Locals earn All-Ohio honors at state track meet
Waynedale’s Jeremy Reber clears a hurdle in the finals for the 110-meter hurdles at the OHSAA Division III State Championships. Reber went on to place fifth in the event for his second straight All-Ohio finish.
As Jeremy Reber stood atop the podium at the recent OHSAA State Track and Field Championships, the Waynedale runner was finally able to relax and smile.
And who could blame the senior?
The journey it took for him to get back to the Division III state meet for the second year in a row and earn All-Ohio honors in the 110-meter hurdles made his fifth-place finish feel like he just won the state title.
After a season plagued by a hamstring injury, Reber had a roller-coaster final prep season. He went from competing in just a handful of meets over the first month of the campaign after pulling his hamstring to reaggravating the injury at the Wayne County Athletic League Championships in early May.
Despite it all, Reber was able to work his way back to competition, making that second all-state medal better than anything he could imagine.
“Coming into (the finals), I was just ready to have fun,” he said after running 15.25 in the event at Dayton’s Welcome Stadium. “I had no pressure on me. I’m just glad that I made it to the finals. That was my first goal, and once I got into it, I was like ‘let’s have fun.’”
A pair of other locals also earned All-Ohio status as Orrville’s Talon Beichler placed sixth in the Div. II shot put while Dalton’s Sammy Tomlinson took eighth in the Div. III 100 final.
Beichler, who broke the school record in the event earlier in the season, picked up his second straight podium finish after a 56-1 ½ toss in the finals.
And while it was short of that record-setting toss of 58-11 at the Principals Athletic Conference Championships, the junior was proud of the progress he made throughout the year.
“The biggest thing is my form hasn’t been jumping all over the place,” said Beichler, who also made his state debut in the discus, placing 10th. “Last year I would have a week where I threw 56 and then I would throw a 52. This year I’ve been around the same two- to three-foot realm, and that’s been the biggest thing for me.”
Tomlinson was making his second state trip in a row, the first coming as a sophomore with a 4x200 relay that placed eighth overall. This season, however, the 4x200, which also included teammates Colin Pearson, Gavin Annen and Kanoa Hevia, fell short of the state finals by 0.33, but the now-junior sprinter competed and advanced in the open 100.
The result was an eighth-place finish in 11.32.
“It’s just an honor to be here,” Tomlinson said. “I didn’t really have high expectations for this, but I made the best of it. No regrets. It’s just really fun to be here. I’m going to put some more work in this offseason. I have to have some more confidence in myself, but I think we should be back here next year.”
Also competing in the boys portion of the state meet was Waynedale’s 4x800, which missed an All-Ohio finish by one spot as Nick St. John, Jackson Varner, Jayden Varner and Conner Reich took ninth overall. The group, however, did reset their own school-record time from earlier this season after crossing the line in 8:13.14.
Jackson Varner also ran in the 3,200 final, finishing 13th in 9:43.22, while Dalton’s Collin Jones was 11th in the discus (147-2) and Jace Eberly took 12th in the long jump (20-8 ¼) in their respective state debuts. Orrville’s Caden Race also placed in the Div. II pole vault, taking 13th (13-0).
Both Dalton’s Carson Steiner (pole vault) and Waynedale’s Ian Sarver (shot put) also took part in Div. III field events but didn’t place.
A handful of local girls also took part in events at state.
Waynedale’s 4x100 and 4x200 relays, which each consisted of Callie Wolfe, Skye Morris, Anna Pittman and Nayeli Cruz, didn’t advance to the finals after record-breaking seasons for both events. The 4x100 had the best finish, placing 13th overall in 50.93.
Pittman took part in the Div. III pole vault earlier in the meet, placing 14th (10-6), while Dalton’s Mackenna Thiel took 16th (10-0). A pair of Orrville vaulters — Catrina Race and Chloe Albrecht — were in the Div. II pole vault and placed in a tie for 17th and 20th, respectively.