COLUMBUS — Mother Nature is not a high school track fan.
Storms rolled through central Ohio on Saturday, causing two delays at the state track meet inside Ohio State’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
The first delay came during the Division I preliminaries, causing a pause in the action for about 90 minutes. A second round of storms rumbled through the area around 5 p.m., causing an even longer delay during the Division II prelims.
The Division III finals, originally scheduled to begin at 5:45 p.m. Saturday, didn’t start until around 9 p.m. and were not complete for this story.
The state meet will conclude Sunday with the Division I and Division II finals, weather permitting.
Shelby’s Madison Henkel and The Lexington boys 4×800 relay team provided the highlights of the day before the rain made a mess of things.
Henkel set an Owens Stadium record in the long jump with Division III state-championship leap of 19 feet, 11.5 inches. It was her second consecutive state long jump title.
Lex defended its state title in the 4×800. The quartet of Nathan Reed, Trevor Reed, Will Hooper and Latrell Hughes won in 7 minutes, 47.59 seconds.
Podium Finishes
Clear Fork’s Davis Hoeflich returned to the state podium in the high jump, placing fourth in the Division III competition with a leap of 6-5.
“I’m excited to get back on the podium,” said Hoeflich, who was state runner-up as a freshman. “I jumped 6-8 here as a freshman, so I’m trying to get back to that.”
Lexington’s Eli Barr tied for eighth in the Division II pole vault competition. The senior set a personal record with a vault of 13-6.
“It was a combination of things. I felt good today and there was good competition to push me,” Barr said. “I can’t be too disappointed with the way it turned out.”
In the seated division, Galion’s Shaun Arthur finished seventh in the boys 100 in 34.81. Arthur finished eighth in the seated shot put Friday.
“This is my freshman year, so I feel good about it,” Arthur said. “We have the (All-Ohio) wall at school and I’ll be on it.”
