Boys Week of 4/25 Recap

It was a week of relays for Central Ohio distance runners, with three different relay-centric meets taking place around the area. We saw plenty of impressive times and great competition, which we’ll break down below!

Meet of the Week: Lancaster Fulton Relays

We put our Meet of the Week to a vote on our Instagram story, with the choices being Fulton Relays or Freedom Relays. Fulton came out on top, earning 58% of the vote compared to Freedom’s 42%. This meet featured teams like Lancaster, Dublin Scioto, Gahanna Lincoln, Worthington Kilbourne, Thomas Worthington, and Division II powerhouse Fairfield Union.

The first event of the day was the 4x1600, which was won by Fairfield Union’s team of Walton, Phillips, Reindle, and Runkle with a time of 18:13. Finishing second was Dublin Scioto’s relay of Kinzer, Norman, Evans, and Flanagan, clocking 18:19. After the top two, there was a steep drop-off, with the next best team finishing more than 30 seconds behind Scioto.

Up next was the 4x800, where Lancaster came away with an impressive win. They ran 7:54 as a team, with fast splits from Brock Jarrett and Gabe McNeil and Davis and Notestine rounding it out. Gahanna Lincoln also nearly broke eight minutes, finishing at 8:01 with their relay of Swain, LaCross, Irvin, and Towler.

The final distance-centric event of the day was the DMR, where Gahanna Lincoln’s relay of Towler, Campanelli, LaCross, and Swain won with a time of 10:46. Both Fairfield Union’s team of Phillips, Boyer, Reindle, and Walton and Lancaster’s team of Davis, Boyden, Notestine, and Jarrett also broke 11 minutes.

Matchup of the Week: Freedom Relays 4x1600 (Centerville vs. Dublin Jerome vs. Olentangy Liberty vs. Olentangy Orange)

I think we made the right choice for the Matchup of the Week, even though I wasn’t able to predict the winner. Each of the top teams in this race broke 18 minutes, with the Dayton-based Centerville squad of Kaheal, Noel, Porter, and Emmert coming out on top with a time of 17:48. The other three top finishers were: Dublin Jerome at 17:50 (Ishida, Tyler, Kelly, Guerrera), Olentangy Orange at 17:51 (Allender, Sivakumar, Khandari, Schroff), and Olentangy Liberty at 17:55 (Rabi, Perez, Perry, Kimberly). I’m now 0-for-2 on Matchup of the Week predictions, but hopefully I’ll have better luck picking a winner at the Wayne Invite this weekend.

Other Notable Action: 

There were plenty of other notable results around the area this week. At Freedom Relays, two performances stood out: the Olentangy DMR of Munroe, Plymale, Naylor, and Nix, which won with a time of 10:45, and the Olentangy Liberty 4x800 of Rabi, Brockbank, Joshi, and Ogilbee, which won with a time of 7:52—the fastest 4x800 mark from the area this weekend.

Marysville’s Monarch Relays also produced strong performances, highlighted by Westerville North’s wins in both the 4x1600 and DMR, which were also the fastest relay times in the area for the week. The squad of Kemp, Kerns, Wise, and Carlos won the 4x1600 in 17:49 and the DMR in 10:42. Other DMR teams that broke 11 minutes at that meet included Marysville at 10:52 (Herring, Stillion, DeSutter, Weithman) and Hilliard Davidson at 10:53 (Limbert, Shelton, Hays, Rona).

The Westerville South Wildcat Invitational was the only non-relay meet in the area. Charles Rizek won the 1600 in 4:27, beating out Lavon Wilborn, Logan Behm, and Ryin Fisher. Jack Leonard took first in the 800 with a time of 2:01.76, and Kole Hyer won the 3200 in 9:48, beating Carter Schilling and Aidan Fisher.

Underclassmen results: 

It’s hard to highlight individual performances in such a relay-heavy week, but a few athletes definitely deserve shout-outs. At the Wildcat Invitational, Hilliard Darby’s Logan Behm and New Albany’s Lavon Wilborn both broke 4:30 in the 1600, while Willis Guard-Batchelder ran 10:12 in the 3200. Outside of the weekend invitationals, Westerville Central’s Andrew Gould had a major breakthrough, running 4:26 in the 1600 during a dual meet against Gahanna Lincoln. Additionally, Watkins Memorial freshman Ethan Martinez impressed by running 2:00.77 in the 800 at a dual meet with Worthington Kilbourne.

All in all, it was an exciting week for Central Ohio distance running, with strong relay performances and a few standout individual efforts. With big invitationals like Wayne on deck, the competition should only keep heating up as we move closer to the postseason.