Although it fell short of capturing its second consecutive Division I state title, the Hilliard Davidson girls track and field team enjoyed a record-setting day June 7 at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
Led by seniors Anna Wile and Celia Schulte, the Wildcats finished second (61 points) behind Avon (68).
Wile defended her title in the 100-meter hurdles, with her time of 13.24 seconds setting a record for OHSAA Division I, the Division I state meet and the stadium. New Albany’s Ric’Keya White was second (13.25), Westerville Central’s Skylar Brittman finished third (13.85) and Gahanna Lincoln’s Latorian Freeman was fifth (13.9).
Wile followed up that effort by setting the same three records in the 300 hurdles (40.7). She also finished sixth in the 100 (12.08) and ran on the seventh-place 1,600 relay (3:55.02).
“It was a great day,” Wile said. “I just trusted in my training all season and at the end of the day, you don’t have to do stuff crazy here at the state meet. You just have to compete and stay true to yourself, and that’s what I did and overall, just have fun.”
A day after anchoring Davidson’s first-place 3,200 relay, Schulte defended her title in the 800 (2:10.86) and ran on the 1,600 relay, which also included Talia Mazzulo and Laken Wenclewicz.
Davidson’s Erica Kaulen finished third in the 1,600 (4:54.15), ahead of Dublin Jerome’s Natalie Fouts (fourth, 4:54.81), Lancaster’s Harper Allen (fifth, 4:56.15) and Olentangy Orange’s Brooke Chapman (seventh, 4:58.82).
Chapman won the 1,600 each of the past two years.
“I’m super proud of this team,” Wile said. “We’ve had a few circumstances this past week that haven’t been what we expected, but overall, we pushed through and that’s what we’ve been meant to do. We had a few injuries. Everyone is running so many races, it’s kind of hard to stay 100% [healthy] through the whole day, but we just gave it what we all had and left it all on the track.”
New Albany finished fourth (40), followed by Gahanna (fifth, 39), Pickerington North (seventh, 28), Jerome (eighth, 23) and Westerville Central (ninth, 22).
New Albany’s Reese Holman won the high jump (5 feet, 7 includes) and was second in the discus (129-4).
Westerville Central’s Symone Smith won the discus (137-0) and was third in the shot put (42-5).
Gahanna’s Moriah Dixon, Brionna Wright, Alexzandria Stafford and Aliyah Bennett won the 800 relay (1:37.25), ahead of runner-up Pickerington Central (1:39.12) and third-place Pickerington North (1:39.52).
Pickerington North’s Mya Clark, Layla Wilson, Ava DiNovo and Paris Williamson closed the running finals by winning the 1,600 relay (3:48.83).
Wright, Dixon, Bennett and Chloe Yates were second in the 400 relay (46.97) for Gahanna. Bennett also was second in the 200 (24.33) and DiNovo finished third (24.56).
White finished second in the 100 (11.78) and third in the 300 hurdles (41.62).
Olentangy Liberty’s Caroline Kman was third in the pole vault (11-10).
Big Walnut girls finish second in Division II
The runner-up Golden Eagles (40) finished four points behind champion Dayton Chaminade Julienne, while Watterson was sixth (27).
Lindsey Cochran won the 1,600 (4:54.45) and finished third in the 800 (2:13.63) to lead Big Walnut. Grace Buskirk finished third in the 1,600 (4:56.27) and Karsyn Klaus was fourth in the long jump (18-3¾).
South senior A’Ziya Smith won the 300 hurdles (42.86).
“This means a lot to me because it’s my last year,” Smith said. “I wanted to finish first because everyone said I couldn’t do it and I came so far to be No. 1, and I’m very excited.”
Granville’s Annie McCracken was second in the pole vault (12-6).
Watterson finished second in the 800 (1:40.28) and 1,600 (3:57.37) relays.
High school sports reporter Frank DiRenna can be reached at fdirenna@dispatch.com and at @DispatchFrank on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Anna Wile’s records pace central Ohio girls at Division I state track
Reporting by Frank DiRenna, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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By Frank DiRenna, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
