The thing is that, yeah, Ohio is a great state for high school distance running. But there is no tradition collegiately. Plus, how many states have as many D1 schools diluting the instate recruinting?
You got OSU, Miami, Kent State, Ohio U., Akron, Cincinnati, Youngstown State. Until Recently you had to add BG and Toledo in the mix. There is only so much scholarship money available and even as strong as Ohio is, how many 9:10 3200 runners in hs are there every year?
People that have it can run fast anywhere. But a dominant program needs to be THE PLACE to go in the mindset of their recruiting territory and Ohio has never nailed that down with the exception of OSU for the last 2 years.
25 years ago NAIA Malone the top school. They would be top 2-3 consistently at All-Ohio and that's when all the schools would compete, even Miami.