Let's talk Ohio HS Track

Indeed, ran a 4:13.52 (at the regional meet?) in 2022.

Also, agree with the sentiment about OSU, I would think they should have a men's cross country team at the national meet on a yearly basis as well as several men's distance runners repping then at indoor and outdoor national meet annually--it's too bad that this is a once-in-a-blue-moon event for the Buckeyes.

Sam Wharton (2013 grad of Tippecanoe) wins NXN 2012 in 17:06. Look how bad those conditions were that day

I know that we're mostly focused on distance events here but I noticed an interesting result from the Spire meet last weekend.

The two best female sprinters in the state, Maira Scott of Holland Springfield and Olivia Pace of Westerville Central, faced off in the the 60. Pace got the upper hand over Scott though it was close with only .03 separating them. Scott did not run the 200 and ran the 400 instead. Last year at the outdoor state meet Scott got the better of Pace winning both the 100 & 200.

They'll be interesting to follow this upcoming season and both will be teammates next season at USC along with sprint sensation Mia Brahe-Pedersen.

I remember that race. The times were like what you see at the Woodridge race at CVNP. Maybe Wharton's swimming background helped him!

I noticed in the video that there were hay bales. Sort of a shame that the Missouri Rock Bridge coach cried to state officials about the hay bales and creek crossing at the Mason Invitational. The last I heard those course features had to be taken out of the course.

I wonder what happened to Wharton after he was done at Stanford. If he mastered the bike he would have made a hell of a triathlete.

I just looked for the old thread on this race and posted it below. The first post in the thread was sorta funny but Wharton was far from a "no name." The guy that posted was also clueless about the sport and is another focused on time.

"Seriously, WTF?? This is a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP? A bunch of no names taking the top spots? What the hell happened? I thought this was the national XC Championships, not the national swimming championships! I feel like Nike just poured gallons and gallons of water upon the course! This isn't some obstacle/crappy condition/ultra type runner race, this is a high school cross country race. These kids want to run fast. WTF"

I remember. He came out of nowhere to run 4:13 at the Pickerington regional in 2022 to qualify for state - and finishing ahead of some guys who were seeded higher than him (Brady, Eberhardt, King, Shaughnessey, Axeline, Miller). He'd never broken 4:20 before, and never did again. But dang did he catch fire that day. I remember watching & thinking who the heck is this guy! I also never made the connection to his dad, Darrel, a guy I raced against at Kinney MW in Kenosha back in the day. Small world.

Dominic Jackson will be one. And they supposedly have Macen Hall running this year.

Yes, Jackson’s been solid since 2021. He barely ran any races during 2022 XC so he was probably injured or something

St. X ran a 7:55 in New York over the weekend in the 4 x 800. They could be in the mix to repeat.

Anything interesting in this season so far? Anyone looking strong/favorites developing?