Lancaster’s Gabe McNeil entered Ohio State’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium seeded No. 6 in the Division I boys 800 meters Sunday, June 7.
He left a state champion.
McNeil posted a personal best run of 1 minute, 52.46 seconds to win the race and earn the gold medal.
The junior won the D-I super regional in Pickerington with a time of 1:54.61, but it was just the sixth-best regional time posted in the event heading into the OHSAA Jesse Owens Track and Field State Championships.
Dom Ellis of St. Xavier put in the top regional time of 1:53.19, so roughly a second-and-a-half separated the top six in the field.
McNeil ran his first lap in 55.69 and his second in 56.11.
He beat second-place Aiden Allen of Beavercreek who ran 1:52.81, while Dublin Jerome’s Graham Tyle was third in 1:53.34. Ellis was trying to pull off the distance triple crown on Sunday, taking 11th in 1:55.6 after winning the boys 1600 state title in 4:10.37. Ellis won the boys 3200 by four seconds in 9:10.04 the day before.
McNeil competed with Lancaster’s boys 4×800 team with JJ Notestine, Charlie Cooperrider and Brock Jarrett that finished fifth in 7:44.71 in Saturday’s finals. He was also part of the 4×400 relay with Quinton Green, Notestine and Jarrett that was 13th in 3:23.23 and failed to make Sunday’s finals.
At last year’s state meet, McNeil was sixth in the boys 800 with a 1:52.89.
He is the second Lancaster-area athlete to win a state championship. On June 5, Bloom-Carroll junior Dominic Knapp won the Division III boys pole vault at 15 feet, 10 inches.
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This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Lancaster’s Gabe McNeil runs to a gold medal at state
Reporting by Rob McCurdy, Marion Star / Lancaster Eagle-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Rob McCurdy, Marion Star | USA TODAY Network
