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They ran. They jumped. They threw.
Saturday afternoon's Ohio High School Athletic Association Division I track and field state championships had it all.
Even though Cincinnati produced just three Division I state champions to go with one in Division II, the wall-to-wall action at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium produced reactions that would make anyone pay attention to track and field.
Here are the four biggest storylines from the DI meet.
In just her second season competing in the high jump, the senior progressed from a starting height of 5 feet, 2 inches in her first-ever meet to 5-foot-8.25 on May 14 of this year. No easy feat, especially in that time frame.
On Saturday morning, Wordlaw improved on a second-place finish from the 2024 state meet to become the first Owl to win a gold medal in 31 years.
"That's crazy and I'm so proud of myself for making this accomplishment," Wordlaw said.
After being the only jumper to clear the bar at 5-feet-8, she elected to keep jumping to try to raise her own school record.
"At first, I didn't even know that I won. I was just thinking I've got to be able to make the next jump. But I got really excited when I realized that I actually won it," Wordlaw said
Even with earlier misses at 5-4 and 5-5, she cleared 5-6, 5-7 and 5-8 on consecutive attempts. After clearing 5-9 on her second attempt, her final clearance came at 5-10.
"I just told myself that I had it. I've jumped 5-5 plenty of times. I just had to walk away, take a deep breath and tell myself, 'You've got this.'" Wordlaw said.
Wordlaw hadn't even thought about jumping in college until about a month ago. Now, with a top 10 all-time mark in the state under her belt, she and coach Gregory Moore expect the number of eyes on her to increase.
Northwest's D'Aysia Cotton took fifth place with a new personal best of 5-7.
After Wordlaw's victory, attention shifted to the ECC as the jumps and throws results came in.
In the first session, Loveland's David Lorek took fourth place in the shot put with a throw of 57 feet, 4.25 inches. He also took 10th place in the discus with a throw of 162 feet, 1 inch. The other half of Loveland's throwing duo, Rez Rokicki, was the discus runner-up with a toss of 180 feet, 3 inches.
West Clermont's D.J. Lack, also a bowler, took second place in the high jump with a new personal best of 6-9.
"Most of my years leading up to this, it's been pretty consistent by going up 2 or 4 inches a year. This year, I went up like 5 inches," Lack said.
The result caps off a year in which Lack placed in the top three of every competition he entered.
The final field event of the day was the most dramatic. Turpin junior and defending state champion Claire Iaciofano missed on her first two jumps at 12 feet before clearing three straight bars. After missing two more attempts at 13 feet, she had two successful jumps to move into first place.
By virtue of Granville's Annie McCracken missing two jumps at 13 feet, 4 inches and Iaciofano missing none, the junior was crowned the back-to-back state champion after both jumpers failed to clear the bar at 13 feet, 8 inches.
"It's pretty nice. I'm kind of in disbelief a little bit," Iaciofano said. "Annie's definitely a formidable foe. It was crazy to go against her. The competition this year was insane."
Iaciofano was one of three Cincinnati vaulters on the podium. St. Ursula sophomore Rachel Johannesmeyer took third with a new personal best of 12 feet, 8 inches. Sycamore freshman Samantha Clyde tied for eighth, tying her best mark of 12 feet.
"It was a good day," Clyde said.
Prodoehl, a senior at Lakota West, has had some pretty extreme highs and lows in her career.
She broke the cross country state record as a junior with a time of 16:59.1 before winning the 2023 state championship. She then had to shut her 2024 track season down in mid-April due to an illness, which forced her to miss last fall's cross country regular season.
When she returned, she won district and regional titles before logging her third top-five finish at the state meet.
This spring, she opened the season by running the 1,600 meters and 3,200 meters, but switched to the longer race after the Greater Miami Conference meet. On Saturday, she took fourth place in the 3,200-meter run, capping off one of the best careers in school history.
"I think it's a great success. Overall, I do wish I wasn't injured, but not everyone's career is linear. Everyone has to have some down somewhere, and I'm ready for a great four years in college," Prodoehl said.
It was Prodoehl's third appearance at state in the two-mile race. She took ninth place as a freshman and sixth place as a sophomore.
She will attend Cornell to study environmental sustainability and engineering.
About 10 minutes later, St. Xavier's Dom Ellis took third place in the boys 3,200-meter run in a new personal best of 9:00.6, just faster than his district-winning time and good for second place on the school's all-time list.
"I was kind of boxed in at the start and making sure I didn't step on the inside line because they're strict about that. I made a little surge around the mile marker, got re-passed and fell back until the last lap. Then I just tried to surge my way to the finish and passed a lot of people on that final lap," Ellis said.
Ellis has added his name to the long list of standout distance runners for the Bombers. That list includes recent graduates Nathan Mountain and Evan Trapp, and senior Alex Bruns. He shaved 51 seconds off his 3,200-meter time this season alone.
"I'm kind of looking up to them, being really inspired by what they've done in the past, and try to go after what they did. Alex has really helped me improve myself from being lower down to really improving to be one of the best in the state," Ellis said.
It's not uncommon to see the Mason Comets atop the podium at Jesse Owens stadium. This year, the fans in green and white just had to wait a little bit longer than normal.
The quarter of senior Lily Eagleston, junior Tori Killens, freshman Taylor Birdsong and senior Elizabeth Resig won the final event of the day in a new school record of 3:48.69.
"We worked our butts off this year and seeing all the classes come together was awesome. We have a great team spirit," Eagleston said.
Taking the baton on the second leg, Killens started in lane five before cutting in after 100 meters. She made sure to hand the lead off to Birdsong at the second exchange zone.
"At the beginning of our race, I had a lot of fear in me and I started tearing up, but my teammates came together and we had a big speech and I just pushed through it," Birdsong said.
Birdsong handed off to Resig whose split of 56.45 seconds secured the win.
"Honestly, I was terrified for my life because I could see who was close to me and who wasn't, but I hear everyone screaming. The atmosphere in the stadium was insane," Resig said.
Scoring 10 points with a two-second win also vaulted the Comets into third place in the team standings. They finished with 48 points, three ahead of Avon.
Girls 100-meter hurdles: Mikaylah Chandler, Lakota East (3rd); Lily Eagleston, Mason (5th)
Boys 110-meter hurdles: Gavin Barry, Moeller (7th)
Girls 100-meter dash: Azarae Hawkins, Mason (3rd); Heaven Wills, Lakota East (5th); Emma Goins, Little Miami (6th)
Girls 4x200 meter relay: 7th – Mason (Nora Moore, Taylor Birdsong, Tori Killens, Eden Orr)
Boys 4x200 meter relay: 5th – La Salle (Conner Sherman, Walter Berry Jr., Patrick McLaughlin, Donivan Stinson)
Girls 1,600-meter run: Heidi Harmeyer, Seton (5th)
Girls 4x100 meter relay: 4th – Lakota East (Mikaylah Chandler, Ivy Smith, Qiersten McClain, Heaven Wills); 5th – Mason (Nora Moore, Eden Orr, Taylor Birdsong, Azarae Hawkins)
Boys 4x100 meter relay: 2nd – Lakota West (Kolyn Ogletree, Finn Mason, Rece Mason, Joel Nimoh); 4th – La Salle (Jordan Hall, Donivan Stinson, Tyrone Brown, Walter Berry Jr.); 8th – Kings (Vicent Santiago, Toriano Johnson, Jaxon Frisk, Brennan Johnson)
Girls 400-meter dash: Tori Killen, Mason (5th); Haylie Yeazell, Lakota East (8th)
Girls 300-meter hurdles: Kaylyn Pham, Lakota East (5th); Lily Eagleston, Mason (6th)
Boys 300-meter hurdles: Gavin Barry, Moeller (5th)
Girls 800-meter run: Caroline Murnan, Loveland (5th)
Girls 200-meter dash: Azarae Hawkins, Mason (3rd); Emma Goins, Little Miami (4th)
Boys 200-meter dash: Joel Nimoh, Lakota West (7th)
Girls 3,200-meter run: Evelyn Prodoehl, Lakota West (4th); Heidi Harmeyer, Seton (8th)
Boys 3,200-meter run: Dom Ellis, St. Xavier (3rd); Samuel Darmanie, Springboro (5th)
Girls 4x400 meter relay: 1st – Mason (Tori Killens, Elizabeth Resig, Taylor Birdsong, Lily Eagleston)
Boys 4x400 meter relay: 6th – Moeller (Dana Walker, Gavin West, Dominic Marmora, Jackson Butler)
Girls discus: Aleeyah Betts, Princeton (8th)
Girls high jump: DaShayla Wordlaw, Mount Healthy (1st); D’asyia Cotton, Northwest (5th)
Boys shot put: David Lorek, Loveland (4th)
Boys pole vault: James Theobald, St. Xavier (5th)
Boys discus: Rez Rokicki, Loveland (2nd)
Boys high jump: David Lack, West Clermont (2nd); Braxton Moore, Mason (5th)
Girls shot put: Austin White, Mason (2nd)
Girls pole vault: Claire Iaciofano, Turpin (1st); Rachel Johannesmeyer, St. Ursula (3rd); Samantha Clyde, Sycamore (T-8th)
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati high school track & field: 2025 DI state championship recap
Continue reading...
Saturday afternoon's Ohio High School Athletic Association Division I track and field state championships had it all.
Even though Cincinnati produced just three Division I state champions to go with one in Division II, the wall-to-wall action at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium produced reactions that would make anyone pay attention to track and field.
Here are the four biggest storylines from the DI meet.
DaShayla Wordlaw wins Mt. Healthy's first girls state title since 1994
In just her second season competing in the high jump, the senior progressed from a starting height of 5 feet, 2 inches in her first-ever meet to 5-foot-8.25 on May 14 of this year. No easy feat, especially in that time frame.
On Saturday morning, Wordlaw improved on a second-place finish from the 2024 state meet to become the first Owl to win a gold medal in 31 years.
"That's crazy and I'm so proud of myself for making this accomplishment," Wordlaw said.
You must be registered for see images attach
After being the only jumper to clear the bar at 5-feet-8, she elected to keep jumping to try to raise her own school record.
"At first, I didn't even know that I won. I was just thinking I've got to be able to make the next jump. But I got really excited when I realized that I actually won it," Wordlaw said
Even with earlier misses at 5-4 and 5-5, she cleared 5-6, 5-7 and 5-8 on consecutive attempts. After clearing 5-9 on her second attempt, her final clearance came at 5-10.
"I just told myself that I had it. I've jumped 5-5 plenty of times. I just had to walk away, take a deep breath and tell myself, 'You've got this.'" Wordlaw said.
You must be registered for see images attach
Wordlaw hadn't even thought about jumping in college until about a month ago. Now, with a top 10 all-time mark in the state under her belt, she and coach Gregory Moore expect the number of eyes on her to increase.
Northwest's D'Aysia Cotton took fifth place with a new personal best of 5-7.
Eastern Cincinnati Conference dominates in the field events
After Wordlaw's victory, attention shifted to the ECC as the jumps and throws results came in.
In the first session, Loveland's David Lorek took fourth place in the shot put with a throw of 57 feet, 4.25 inches. He also took 10th place in the discus with a throw of 162 feet, 1 inch. The other half of Loveland's throwing duo, Rez Rokicki, was the discus runner-up with a toss of 180 feet, 3 inches.
West Clermont's D.J. Lack, also a bowler, took second place in the high jump with a new personal best of 6-9.
"Most of my years leading up to this, it's been pretty consistent by going up 2 or 4 inches a year. This year, I went up like 5 inches," Lack said.
The result caps off a year in which Lack placed in the top three of every competition he entered.
The final field event of the day was the most dramatic. Turpin junior and defending state champion Claire Iaciofano missed on her first two jumps at 12 feet before clearing three straight bars. After missing two more attempts at 13 feet, she had two successful jumps to move into first place.
You must be registered for see images attach
By virtue of Granville's Annie McCracken missing two jumps at 13 feet, 4 inches and Iaciofano missing none, the junior was crowned the back-to-back state champion after both jumpers failed to clear the bar at 13 feet, 8 inches.
"It's pretty nice. I'm kind of in disbelief a little bit," Iaciofano said. "Annie's definitely a formidable foe. It was crazy to go against her. The competition this year was insane."
Iaciofano was one of three Cincinnati vaulters on the podium. St. Ursula sophomore Rachel Johannesmeyer took third with a new personal best of 12 feet, 8 inches. Sycamore freshman Samantha Clyde tied for eighth, tying her best mark of 12 feet.
"It was a good day," Clyde said.
Evelyn Prodoehl, Dom Ellis drop the hammer in the distance events
Prodoehl, a senior at Lakota West, has had some pretty extreme highs and lows in her career.
She broke the cross country state record as a junior with a time of 16:59.1 before winning the 2023 state championship. She then had to shut her 2024 track season down in mid-April due to an illness, which forced her to miss last fall's cross country regular season.
When she returned, she won district and regional titles before logging her third top-five finish at the state meet.
This spring, she opened the season by running the 1,600 meters and 3,200 meters, but switched to the longer race after the Greater Miami Conference meet. On Saturday, she took fourth place in the 3,200-meter run, capping off one of the best careers in school history.
"I think it's a great success. Overall, I do wish I wasn't injured, but not everyone's career is linear. Everyone has to have some down somewhere, and I'm ready for a great four years in college," Prodoehl said.
You must be registered for see images attach
It was Prodoehl's third appearance at state in the two-mile race. She took ninth place as a freshman and sixth place as a sophomore.
She will attend Cornell to study environmental sustainability and engineering.
About 10 minutes later, St. Xavier's Dom Ellis took third place in the boys 3,200-meter run in a new personal best of 9:00.6, just faster than his district-winning time and good for second place on the school's all-time list.
"I was kind of boxed in at the start and making sure I didn't step on the inside line because they're strict about that. I made a little surge around the mile marker, got re-passed and fell back until the last lap. Then I just tried to surge my way to the finish and passed a lot of people on that final lap," Ellis said.
Ellis has added his name to the long list of standout distance runners for the Bombers. That list includes recent graduates Nathan Mountain and Evan Trapp, and senior Alex Bruns. He shaved 51 seconds off his 3,200-meter time this season alone.
"I'm kind of looking up to them, being really inspired by what they've done in the past, and try to go after what they did. Alex has really helped me improve myself from being lower down to really improving to be one of the best in the state," Ellis said.
Mason closes meet with record-breaking 4x400 meter relay win
It's not uncommon to see the Mason Comets atop the podium at Jesse Owens stadium. This year, the fans in green and white just had to wait a little bit longer than normal.
The quarter of senior Lily Eagleston, junior Tori Killens, freshman Taylor Birdsong and senior Elizabeth Resig won the final event of the day in a new school record of 3:48.69.
You must be registered for see images attach
"We worked our butts off this year and seeing all the classes come together was awesome. We have a great team spirit," Eagleston said.
Taking the baton on the second leg, Killens started in lane five before cutting in after 100 meters. She made sure to hand the lead off to Birdsong at the second exchange zone.
You must be registered for see images attach
"At the beginning of our race, I had a lot of fear in me and I started tearing up, but my teammates came together and we had a big speech and I just pushed through it," Birdsong said.
Birdsong handed off to Resig whose split of 56.45 seconds secured the win.
You must be registered for see images attach
"Honestly, I was terrified for my life because I could see who was close to me and who wasn't, but I hear everyone screaming. The atmosphere in the stadium was insane," Resig said.
Scoring 10 points with a two-second win also vaulted the Comets into third place in the team standings. They finished with 48 points, three ahead of Avon.
You must be registered for see images attach
Podium finishers at the OHSAA Division I track and field state championships
Girls 100-meter hurdles: Mikaylah Chandler, Lakota East (3rd); Lily Eagleston, Mason (5th)
Boys 110-meter hurdles: Gavin Barry, Moeller (7th)
Girls 100-meter dash: Azarae Hawkins, Mason (3rd); Heaven Wills, Lakota East (5th); Emma Goins, Little Miami (6th)
Girls 4x200 meter relay: 7th – Mason (Nora Moore, Taylor Birdsong, Tori Killens, Eden Orr)
Boys 4x200 meter relay: 5th – La Salle (Conner Sherman, Walter Berry Jr., Patrick McLaughlin, Donivan Stinson)
Girls 1,600-meter run: Heidi Harmeyer, Seton (5th)
Girls 4x100 meter relay: 4th – Lakota East (Mikaylah Chandler, Ivy Smith, Qiersten McClain, Heaven Wills); 5th – Mason (Nora Moore, Eden Orr, Taylor Birdsong, Azarae Hawkins)
Boys 4x100 meter relay: 2nd – Lakota West (Kolyn Ogletree, Finn Mason, Rece Mason, Joel Nimoh); 4th – La Salle (Jordan Hall, Donivan Stinson, Tyrone Brown, Walter Berry Jr.); 8th – Kings (Vicent Santiago, Toriano Johnson, Jaxon Frisk, Brennan Johnson)
Girls 400-meter dash: Tori Killen, Mason (5th); Haylie Yeazell, Lakota East (8th)
Girls 300-meter hurdles: Kaylyn Pham, Lakota East (5th); Lily Eagleston, Mason (6th)
Boys 300-meter hurdles: Gavin Barry, Moeller (5th)
Girls 800-meter run: Caroline Murnan, Loveland (5th)
Girls 200-meter dash: Azarae Hawkins, Mason (3rd); Emma Goins, Little Miami (4th)
Boys 200-meter dash: Joel Nimoh, Lakota West (7th)
Girls 3,200-meter run: Evelyn Prodoehl, Lakota West (4th); Heidi Harmeyer, Seton (8th)
Boys 3,200-meter run: Dom Ellis, St. Xavier (3rd); Samuel Darmanie, Springboro (5th)
Girls 4x400 meter relay: 1st – Mason (Tori Killens, Elizabeth Resig, Taylor Birdsong, Lily Eagleston)
Boys 4x400 meter relay: 6th – Moeller (Dana Walker, Gavin West, Dominic Marmora, Jackson Butler)
Girls discus: Aleeyah Betts, Princeton (8th)
Girls high jump: DaShayla Wordlaw, Mount Healthy (1st); D’asyia Cotton, Northwest (5th)
Boys shot put: David Lorek, Loveland (4th)
Boys pole vault: James Theobald, St. Xavier (5th)
Boys discus: Rez Rokicki, Loveland (2nd)
Boys high jump: David Lack, West Clermont (2nd); Braxton Moore, Mason (5th)
Girls shot put: Austin White, Mason (2nd)
Girls pole vault: Claire Iaciofano, Turpin (1st); Rachel Johannesmeyer, St. Ursula (3rd); Samantha Clyde, Sycamore (T-8th)
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati high school track & field: 2025 DI state championship recap
Continue reading...
