After a one-year hiatus, the OHSAA track and field state tournament returned to Ohio State University’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in 2025. The resurfaced track and warm temperatures combined to produce one of the fastest state championship meets on record—a total of 40 state, state meet and stadium records were broken or tied, while 50 new times and marks were logged in the state tournament’s all-time top-10 lists.
DIVISION I
Another record-breaking performance by Celia Schulte and first- and second-place finishes by Anna Wile in the hurdles races highlighted Hilliard Davidson’s first girls track and field state championship.
Schulte, who had already broken the state record in the 800 meters twice during the season, set another new standard when she finished in 2:04.65, more than five seconds ahead of her next closest competitor. Schulte’s time ranks sixth all-time in the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) national record book.
Schulte also ran the anchor leg of Davidson’s first-place 4x800 meter relay team and ran a leg on the 4x400 relay team that finished fourth.
Wile added 18 points to Davidson’s team total when she took first in the 100 meter hurdles and second in the 300 hurdles. Her time of 13.72 in the 100 hurdle semifinals tied for the seventh fastest mark in state tournament history.
Davidson finished atop the team standings with 55 points. Pickerington Central was second with 50, while Mason finished third with 48.
Pickerington Central took first in both the 4x100 and 4x200 meter relays, with both performances ranking in the top 10 in state tournament history. Junior Lachele Nichloas and sophomores Genesis Poke, Brianna Duncan and Serenity Franklin posted a 46.72 in the 4x100, seventh all-time, while senior Grace Alls and sophomore Gabbi Mattox joined Franklin and Poke to win the 4x200 in 1:37.32, the second-fastest time in state tournament history.
Also for Pickerington Central, Kamille Smith closed out her high school by winning the shot put (49-6.75) and placing second in the discus (143-6). Smith’s shot put mark was nearly eight feet better than the next closest competitor and ranks sixth in state tournament history.
Beavercreek’s Faith Brown set a new Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium record and posted the second fastest time in state tournament history in the 300 hurdles, winning the event in 41.00. Brown also placed second in the 100 hurdles behind Davidson’s Wile.
In the boys meet, a dominant group of sophomore and junior sprinters delivered Huber Heights Wayne its third team championship overall and first since titles in 1995 and 2000. Wayne tallied 60 points, ahead of Lexington (39) and Vandalia Butler (36); it was the largest margin of victory in the Division I boys meet since 2019.
Wayne sophomore Jamier Averette-Brown won the 100 and was runner-up in the 200, classmate Keng Martin was first in the 110 hurdles and third in the 300 hurdles, and the duo joined juniors Key’Shawn Garrett and Semarion Sroufe on record-setting 4x100 and 4x200 meter relay teams.
Averette-Brown posted two of the top 100 meter times in state tournament history. His 10.36 in the semifinals is the second fastest all-time, while his 10.41 in the finals, run into a slight headwind, ranks sixth.
Averette-Brown, Martin, Garrett and Sroufe broke a total of five records in their two relay wins. Their time of 40.82 in the 4x100 set a state tournament and stadium record, while their time of 1:24.21 in the 4x200 set new state, state meet and stadium records in the event.
Sidney’s Garrett Guinther, who set an all-divisions record in the pole vault (17-3.25) earlier in the season, became just the second individual to clear 17-0 at the state tournament; Gahanna Lincoln’s Jacob Blankenship did it in both 2012 (17-2) and 2011 (17-0).
Vandalia Butler produced two other record-breaking performances in the boys meet. The 4x400 meter relay team of Tayven Crump, Luke Campbell, Brayden Thaxton and Jordan Gross set state, state tournament and stadium records with their time of 3:12.06. And in the 200 meters, Gross set a stadium record with his winning time of 20.73.
DIVISION II
Shaker Heights Hathaway Brown scored in eight different events to win its first girls track and field state championship, Toledo Central Catholic’s Nyla King turned in an all-time performance and became just the fourth girl to win the sprint triple crown at the state tournament, and The Plains Athens’ Sophia Szolosi completed the school year distance triple crown in the Division II girls state tournament.
Hathaway Brown finished with 40 team points, finishing ahead of Dayton Oakwood (35) and Cincinnati Mercy McAuley (31). King, who was her school’s only qualifier, placed Toledo Central Catholic fourth in the team standings with her three first-place finishes.
Hathaway Brown’s points were spread throughout the meet. The school placed first in the 4x100 and second in the 4x800 relays, and it had podium finishes in two sprints, two distance races and both hurdles events.
The 4x100 meter relay team of Isabelle Seelbach, Chloe Battle, Aaris Minter and Jane Kennedy finished first in 48.10. Seelbach finished sixth in the 100 meter hurdles and seventh in the 300 hurdles, while Kennedy took fourth in the 400 and seventh in the 100.
Anna Prusak placed third in the 3200 and fifth in the 1600 meters, and she ran the lead leg on the 4x800 meter relay that took second.
Toledo Central Catholic’s King swept the 100 (11.60), 200 (23.76) and 400 (54.36). She set a new Division II state and state tournament record in the 200.
Szolosi, who won the Division II girls cross country title by nearly 30 seconds in the fall, took the 1600 meters in 4:49.65 and the 3200 in 10:39.21. She is the 16th girl in state history to win those three races in the same school year.
In the 800, Germantown Valley View’s Addy Abner set Division II state and state tournament records with her winning time of 2:07.54.
On the boys side, Coy Hyre posted three record-breaking performances and had a hand in 38 of Brookville’s 42 team points as the school won its second track and field state title and first since 1973.
Brookville edged out Cleveland Glenville (40) and Oak Harbor (34) in the team standings.
Hyre, already the Division II state record holder in the 100 and 200 meters entering the state meet, finished atop the podium in both events. He won the 100 in 10.38, the third fastest time in state tournament history regardless of division and 0.01 faster than his previous state record, and won the 200 in 20.99, a new Division II state tournament record.
Hyre also ran anchor on Brookville’s 4x200 meter relay team that took first in a Division II meet record time of 1:26.61 and the 4x400 relay that was second. Walt Adams, Ethan Bench and Douglas Moore ran the first three legs of the 4x200; Lucas Tipton, Adams and Moore joined Hyre on the 4x400. Tipton rounded out Brookville’s scoring with a fifth-place finish in the 800.
Two other records were set in the Division II boys meet. Lancaster Fairfield Union’s Chayse Lipscomb, who swept the two hurdles races, won the 110 hurdles in a Division II state and state tournament record time of 13.70. He broke the previous record of 13.71, which had been set by Dayton Christian’s Lamar Hill in 1996. Lipscomb ends his career as the state record holder in both the 110 hurdles and the 300 hurdles (36.68).
In the pole vault, Division II state record holder Grant Harrison (New Richmond) cleared 16-7 to set a new Division II state tournament record.
South Point’s Derrick Taylor swept the throwing events, winning both the shot put (65-6) and discus (185-6).
DIVISION III
The Division III state tournament saw a dominating performance from Coldwater’s girls and boys co-champions for the first time since 2000.
Isabella Zahn led a Coldwater contingent that piled up 65.5 team points, the most for a Division III girls team champion since 2015. Coldwater claimed its fourth girls track and field state championship, and first since winning three straight from 1994-96. Oberlin (38) was second, and Columbus Grove (32) was third.
Zahn set state records in winning both the 200 and 400, anchored the 4x400 relay that set a state record, and she won the long jump. Her time in the 200 (23.04) ranks second in state tournament history regardless of division behind only Dublin Coffman’s Abby Steiner in 2018, while her 52.89 in the 400 is third best all-time. She was joined on the record setting (3:53.94) 4x400 relay by Audrey Alig, Lana Kaiser and Kiersten Keller.
Zahn’s performance marked the 26th time a girl has won four events at a state tournament, including seated events. Zahn was the first to accomplish the feat with her combination of four events (200, 400, 4x400, long jump).
Coldwater qualified all four of its relay teams and had eight individual entries at the state tournament. Of those, three relays and seven individuals finished on the podium to contribute toward the team’s point total.
Individually, Audrey Alig was second in the 800, Claire Bertke was fifth in the 100 and seventh in the 200, and Ava Schmitmeyer was fifth in the pole vault. Coldwater also took fifth in both the 4x100 and 4x800 meter relays.
Two other state records were matched or broken. In the 100 meters, Fort Recovery’s Anna Roessner tied the Division III state record and set a new state tournament record with her winning time of 11.75. And in the 300 hurdles, Isabel Evans (Johnstown Northridge) set a state and state tournament record with her winning time of 41.95.
Evans was a double winner, also claiming the 100 meter hurdles (13.95). Caldwell’s Gwyn Lori won both the shot put (45-5.5) and the discus (146-7), and Smithville’s Kaitlyn Carr, who placed third at the state cross country meet in the fall, won both the 1600 (4:49.44) and 3200 (10:48.87) meter races.
McDonald and Huron both scored 31 points to share the Division III boys team title. Columbus Africentric Early College finished just behind with 30.
It was the third team title for both schools. McDonald had previously won in 1999 and 2011, while Huron won in 1974 and was the Division II team champion in 2024.
Drew Zajack won the discus (178-3) to account for 10 of McDonald’s points, and the rest came from the distance crew. The foursome of Carson Klase, Joey Cappuzzello, Josh Krumpak and Eddie Baldwin took second in the 4x800 meter relay, while Clase was second in the 1600 and fifth in the 800 and Cappuzzello was eighth in the 3200.
Huron scored most of its points in the relays. Jackson McNulty, Hayden Wilson, Austin Brunow and Joseph Schaeffer took first in the 4x100 meter relay, while McNulty, Peter Cencer, Brunow and Schaeffer were first in the 4x200. Schaeffer placed second in the 200 meters, and Sage Edgerly-Bork contributed to the point total with a seventh-place finish in the 3200 and eighth-place finish in the 1600.
One Division III boys state tournament record fell: Ansonia’s Cade Shellhaas cleared 16-6 to win the pole vault, besting the previous mark of 16-1.5 held by Columbus Grove’s Heath Nickles since 2008.
Three individuals were double winners. Columbus Africentric Early College’s Jayden Smith finished first in both the 200 (21.53) and 400 (48.15). Mowrystown Whiteoak’s Landen Eyre won his second straight state title in the 3200 (9:12.46) and added a first-place finish in the 1600 (4:11.13); he also finished fourth overall at the cross country state championships in the fall. And Sarahsville Shenandoah’s Braxton Barnett, who finished third in both hurdles races in 2024, won both the 110 (14.17) and 300 (37.32) hurdles in 2025.
SEATED
West Chester Lakota West’s Juniper McKnight was a double winner, taking first in both the 100 and 800 meters. She was second in the 400.
Lisbon Beaver Local’s Savannah Nign won the 400 and finished runner-up to McKnight in the 100 and 800.
Massillon Jackson’s Abby LaPole, who set the state record in the shot put earlier in the season, won her second straight state title in the event with a state tournament and stadium record mark of 19-11.
For the third year in a row, Garrettsville Garfield’s Conner Hunt swept the boys 100, 400 and 800 meter races. He set new state, state tournament and stadium records in the 400, finishing in 57.47.
Liberty Township Lakota East’s Landyn Bomar defended his 2024 state title in the shot put. His throw of 23-11 1/2 was nearly two feet better than his winning mark in 2024.