Let’s talk Ohio HS Track 2024

Are they capable of scaring St. X's state record of 7:36.33 or going under the D2 record that Woodridge holds of 7:37.43?

Does anyone know what is up with the Evelyn Prodehl, the Lakota West junior that was the D1 state champ in XC? As strong a she looked last XC season I thought she would have a serious shot at taking down Annie Heffernan's state 3200 record or 10:14. I think she ran a few indoor meets and maybe one or two early in the outdoor season and that is it. I assume she has some sort of an injury.

I say maybe. Dellasanta split something like 3:05-3:06 for the 1200 at Wayne, and Gabelman should be able to go 1:51. Their leadoff was probably 1:57-1:58 at OCCs.

If the race is tight, 7:40 is definitely in play. And perhaps the SR if one their legs pops a good one & Gabelman really has to go.

1:57

1:57

1:54

1:51

Update. Gabe Wise from WNorth just dropped a 1:56.1 in the open at OCCs. Looking even more of a possibility of sub 7:40 now.

Sub 7:40 does sound attainable. I doubt that it will happen at the state meet, though. The temps in Ohio today are great and they’ll probably be OK next week for districts they’ll probably be good. June always seems so hot for the State meet with temps seemingly in the 90s more often than not. The distance times are usually not spectacular at the state meet.

Speaking of that WN 4x800 relay team, three of their legs looked good in the OCC Capital 1600m -- they finished in the top five in that event and all under 4:23: 4:11.89, 4:15.58, 4:22.41.

Michael Dellasanta of WN has been turning in a pretty good season: 4:15 here and a 9:09 a few weeks ago at Wayne -- solid stuff that he has quietly achieved.

Wise dropping that 1:56.1 and then the three of them taking the soph Casey Carlos under their wing: he's in very good company. Let's see if they can drop a sub-7:40 somewhere through the gauntlet of the district and regional (and state?) meets.

Mason and St. X are both in the same district. We should see what they bring to the table here soon. I'm thinking both will be sub 7:48.

X dropped a 7:44.92 tonight. Mason was 7:56.

Nice. Just off of their district record set a year ago (7:44.08)

In the Bellbrook district Lebanon with Kilgallon and Centerville with Emmert run 8:00 and change

WN with a 7:47.35

PREDICTION: the winning time for the boys D1 3200m at the state meet will be under 9:00.00 this year.

But who will it be? Ricchiuti? Trapp? Long?

Ohio has had a relatively cool spring so hopefully that carries over into June. The weekend of the state meet is notoriously hot so the odds of a sub 9 are a bit less. It doesn't happen often.

A few years ago Nathan Moore was close with about a 9:00.xx effort. I believe in the last 10 years there have only been two sub 9s at the state meet. Hunter Moore ran 8:58.something to win in 2017 and Andrew Jordan, who has the state meet record, won in 2016 with a 8:54.96 effort.

What did they run at district the year that they ran the 7:36.33 at the state meet? They may have been in a different district that year.

Running through the annals:

Steve Padgett of LaSalle kicked it all off with a 9:00.67 in 2000.

And then the 2010s finally brought about the breakthrough: Tsehaye Hiluf of Reynoldsburg did it first in 2012 with an 8:55.04 (whatever happened to him?), then Sam Wharton of Tippecanoe followed in 2013 with an 8:56.61 and two years later Kyle Mau of Hudson came close in 2015 with a 9:00.60.

The aforementioned record-setting Jordan ignited the track with the 8:54.96 in 2016 and the aforementioned H. Moore (the man who ran for FOUR different collegiate programs!) followed with the 8:58.47 in 2017. The aforementioned N. Moore bookended this era with the 9:00.88 in 2021.

I imagine some of those days were hot, so I'm going to say that even if it's hot this year (low 90s), I'll predict that sub-9 will still happen as a testimony to how special this era of runners is. I am also going to assume that the winner won't be running the 1600m beforehand.

It's time for another sub-9 at the state meet and I feel like this is the year that we will see it.

I was at the Austintown regional the year (2014) Nick Elswick ran 8:57 but at the state meet it was really hot and I believe he ran 9:02. Moore's 9:00 at state it was 90 degrees that afternoon. I just hope we can either get a nice cooler day or a day where there aren't huge delays due to storms (2016 and 2023). Jordan could have ran much faster that year but his first 1600 split was 4:21. He dropped the 1600 because of the storm (went to rolling schedule) and decided to go for a really fast time but I think 4:21 was too hot.

Funny, a few months ago I was wondering what happened to Hiluf. I found a LinkedIn profile of a guy named Tsehaye Hiluf that works in IT for a bank in Ethiopia but I don't think that's him.

Andrew Jordan ran at three different colleges (Iowa State, Washington, and Georgetown). He earned his master's degree at Georgetown and is working in asset management in Columbus.

This old "whatever happened to" thread is on this website and Hiluf is mentioned. No word about what happened to him. Someone commented about how many guys in Ohio do well in high school and then seem to burn out. Ohio is not unique there. It happens to a lot of guys everywhere. Ohio has had a lot of guys do really well also and even some guys that have exceeded expectations (Alex Philip of Akron St. V St M) did well at John Carroll and is now doing really well at UNC as a grad transfer (All American in XC and a better than average chance to be the 10K champ this season now that Nico Young is only entered in the 5. St. X's Nathan Mountain has a good shot at winning the steeple this year.

Ah yes! I remember that "whatever happened to . . . ?" thread. That is a classic.

True that about guys who do well in high school but don't continue the trajectory in college: Ohio is definitely not unique there. Horter always gets mentioned in that conversation.

I like going the other way though as you began: Phillip of Akron St. V definitely is the poster child for really stepping it up in college after having a somewhat successful / if not slightly quiet high school career. I would put Anthony Camerieri of Brecksville in that category as well (Miami OH and then Ole Miss).

It's also good to see Nick Plant doing well at Va. Tech.