Richland Source will select one student athlete to be recognized as the Park National Bank Athlete of the Month during the 2023-24 school year. Nominations for Athlete of the Month are accepted from Athletic Directors and Coaches, but are ultimately chosen by Richland Source and are based on the student’s exceptional athletic performance, effective teamwork and achievement in their communities. Park National Bank is proud to support this initiative and is giving the athletic department of each school $1,000 in honor of each athlete chosen.
LEXINGTON — Elyana Weaver can finally take a breath.
The last month or so has been a blur for Lexington’s recently-graduated middle-distance dynamo.
Weaver put an exclamation point on a sensational prep running career with a third-place finish in the 800-meter run at last week’s Division II state meet at Dayton’s Welcome Stadium. She finished in a personal-record 2 minutes, 14.23 seconds for her second state podium finish in the event in as many years.
“To be able to go out there and get third really means a lot,” Weaver said. “It was a really special race. I really left it all out there.”
The Ohio University-bound Weaver also ran the anchor leg of Lady Lex’s 11th-place 4×800 relay. She teamed with Brailey Slone, Katya Prykhodko and Julia Wyant to finish in 9:46.48 on the state meet’s opening day.
A week earlier, on her home track and less than 24 hours after taking part in Lexington’s graduation ceremony, Weaver won a regional title in the 800 in what was then a PR 2:14.83. She out-dueled Huron’s Jadyn Towns to the finish line, avenging a loss to Towns the previous week at the Ontario district meet.
“Honestly, it is hard to focus. Some days are a little bit more emotional than others being a senior,” Weaver said at the time. “The whole year has been a little stressful with college stuff.
“Just being able to have fun in my sport (is a blessing). It brings a lot of stress, but it’s where I can release a lot of stress, too.”
The affable Weaver set the stage for her run to the state podium with an award-winning performance at the Ohio Cardinal Conference meet at Ashland University’s Ferguson Field in May, helping Lexington claim its third straight team title.
She won individual OCC championships in the 800 (2:19.26) and the high jump (5-1) and was runner-up in the 1,600 (5:17.25). She also ran a leg of Lady Lex’s third-place 4×400 relay team (4:13.55).
For her efforts, Weaver was selected the OCC’s Combined Female Athlete of the Year.
“Elyana was amazing,” Lady Lex coach Michelle Smith said at the time. “We had her competing in some different events, but she stepped up.”
Running in events that weren’t in her postseason future was all part of the plan, Weaver said.
“I kind of knew (the 800) was the event I wanted to do at the end of the season,” she said. “I was trying to work on dropping my mile time. Doing the 400, all of those things contributed to my 800 — just the speed and endurance it takes to run this race.”
That Weaver capped her career at the state meet comes as no surprise to anyone who has followed her high school exploits. As a freshman, she helped the wildly-successful Lexington girls cross country team win the Division II state team title in 2020 — Lady Lex’s fourth consecutive championship.
On an all-star squad that included such luminaries as Halle Hamilton and Joanna Halfhill, Weaver finished in 42nd place with a time of 19:46.9. The following year, a new-look Lady Lex team returned to state and placed eighth. Weaver was 26th overall in 19:08.1
Lexington placed third as a team each of the past two years. Weaver was 87th overall as a junior (20:40.5) and a career-best 23rd last fall (19:14.4).
While Weaver didn’t qualify for the state track meet as a freshman or sophomore — Lady Lex competed in Division I in 2021 and again in 2022 before dropping back down to Division II — she made up for lost time the past two seasons.
As a junior, she placed seventh in the 800 in 2:17.04 and joined forces with Slone, Kenley Miller and Lily Wolfe to place sixth in the 4×800 in 9:25.16.
While her running résumé speaks for itself, Weaver said she is still a work in progress.
“I’m a senior but I’m still learning to be confident in myself,” Weaver said. “I trust in my training, trust in my coach and trust in God. That’s my biggest thing. Choose faith over fear. That gets me through every race.
“Having my teammates and my coaches and my family and my friends always there for me, it really is a blessing, truly.”
