HEYEN: State track meet doesn't disappoint

Three state championships in 30 minutes. That's what two Huron relays and a Port Clinton relay provided this area on Saturday at Welcome Stadium in Dayton, an absolutely legendary display of speed, composure and reason to celebrate. It's just the latest example that the Ohio state track meet doesn't disappoint. The move to Dayton this year, away from Jesse Owens Stadium in Columbus due to renovations, was met with plenty of uncertainty from coaches and athletes. But then everyone felt welcome at Welcome Stadium in a venue that truly delivered a state championship stage. The view from the top of the podium surely looked just as good for Huron's Andrew Delaney, Beau Harkelroad, Austin Brunow and Joe Schaeffer, and for Port Clinton's Jade Mitchell, Alexis Shelton, Shianne Lieske and Camille Robbins, and for Bellevue's impossibly bouncy high jumper Wyatt Sumser. Four state champions in the same weekend felt much like two years ago, when Margaretta legend Kenna Stimmel got the action started with her final state pole vault crown, then anchored the Polar Bears to a repeat relay title while Huron's Sean Kaminski and Clyde's Brady Wilson made their last high school feats worthy of a gold medal. Sumser went first this time around, answering the question Friday afternoon of whether a 5-foot-10 human can leap over a bar 6 feet, 9 inches off the ground. The Bellevue senior did one of the coolest things I saw all weekend — once the state title was won, he didn't jump again. Almost every champion jumper at every meet tries to set a new record or just sky higher. Sumser didn't. It meant, unlike basically every high jumper and pole vaulter, he ended his high school career on a make. He's also just a simple story of believing in oneself. His best height before this spring was 5-10. And yet he trained with a state champion's mindset and was rewarded. Those Huron boys made the stage theirs on Saturday. They were the heavy favorite in the 4x200, and the pressure didn't bother them. And riding high on the adrenaline of that first state title, they had barely left the top of the podium before they were racing around the track for another championship. In between, Port Clinton's girls quartet proved themselves the fastest in school history, and in the state. It was quite the build for PC, which was disqualified two seasons ago in state prelims for an exchange out of the zone. They featured a first-year track athlete, Camille Robbins. Tough to start better than a state champion. That race also included Clyde in a third-place finish with a school record time. Three-sport standout Cora Liskai was the anchor, and she was gracious in defeat, hugging PC finisher Shelton before they left the track — two of the area's finest seizing the moment together. Then, of course, there was Huron's boys team championship, secured when Harkelroad earned second place in a 300-meter hurdles run-off. Fittingly, it was 50 years after another Tigers legend, Mark Barker, led Huron to the team state crown. The state track meet is about so much more than first place, though. It's about perseverance through injury, like Bellevue hurdler Ella Rucker and Perkins thrower Olivia Mason — two seniors competing through pain because they wanted to finish their careers on the podium. Both earned bronze medals. It's about the highest of drama, like the delay in results for the D-III 4x100-meter boys relay on Friday night. Margaretta came out on the short end of the stick that time, six-thousandths of a second between them and glory. Senior Gage Bodey sat on the track, his final race complete, knowing he'd done everything he could but that the photo-finish gods had different plans. It's about outdoing expectations, like the Perkins 4x400 girls relay seeded 10th that finished fourth, or Port Clinton discus thrower Michaela Stork's rise from outside the top four seeds at regionals to making the state podium. Some seasons don't bring four state titles. Last spring brought only one, Margaretta's Jenny Patrick in the discus. But each state meet is always building for the next. Huron and Port Clinton's relay triumphs are the perfect examples of that. The 2023 event wasn't yet their time. They made the podium but didn't top it, and that propelled them to this season's golden Saturday. You can already start looking into the future from this weekend's results. Huron freshman Rylie Towns was state runner-up in the 3200 meters as a freshman. Who would bet against more? PC's championship relay will bring back three of its members. Who's to say they won't double down? Clyde junior Damarius Chrisman placed fourth in the 400-meter state final from Lane 8, and less than 15 minutes later was saying he's already looking forward to being first next spring. Shoot, Oak Harbor put its girls 4x400 relay sixth in the state (after posting the top regional time) with three freshmen and a junior. Look out. The meet is supposed to return to Columbus next spring, with two years remaining on the state's contract with Ohio State. But the venue, be it Jesse Owens or Welcome Stadium, isn't what holds the magic. It's about the athletes, who train year-round for the chance to walk up the most prestigious set of stairs in Ohio. This area has been particularly blessed for decades with impressive track and field performers. And sometimes, that leads to much longer-lasting legacies. On Saturday, I asked Port Clinton's relay members about matching glitter in their hair. They'd done it that morning. They figured it'd take two weeks to get off. On Monday, PC's fastest-ever quartet was still shining as they took a parade around town, gaining well-deserved recognition. Mitchell also pointed out that a sign would be put up at the edge of Port Clinton, letting everyone who entered know that it was the home of the 2024 4x100-meter D-II state champions. That's the beauty of all of this, that months and years from now, long after these legendary athletes have moved past their days as fast, strong, jumpy superstars, they won't be forgotten. They've performed too well, run too fast, shone too brightly for that. On signs, and school walls, and even in the pages of the last few editions of the Register, the state track meet has created forever legends. There's really nothing better than that.