By Felix Hoover

For YourNewsColumbus.com

Posted 06-08-09

 

 

Reynoldsburg's girls in a runaway and Gahanna's boys in a squeaker each brought home a Division I State Track championship Saturday.

 

The 82 points by the Lady Raiders was the highest ever at the state meet, which was held at Jesse Owens Stadium at Ohio State University. Cleveland Heights' 71 in 1991 was the previous high.

 

Reynoldsburg's total included state meet records for all divisions in the 4x200 (1:37.02) and 4x400 relays (3:43.83).

 

"They ran a perfect race," Raiders Coach Denny Hammond said. "Nobody faltered."

 

Success meant that underclass members needed to shake the jitters and that seniors needed to sacrifice some of their graduation celebration on Tuesday when Commencement was held for the Class of 2009.

 

"We had to cut back on parties, but it was worth it," said senior Ashley Phillips, a member of the second-place 4x100 relay team, which included Timia Ingram, Kacia Grant and

Destinee Gause.

 

Senior Melissa Dodaro cut loose in the discus, winning the event with a throw of 146 feet, 4 inches.

 

Ingram, also a senior, was one of the few team members who expressed uncertainty about the meet's outcome, mostly because she was coming back from a recent injury and wasn't sure whether it would hamper her performance. Apparently not, since she was on the 4x100 and 4x200 relays.The latter race also included Faith Washington, Azia Walker and Gause, Washington added a fourth in the 300-meter hurdles; Walker picked up a first in the 400-meter run (54.74); and Gause won the 200 (24.21) as well running on the relays.

 

Ingram has been part of Reynoldsburg's steady rise in state competiton.

 

"I've been dreaming about this for four years," she said.

 

The dream saw the Raiders go from ninrth her freshman year, to fourth in 2007 and second last year, before reaching the pinnacle this year.

 

Taneisha Cordell, winner of the 800-meter run (2:10.79), said, "It was so exciting and overwhelming. We accomplished all of our goals."

 

Even though 400-meter runner Diamond Towns didn't qualifiy for the state, she showed team support at the meet, as did team assistant Tavea Bradford.

LIONS ROAR

In contrast to the 47-point margin between Reynoldsburg and runner-up Cincinnati Withrow on the girls' side, Gahanna Lincoln's boys needed almot everything they had to finish ahead of runner-up Cleveland Glenville (48-45).

 

"It was a team effort all the way around," said Lions Assistant Coach Larry Schwade.

Gahanna had nine scoring opportunities and came through on seven.

 

After Blake Heriot set a state meet record on Friday in the 100-meter dash, the crowd was abuzz about the prospect of his sweeping the sprints on Saturday.

 

That idea was squashed early on, when he finished second in the finals of the 100.

 

"I stumbled out of the blocks," he said. "It just wasn't my day."

 

Heriot, a junior, made it look in winning the 200 and 400. And he was thrilled about the team victory.

 

Harry McFann had the eighth fastest time going into the finals of the 800-meter run, but did better than he expected. He shot for sixth and wound up fifth.

 

Herman Washington said his second-place in the 110-meter hurdles came as expected, but he surprised himself by adding a third in the 300-meter hurdles as well.

 

Nick Snoad threw the discus 162 feet, 2 inches to claim seventh place and a valuable two points.