:39.91) in prelims. Davis, Shimp, Otey and Christian, meanwhile, qualified fifth in the 4×100 (47.96 seconds).
Olentangy also had a relay team advance as Camden Spitzer, Olivia Heskett, Sydney Burrs and Amelia Smith qualified with the sixth-fastest time in the 4×400 (3:56.43).
Saturday’s second day gets started with field events, including the girls high jump — an event featuring Delaware Hayes’ Kara Glesenkamp, Big Walnut’s Megan Stevens, Christian and Liberty’s Camryn Thompson, who enters with a top seed mark of 5-06 — at noon.
Orange’s Zach McDowell and Cam Shively will compete in the boys shot put and pole vault, respectively, while Smith will compete in the girls long jump later in the afternoon.
Big Walnut’s Maci Ames and Olentangy Berlin’s Stephanie Balthasar will also be in action, competing in the girls pole vault before track finals get underway somewhere in the neighborhood of 4:30 p.m.
