ST. CLAIRSVILLE — For the area’s elite track and field student-athletes, the first hurdle of the postseason is now officially cleared. Following a spectacular week of breakout performances at the district championships, local track and field standouts are shifting their focus to next week’s regional meets (May 27-30). Leading the charge for the local contingent are the Cambridge girls, who clawed out a thrilling Division III district team title at St. Clairsville High School with 77 points, narrowly pushing past local rival John Glenn (73 points) on Saturday, May 23.
The road only gets steeper from here, as surviving the upcoming regional weekend is the only way to earn a spot at Ohio State’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium for the historic , newly expanded OHSAA Jesse Owens Track and Field State Championships scheduled for June 4-7 in Columbus.
Top of the Podium: Local stars dominate districts
The battle for the top spot on the podium at St. Clairsville featured some of the finest individual performances of the season, fueled by a championship mindset.
“We are super excited about the team win and extremely proud of all the girls. Throughout the entire season, we have stressed the importance of trusting the process, and their hard work is truly paying off,” Cambridge girls coach Tamara Gibson said. “This week, we talked a lot about faith — what true faith in themselves looks like — and once they fully believe in themselves, anything is possible. Our regional qualifiers now have the opportunity to continue their season for two more weeks, and we are excited to see what they can accomplish next.”
That belief translated into top level efforts on the track and in the field as well. Audrina Gibson dominated the sprints for the Lady Bobcats, capturing district titles in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.76, before clocking a personal-best 46.94 time to win the 300-meter hurdles. Gibson also anchored the first place CHS 4×100 relay team to secure their regional ticket. Freshman teammate Paisley Williams stole the show with an impressive 12-10 to break the Eastern District record and claim the Division III district title in the pole vault.
John Glenn pushed the Bobcats to the absolute brink, heavily anchored by a sensational distance triple effort from Ashlynn Kuklica who put forth a huge day. Kuklica was unstoppable, sweeping the 800-meter run (2:18.34), the 1600-meter run (5:16.95), and the 3200-meter run (11:17.44) before turning around to run a leg on the Muskies’ runner-up 4×400-meter relay team.
The individual performance of the postseason belonged to Shenandoah senior Braxton Barnett at the Newcomerstown district meet. Barnett put together a historic effort with four first place showings. He swept the hurdle events taking the 110-meter hurdles (14.55), and the 300-meter hurdles (37.92). He then took his talents to the field events, claiming the top spots in the long jump (22’8″) and the high jump (6’6″). Also finding championship success was Barnesville’s Kali Jones who took the district title in the long jump with a leap of 15 feet, 9 inches.
On the boys side, host St. Clairsville ran away with the team crown with 142.50 points, but local teams were able to make plenty of noise. Meadowbrook finished as the district runner-up with an impressive 96 points, followed by Cambridge in sixth (60.5 points), and John Glenn in seventh (54 points).
The Colts’ second-place charge featured a historic performance from freshman Vincent Campbell, who shattered the school record in the 3200-meter run with a winning time of 9:36.10. Campbell also added a second-place finish in the 1600-meter, setting another school record with a time of 4:23.13. Meadowbrook also took a top spot in field events, with Jamarcus Berger claiming the district title in the long jump with a winning leap of 21’5.25″.
The Cambridge boys were paced by Tate Sikora, who swept the short sprints by winning both the 100-meter dash (11.61) and the 200-meter dash (23.52), while qualifying for the regionals with both the Bobcats’ 4×100 and 4×200 meter relay teams. John Glenn added an individual district crown of its own, with Kaid Ritchey racing to victory in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.1.
Regional Qualifiers: Team-by-Team Breakdown
Here is complete list of area student-athletes moving on to regional competition this week, organized by their official OHSAA tournament division under the new five-division alignment:
Cambridge Bobcats (OHSAA Division 3)
John Glenn Muskies (OHSAA Division 3)
Meadowbrook Colts (OHSAA Division 3)
Caldwell High (OHSAA Division 5 Boys/Division 3 Girls)
Shenandoah Zeps (OHSAA Division 4 Boys/Division 5 Girls)
Barnesville Shamrocks (OHSAA Division 4)
Buckeye Trail Warriors (OHSAA Division 4 Boys/Girls Division 5)
Ethan Resor − Shot put (3rd/50’02”), Discus (4th/143’4″).
Syndi Frederick − Pole Vault (4th/9’0″).
KSutton1@gannett.com; X: @KSuttonDJSports; Instagram: kevinsutton_dailyjeffsports
This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: Cambridge girls edge John Glenn for district title, regional fields set
Reporting by Kevin Sutton, Cambridge Daily Jeffersonian / The Daily Jeffersonian
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