Your thoughts on the 2021 OHSAA Track and Field Championship?

Supertramp

Active member
Here’s mine:

Justin Braun is amazing

Paige Floeria is amazing

Minister boys winning by 2 was epic

Woodridge boys winning by 0.5 was epic

An average 8-Lane HS track is too small for the 18 best 4x800m teams in the state.

Top 2 in each heat and next 2 best times is a bad system. If we keep 3 heats, it should be the winner and next 5 times.

Too many false starts.

I deeply appreciate the 3 High Schools who stepped up to host, thank you.

I miss Jesse Owens.

Track is fun.
 
 
Pole vault was better at Hilliard Darby than at Jesse Owens. The crowd near encircled the pit and was really into it.

Disqualifications are too punitive. There needs to be penalties other than ejections for otherwise minor infractions. Can you imagine if that was done in football or basketball for any foul or violation of the rules?
 
I would initially be tempted to say that Paige Floriea's 40 point performance was the best in history. While it certainly is one of the best performances ever, Bridget Franek's 2006 performance may be the best that we will ever see. I'm not taking away from Floriea, and I certainly believe that she will be great at UNC and will be a force in the ACC, but I heard some people today say that there has never been anyone in the history of Ohio HS track and field that had a performance that was on par with Floriea's. I tried to educate them on Franek's efforts and they looked at me like I had two heads. They were older than me so they should have known.

Those that don't know -

Franek, as a member of Crestwood's 4x8 team, took 1st place. The next day, in the span of fewer than 1½ hours, Franek won the 1600 in 4:56, the 800 in 2:11, and the 3200 in 10:43. There were only about 15 minutes between the start of the 800 and the 3200. I doubt that we will see this sort of performance again. As many here already know, she went on to a decorated collegiate career at Penn State and was an Olympic steeplechaser. Hopefully Floriea finds similar success after high school.

Braun is an absolute beast and I expected a closer 400 battle between him and Martino. I wouldn't be surprised if Braun goes under 46 next year. I also believe that Martino will become one of the top 800 guys in the Big 10 before he is done at Penn State.

The D1 3200 final looked like it was a great race with three guys at 9:05 or better. That's pretty outstanding considering the heat. Nathan Moore is a beast and I would have liked to have seen a race between him and a well-rested Nathan Mountain.

Bexley has a girl population of less than 300 and is D1. Mason HS has 1300 girls and is D1. That seems fair :rolleyes:
 
I would initially be tempted to say that Paige Floriea's 40 point performance was the best in history. While it certainly is one of the best performances ever, Bridget Franek's 2006 performance may be the best that we will ever see. I'm not taking away from Floriea, and I certainly believe that she will be great at UNC and will be a force in the ACC, but I heard some people today say that there has never been anyone in the history of Ohio HS track and field that had a performance that was on par with Floriea's. I tried to educate them on Franek's efforts and they looked at me like I had two heads. They were older than me so they should have known.

Those that don't know -

Franek, as a member of Crestwood's 4x8 team, took 1st place. The next day, in the span of fewer than 1½ hours, Franek won the 1600 in 4:56, the 800 in 2:11, and the 3200 in 10:43. There were only about 15 minutes between the start of the 800 and the 3200. I doubt that we will see this sort of performance again. As many here already know, she went on to a decorated collegiate career at Penn State and was an Olympic steeplechaser. Hopefully Floriea finds similar success after high school.

Braun is an absolute beast and I expected a closer 400 battle between him and Martino. I wouldn't be surprised if Braun goes under 46 next year. I also believe that Martino will become one of the top 800 guys in the Big 10 before he is done at Penn State.

The D1 3200 final looked like it was a great race with three guys at 9:05 or better. That's pretty outstanding considering the heat. Nathan Moore is a beast and I would have liked to have seen a race between him and a well-rested Nathan Mountain.

Bexley has a girl population of less than 300 and is D1. Mason HS has 1300 girls and is D1. That seems fair :rolleyes:
There's no point comparing the two as it's purely subjective which is truly more impressive. So many factors. But I agree that you have to at least admit they are both unbelievable performances.

I agreed about Martino. It seemed like a rough day for Canal-Winchester overall.

D1 3200 was an incredible race. Ford of Bellbrook placed 5th in the 1600m, and came back to place 3rd in the 3200m. I am going to guess the answer is yes, and somebody else could help find this, but has there ever been anyone who has done the 1600m/3200m double, and placed better in the 3200m than this 1600m? That has to be a rare accomplishment.

Really hoping for a 4th Division next year.
 
Another great performance was by Alyssa Shoppe in the girls 3200. The leaders came through the 1600 in 5:23, and then she just ran away the last couple of laps to finish in 10:32. And Nathan Mountain's 1600 running alone was impressive.

Mentor's whole team performance was excellent. From the moment they won the 4x800 you pretty much knew they had the title locked up. In the past dozen or so years I have coached against some pretty amazing girls teams and they rank right up there with some of the excellent Reynoldsburg, Gahanna and Withrow teams I have seen.
 
There's no point comparing the two as it's purely subjective which is truly more impressive. So many factors. But I agree that you have to at least admit they are both unbelievable performances.

I agreed about Martino. It seemed like a rough day for Canal-Winchester overall.

D1 3200 was an incredible race. Ford of Bellbrook placed 5th in the 1600m, and came back to place 3rd in the 3200m. I am going to guess the answer is yes, and somebody else could help find this, but has there ever been anyone who has done the 1600m/3200m double, and placed better in the 3200m than this 1600m? That has to be a rare accomplishment.

Really hoping for a 4th Division next year.
Grace Hartman in D2 won the 1600/3200. She didn't press on either one. Came back and ran in the 4x400 too.
 
There's no point comparing the two as it's purely subjective which is truly more impressive. So many factors. But I agree that you have to at least admit they are both unbelievable performances.

I agreed about Martino. It seemed like a rough day for Canal-Winchester overall.
I agree that there isn't a point in comparing Floriea with Franek. Mostly because their respective events are so disparate. I only did so because these guys that I was in and out of a conversation with stated that Floriea's performance was the greatest in history. I'm sure that they were being figurative and I was more literal. I will agree, though, that Floriea's performance was one of the greatest in OHSAA championship history. I'm looking forward to seeing what she accomplishes in her collegiate career.

Hartman was excellent. It's hard to believe that she has another year.
 
Mackenzie Hartman won third place in girls D3 running for Cincinnati Seven Hills. She took first in the long jump and both hurdle races. She added 2 more points in the 400.
 
I agree that there isn't a point in comparing Floriea with Franek. Mostly because their respective events are so disparate. I only did so because these guys that I was in and out of a conversation with stated that Floriea's performance was the greatest in history. I'm sure that they were being figurative and I was more literal. I will agree, though, that Floriea's performance was one of the greatest in OHSAA championship history. I'm looking forward to seeing what she accomplishes in her collegiate career.

Hartman was excellent. It's hard to believe that she has another year.
It’s easy to get caught up in the moment and think “greatest in history” without thinking about other performances. Florida’s performance is certainly one of greatest I have witnessed. But so was Franek’s. There have been others. I think if you are going for THE greatest in history you have to not only look at wins but also times/marks that are outstanding.
 
Mackenzie Hartman won third place in girls D3 running for Cincinnati Seven Hills. She took first in the long jump and both hurdle races. She added 2 more points in the 400.
Her teammate Abby Heck came in 7th in the 400. I can’t imagine doing both the 400 and 300 H in 80+ degree weather or really in any weather.
 
An average 8-Lane HS track is too small for the 18 best 4x800m teams in the state.
Honestly all tracks are too small for 18 boys teams in the in field were all are w/i in 15 seconds of each other. It is too bad for St. X and HD kids that went down or had to run after them. Saw it live and replay and to me it looks liked St. X ran up the back of the HD kid and feet hit each other. Not sure if HD kids slowed or moved down in on him though.
 
Honestly all tracks are too small for 18 boys teams in the in field were all are w/i in 15 seconds of each other. It is too bad for St. X and HD kids that went down or had to run after them. Saw it live and replay and to me it looks liked St. X ran up the back of the HD kid and feet hit each other. Not sure if HD kids slowed or moved down in on him though.
I know Indiana does 2 heats for the 4x800. Something to really consider.
 
There's no point comparing the two as it's purely subjective which is truly more impressive. So many factors. But I agree that you have to at least admit they are both unbelievable performances.

I agreed about Martino. It seemed like a rough day for Canal-Winchester overall.

D1 3200 was an incredible race. Ford of Bellbrook placed 5th in the 1600m, and came back to place 3rd in the 3200m. I am going to guess the answer is yes, and somebody else could help find this, but has there ever been anyone who has done the 1600m/3200m double, and placed better in the 3200m than this 1600m? That has to be a rare accomplishment.

Really hoping for a 4th Division next year.

In 1980, Rickey Pittman of Cleveland East Tech finished 3rd in the 1600m in 4:13.4. He returned in the 3200m to finish second in 8:59.3. He's arguably the greatest Ohio distance runner without a state title.
 
In 1984, Lowell Terrell of Alliance finished 3rd in the 1600m in 4:14.75. He came back and won the 3200m in 9:22.32.
 
If you're thinking about the greatest state meet performances in history, it would be really hard to pick someone other than Dayton Dunbar's Chris Nelloms in 1990. He won the 110 hurdles in 13.67, then won the 400 in 45.59, then won the 200 in 20.47, then anchored the winning 4x4 (3:16). Thirty-one years later, those 200 and 400 times are still the state records. And the 13.30 he ran the week before at regionals is still the state record in the hurdles.
 
I forgot to add this:

Seth Elking placed 6th at the Wayne Regional and got the 2nd at-large bid in the 1600m.

He finished 2nd at the state meet!

Talk about some validation for those at-large bids. We have a state runner-up who got in on an at-large bid. Has there been an at-large bid state champion yet?
 
I forgot to add this:

Seth Elking placed 6th at the Wayne Regional and got the 2nd at-large bid in the 1600m.

He finished 2nd at the state meet!

Talk about some validation for those at-large bids. We have a state runner-up who got in on an at-large bid. Has there been an at-large bid state champion yet?
Also in D2, Riley LaPorte of Garrettsville Garfield went from 5th in the Austintown Regional to State Runnerup.
 
Speaking of Franek, I thought of her and Cassie Schenk when Dayton Oakwood won the 4x8, then went 1,2 in the mile (They did win the 2 mile but didn't go 1,2). Distance won the day in D2 on both the Boys (Woodridge) and Girls side. Oakwood had too much firepower for the Lady Griffs from Buchtel, who were led by the outstanding performance of DaMya Barker with victories in the 100 and 300 hurdles, on the runner up 4x2 relay team (losing to down the street rival STVM) and a gutty anchor run on the runner up 4x4 team (edged out by Beaumont by .02 photo below)


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That's sort of deceiving. He went into the District with a 56'-7" seed.

He also threw 51-4.75, 52-6, 52-3.25, and 51-0.75 at the Optimist, PTCs, Districts, and Regionals
His best throw out of those 4 previous weeks would have placed 10th.

I'm not sure where he threw the district seed mark, but the 56-7 is the one that's sort of deceiving.
 
Brandon Paige of Valley Christian was 5th in the 100m at the Massilon Perry regional and took 3rd in the State in D3. It should be noted that all 5 from the region made the state finals and finished with the top 3 places. Miller- Dalton 1st, Likens- JFK 2nd and Paige in 3rd.
 
Brandon Paige of Valley Christian was 5th in the 100m at the Massilon Perry regional and took 3rd in the State in D3. It should be noted that all 5 from the region made the state finals and finished with the top 3 places. Miller- Dalton 1st, Likens- JFK 2nd and Paige in 3rd.
The Perry region ended up taking 5 of the top 6 places in that event. The region also took the top 4 places in the boys 4x100, and Springfield added 7th place as an at-large qualifier.

Eventually, I will round up the All-Ohio performances from the wildcard qualifiers. If one sifts through the older threads on this forum, he or she will find that I've done the same in prior years. I also like to go through and examine how well each regional and each district site did in producing All-Ohioans.
 
As for my general thoughts about the meet, I talked to people who said it still felt like a state meet because of the quality of athletes on hand. In bike racing, there's a saying that "the riders make the race" when fans try to criticize the organizers for creating a course that didn't lend itself to more exciting racing. The athletes are what make it the state meet, not the venue. In the case of DIII who usually had to compete at 9am in recent years, I'd argue that the atmosphere this year was much better for them from being able to compete in the afternoon instead of in the morning before most fans had arrived at OSU. I'd been at OSU many times for the D3 girls 4x8 at 9am, and the energy level in the stadium was far lower than what it was by the middle of the afternoon.

While we would all prefer the meet to be at OSU or some other site where all 3 divisions could be contested together, I think it was important to show that the state meet can be conducted elsewhere. It gives the OHSAA some leverage if they go to the negotiating table with any single site. It wasn't perfect, but I think the OHSAA did OK with what they had to work with this spring.

IMHO, the biggest negatives of not being able to conduct all 3 divisions at the same site are: 1) First and foremost the schools whose genders are in separate divisions. It is unfair to their coaches and their fans if a family should have kids of each gender competing. Next to being able to conduct a state meet of any kind, that is the biggest issue to address. 2) The casual fan like me who liked to make a day of watching all 3 divisions. 3) The media who can only be in 1 place. The local reporter who always covers the state meet for the local newspaper was at the DI site while a school in another division won an event at another site. The athletes from the other division didn't get much of a write-up in the next day's paper. They ended up getting a bigger article the day after the meet ended, but all in all, the total amount of coverage athletes from my area got was reduced due to the use of multiple sites.
 
As for my general thoughts about the meet, I talked to people who said it still felt like a state meet because of the quality of athletes on hand. In bike racing, there's a saying that "the riders make the race" when fans try to criticize the organizers for creating a course that didn't lend itself to more exciting racing. The athletes are what make it the state meet, not the venue. In the case of DIII who usually had to compete at 9am in recent years, I'd argue that the atmosphere this year was much better for them from being able to compete in the afternoon instead of in the morning before most fans had arrived at OSU. I'd been at OSU many times for the D3 girls 4x8 at 9am, and the energy level in the stadium was far lower than what it was by the middle of the afternoon.

While we would all prefer the meet to be at OSU or some other site where all 3 divisions could be contested together, I think it was important to show that the state meet can be conducted elsewhere. It gives the OHSAA some leverage if they go to the negotiating table with any single site. It wasn't perfect, but I think the OHSAA did OK with what they had to work with this spring.

IMHO, the biggest negatives of not being able to conduct all 3 divisions at the same site are: 1) First and foremost the schools whose genders are in separate divisions. It is unfair to their coaches and their fans if a family should have kids of each gender competing. Next to being able to conduct a state meet of any kind, that is the biggest issue to address. 2) The casual fan like me who liked to make a day of watching all 3 divisions. 3) The media who can only be in 1 place. The local reporter who always covers the state meet for the local newspaper was at the DI site while a school in another division won an event at another site. The athletes from the other division didn't get much of a write-up in the next day's paper. They ended up getting a bigger article the day after the meet ended, but all in all, the total amount of coverage athletes from my area got was reduced due to the use of multiple sites.
I agree. The energy was high for both the athletes and the fans. I think a lot of that was due to not having a season last year. Westerville did a good job. My biggest gripe was the condition of the track and some of the facilities but in the same token I appreciate that they stepped up. D3 had the highest paid attendance for all 3 divisions over the 2 days. 9200+. The crowd was great for the kids. In the end I'm happy with how it turned out.
 
I agree. The energy was high for both the athletes and the fans. I think a lot of that was due to not having a season last year. Westerville did a good job. My biggest gripe was the condition of the track and some of the facilities but in the same token I appreciate that they stepped up. D3 had the highest paid attendance for all 3 divisions over the 2 days. 9200+. The crowd was great for the kids. In the end I'm happy with how it turned out.
So assuming attendance was similar at other sites the paid gate are around $400k. I got to believe the first 2 rounds had to make even more. The expenses could not have been that high so this should go along way to fixing OSHAA budget problems. Just imagine how much they could make with 4 divisions?
 
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