Meet of the Week

Our weekend of 4/19 Meet of the Week is the Dublin Coffman Joe Lenge Classic. This annual invitational is packed with talent in every distance event, featuring teams from all six Dublin and Hilliard schools, along with Lancaster, Thomas Worthington, Olentangy, and Upper Arlington. Distance events include the mixed DMR, 4x800, 1600, 800, and 3200.

Kicking off the day will be the mixed DMR, with two legs represented by each gender. For those unfamiliar, “DMR” stands for Distance Medley Relay. The race follows this order: 1200m leg, 400m leg, 800m leg, and 1600m leg. In this event, teams can mix and match runners based on their strengths across those distances. The competition is shaping up to be a battle between Dublin Jerome and Lancaster, seeded at 12:15 and 12:18, respectively. Notable names on each relay include Lincoln Kelly for Dublin Jerome and Ava Parrett for Lancaster.

After the mixed DMR, the meet will follow a typical invitational format, with the 4x800 next on the distance schedule. It appears that none of the top teams are fully loading their relays. On the girls’ side, the race should come down to Hilliard Davidson and Lancaster—an increasingly common matchup. I’d give the edge to Davidson given their depth. On the boys’ side, only two teams are seeded under 8:30: Dublin Jerome and Northeast Ohio visitors Brunswick. Give me Jerome for the win, thanks to their well-rounded squad.

The 1600 should be a very exciting race on both sides. On the girls’ side, top contenders include Hilliard Davidson’s Gemma Pusateri and Ashley Alsko, Dublin Coffman’s Minori Hudson, Upper Arlington’s Josie Cox, and Thomas Worthington’s Lainey Fauth—all with personal bests under 5:20. This race is a toss-up, but based on her impressive indoor season, I’m predicting a win for Minori Hudson. The boys’ race is also loaded, headlined by Dublin Jerome’s Ethan Ishida and Graham Tyler, alongside strong contenders like Jacob Bolton and McKinley Norman. Ishida and Tyler both had excellent indoor campaigns, making this race hard to call—but I’ll go with Ishida.

The 800 is shaping up to be the highlight of the day, with both of our matchups of the week coming from this event. The girls’ race includes several strong names, including Hilliard Davidson’s Erica Kaulen, Minori Hudson, and Dublin Jerome’s Natalie Fouts. On the boys’ side, the key contenders are Olentangy’s Ty Munroe, Lancaster’s Brock Jarrett, and Dublin Jerome’s Charlie Guerrera. I’ll save my predictions for the matchup of the week breakdowns below.

The final distance event of the day will be the 3200, which, as usual, will be highly competitive. The girls’ race is especially interesting, featuring several top runners who will be doubling back from other events. Among Natalie Fouts, Lancaster’s Harper Allen and Ava Parrett, and Whetstone’s Miriam Rule, only Rule will be fresh. Still, even coming off the 800, Fouts is the reigning indoor 3200m state champion, so she gets the nod. On the boys’ side, the race includes Logan Behm, Cayden McClure, Michael Kinzer, and Justin Rona. In what should be a tightly contested matchup, I’ll give the edge to the more experienced runner, predicting a win for Cayden McClure.

While the 4x400 isn’t a distance event, it’s common for distance runners to feature in it—and the Joe Lenge Classic will be no exception. The girls’ race will include a few distance names, like Dublin Jerome’s Abbie McBrearty, Upper Arlington’s Josie Cox, and Lancaster’s Harper Allen. The boys’ relay, however, will be stacked: Jacob Bolton on Coffman’s relay, Brock Jarrett, Jonas Roush, and Gabe McNeil for Lancaster, Ty Munroe for Olentangy, Kyle Hughes for Upper Arlington, Ethan Ishida, Graham Tyler, and Charlie Guerrera for Jerome, and Brendan Steele for Darby.