COLUMBUS — Before she even began running high school track, Clear Fork junior Taylor Bly made a promise to head coach Eric Beck.
The promise was to come in and break the school’s 400-meter dash record.
She never said anything about winning a state title in the event. On Saturday, June 6, Bly did just that running a 55.13 in the Division III Jesse Owens Ohio High School Athletic Association State Track and Field Championships at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the campus of The Ohio State University.
Bly is the first and only individual state track and field champion in Clear Fork High School history.
Bly has been dominant in the event all year long. She was second in the 10th Madison Invitational before taking fourth at the Lexington Invite. Since then, she hasn’t lost and kept cutting time off of her already school record mark. She won the 94th Mehock Relays, the 38th Forest Pruner Invite, the 76th Marion Night Invitational, the 2026 Jackes Invite and the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference championship while hovering around 56.64-59.20.
She hit a new gear when she entered the postseason winning the Division III district championship with a 55.84 before dominating the regional meet with a 55.03.
She wanted a sub-55-second time, but after a four-hour weather delay and needing to turn around in less than 20 minutes to run the anchor spot in the 4×400-meter relay, Bly wanted to do just enough to win a state title instead of go for an insane time.
“Obviously, 54 seconds at the state meet would have been amazing for today, but we were also trying to win the 4×400,” Bly said. “It was such a great environment and I can’t make any excuses. I ran my butt off and ran as hard as I possibly could. I am so grateful to be here.”
Bly did anchor the 4×400-relay team to a runner-up finish in the event despite puking in the awards tent after the 400. She had nothing left in the tank.
“I just started laughing before that 4×400,” Bly said. “I was over there on the ground throwing up 15 minutes before our race and I still had to run another 400. The oxygen was not getting to my brain because I was just laughing so hard at the situation.”
Last season, Bly earned All-Ohio honors in the 400-meter dash after she only qualified for state with an at-large big after taking fifth in the 2025 regional meet. She turned the at-large bid into an eighth-place finish at state to nab an unexpected All-Ohio honor. Now, she is a state champ.
“Last year, I came in and barely made eighth,” Bly said. “This year, I am a state champ and that is something I could never dream of. I think maturing and figuring out my running form and my body and what I am capable of was huge. Once I realized that I am not going to die from giving my maximum effort, I took off. The mental toughness that I developed over the last year helped me so much.”
The performance made her the No. 6 returning female track and field athlete in Richland County and the No. 45 athlete in the Richland 200.
This year, she left no doubt punching her ticket to state with a regional title and following it up with a Division III state championship.
She might have to make a new promise to Beck before next season.
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Clear Fork Girls Track and Field State Championship History
Individual Champions: 2026: Taylor Bly, 400-Meter Dash.
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Clear Fork’s Taylor Bly becomes school’s first OHSAA state track champ
Reporting by Jake Furr, Mansfield News Journal / Mansfield News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jake Furr, Mansfield News Journal | USA TODAY Network
