2021 Year In Review: Three track titles propel Westerville Central’s Braun to No. 1 spot

It’s time to look back at the biggest moments from 2021 for central Ohio athletes.

In recent years, the area has become a hotbed in sports such as track and field, swimming and diving, boys and girls golf, field hockey and boys and girls lacrosse, and that trend held.

There were plenty of memories created in sports such as football and boys and girls basketball as well.

There also were numerous coaches who stepped away after long and successful tenures.

Here’s a look at the sports year in central Ohio through the eyes of the ThisWeek sports staff:

1. SHOWING HIS BRAUN ON THE TRACK – In his first season competing in boys track and field for Westerville Central, junior Justin Braun proved to be a record-setter.

Braun captured the Division I state title in the 100 meters in 10.47 seconds, tying the state record, and also won the 200 (21.13) and 400 (46.4), giving him the program record in all three events.

He also became the first big-school boys athlete to win the sprinting triple crown since Dayton Dunbar’s Chris Nelloms in 1988.

Although he was the Warhawks’ only state participant, his 30 points earned Central the state runner-up trophy.

“I knew I could do this,” Braun said. “There was never a doubt. I’m just glad I could be here and pull this off and make history.”

Braun won the state title in the 400 as a freshman at Thomas Worthington but didn’t compete as a sophomore after the 2020 season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

2. DUNKING ON THE COMPETITION – In the first state boys basketball tournament held at the University of Dayton since 1987, central Ohio had three teams reach a state final for the first time in the same season.

Westerville Central, making its first appearance at state and with Tasos Cook leading the way, lost to Centerville 43-42 in the Division I final to finish 23-3. Cook now plays for Stetson.

Desmond Watson, who now plays for Davidson, finished with a program-record 1,722 career points while leading DeSales to a Division II state runner-up finish and 19-8 record.

In Division III, Worthington Christian lost to Cleveland Heights Lutheran East 61-56 in the championship game to finish 28-2. D.J. Moore, who finished with 1,333 career points, graduated a year early and is now playing for Liberty.

3. GRIDIRON MEMORIES – It was a year of transition for central Ohio football.

In addition to Pickerington Central having its five-year run of making it to at least a Division I state semifinal end, seven Central District programs produced perfect regular seasons: Upper Arlington, New Albany and Marysville in Division I, Big Walnut in Division II, Granville in Division III, Bloom-Carroll in Division IV and Berne Union in Division VII.

UA reached a state semifinal for the first time since it won the title in 2000, Granville advanced to its first state semifinal, Harvest Prep made it to a state semifinal in Division V, West Jefferson reached a state semifinal in Division VI and Newark Catholic was the Division VII state runner-up.

Marysville linebacker Gabe Powers, an Ohio State commit, UA running back Carson Gresock and Big Walnut running back Nate Severs led their respective teams’ breakthrough seasons.

4. SAYING GOODBYE – A number of prominent coaches decided it was time to move on.

Anne Horton led the Columbus Academy field hockey program to a state-record 12 state championships and a 526-35-29 record in 31 seasons before stepping down in November.

“There were lots of tears, from me and them,” Horton said of informing her players. “It’s (about) the relationships with the girls. ... I’m going to miss being with them.”

The state’s most successful girls lacrosse coach, Upper Arlington’s Wendy Pinta, stepped down June 21 after leading the program to a 382-97-14 record and nine state titles in 26 seasons.

In girls basketball, Africentric’s Will McKinney ended an 18-season tenure in which his teams went 389-70 with two Division IV and five Division III state titles to tie him for the most all-time.

Mike Golden retired after 31 seasons coaching football. He guided Watterson from 1989-2002, leading the Eagles to the Division III state title in his final season there, and followed with tenures at New Albany (2004), UA (2005-13), Delaware Hayes (2014-17) and Bexley (2019-21), compiling a 225-118 record.

Also in football, Mark Crabtree guided Dublin Coffman to a 179-55 mark that included 18 playoff appearances in 20 seasons with two state semifinal appearances before stepping down in January. Reynoldsburg’s Buddy White, Olentangy’s Mark Solis and Bloom-Carroll’s Wade Bartholomew were among those who left after the 2021 season and following successful tenures.

Joe Lang retired after leading the Ready girls basketball team to a 534-366 record in 40 seasons.

Michael Murphy stepped down after leading the Coffman girls lacrosse team to the 2021 Division I state title. He went 123-59-1 in 10 seasons.

5. LAX POWER – The biggest big-school moments in lacrosse involved Dublin programs, with the Jerome boys joining the Coffman girls as state champions.

Jerome beat Upper Arlington 12-11 in the Division I state final for its fourth championship, but it was its first since the OHSAA sanctioned the sport in 2017. The Celtics, who made it to state for the first time since 2014, finished 22-2.

Under Murphy, third-seeded Coffman upset top-seeded UA 11-9 for the Division I, Region 3 title. The Shamrocks then beat Loveland 9-7 in a state semifinal and New Albany 13-12 in the final to finish 18-5.

6. MAKING A SPLASH – The New Albany girls swimming and diving team captured its first Division I state championship, with its 400-meter freestyle relay of Carly Meeting, Olivia Hovorka, Ashlyn Morr and Ava Lachey and its 200 medley relay of Meeting, Sydney Boals, Hovorka and Lachey winning titles.

Olentangy’s Martina Peroni was named Swimmer of the Meet after she set a state-meet record in the 200 individual medley (1:57.77) and was runner-up to teammate Cameron Kuriger in the 100 butterfly.

Upper Arlington’s Riley Huddleston won the 100 free and shared the 50 free title with teammate Caroline Porterfield, and the Golden Bears’ 200 free relay of Avery Catalano, Lizzie Oliphant, Porterfield and Emma Schueler also was first.

Winning for Coffman were Emily Brown (200 free, 500 free) and Ellie Andrews (100 breaststroke) in the girls meet and Zac Stump (500 free) in the boys meet.

Also winning boys state titles were UA’s Avery Voss in the 100 free as well as the 200 free relay of Voss, Grant Gooding, Hayden Jay and Joe Miller.

This fall, the UA girls water polo team won its third consecutive state title and the UA boys water polo team captured its first state title since 2012.

7. RUNNING FOR GLORY – Braun’s exploits were far from the only successes that central Ohio athletes enjoyed in track and cross country.

At the state track meet June 5, the Pickerington North boys team won the title and the Gahanna Lincoln girls were runners-up. The Coffman boys cross country team was state runner-up Nov. 6.

Gahanna senior Alyssa Shope shined in both sports, capturing the 3,200 in girls track and winning the first state cross country title in program history.

Also in the Division I state boys track meet, winning were Pickerington North’s 800 relay of Daylon Duncan, Carl Allen II, Zemen Siyoum and Steven McElroy and Jerome’s Silas Kayuha in the 110 hurdles.

In the Division I girls state track meet, joining Shope as champions were Gahanna’s Camden Bentley (300 hurdles), Westerville South’s Marissa Saunders (100 hurdles), Hilliard Davidson’s Lindsay Stull (800), Watterson’s girls 800 relay of Cailin O’Reilly, Grace Jenkins, Anna Kessler and Sydney Workman and its 1,600 relay of Jordan Morales, O’Reilly, Erin Connors and Jenkins.

Bexley’s Mason Louis won the 400 in the Division II state boys meet. In Division III, Africentric’s Justin Fudge won the long jump and ran on the first-place 800 relay with Kaylin Spence, Josiah Smith and Dan Wagner.

8. WRESTLING CHAMPS – Six central Ohio boys wrestlers won championships March 14 at the state tournament, which was moved from Ohio State to three high schools because of the pandemic.

In Division I, Coffman’s Seth Shumate won his second title at 195 pounds and Westerville North’s Connor Euton (145), Olentangy Liberty’s Dylan Russo (220), Hilliard Darby’s Bradley Weaver (heavyweight) and Dublin Scioto’s Ty Wilson (113) also captured titles at Darby.

In Division II at Sparta Highland, Licking Valley’s Dylan Dodson won the 160 title.

In the girls state tournament at Davidson, Olentangy Orange’s Taryn Martin (170) won her second championship to complete a two-year run in which she went 42-0.

9. THE BOBCATS ROARED – The Grandview Heights boys soccer team finished a job it had been working toward for nearly a decade when it beat Columbiana Crestview 4-2 in the Division III state final Nov. 13.

The Bobcats, who have won eight consecutive district titles and finished 17-4-2, got a hat trick from Danny Claypool as they won the school’s first team title in any sport.

“It was just like the whole city was here watching us,” Claypool said. “It’s a great feeling.”

Advancing to state semifinals were the Jerome boys and New Albany girls in Division I and the Bexley girls in Division II.

10. HITTING A HOME RUN – With a 6-5 victory over Cincinnati Elder in the Division I final June 13 at Canal Park in Akron, the New Albany baseball team earned its second state championship.

The Eagles, whose other title came in Division III in 2004, went 29-5. In addition, coach Dave Starling picked up his 500th career victory the regular-season finale.

“I don’t think there are words that can describe this,” said senior pitcher Brady Conley, who missed most of the regular season with injury but retired the final five batters in the state final. “I didn’t even think I’d play this year and now here we are winning the state championship and I came in to close it out. ... I feel like I’m on top of the world right now.”

Bloom-Carroll lost to Akron Hoban 2-1 in the Division II state final.

In softball, Watkins Memorial beat Pickerington Central 13-3 in a regional final and went on to a state runner-up finish in Division I, and Lakewood (Division II), Johnstown (Division III) and Newark Catholic (Division IV) all were state semifinalists.

11. STARRING ON THE COURSE – The New Albany girls and Columbus Academy boys remained dominant forces in golf, with the Eagles capturing their fourth consecutive Division I state title Oct. 22 and 23 at Ohio State’s Gray Course and the Vikings earning their fifth Division II title in a row Oct. 15 and 16 at NorthStar.

They weren’t alone in their success.

In the Division III boys state tournament Oct. 15 and 16 at Ohio State’s Scarlet Course, Worthington Christian senior Sam Evans shot a 143 to earn the individual title.

A week later, Jerome junior Audrey Ryu shot a 138 to earn the Division I girls title.

12. STILL ON TOP – The Watterson field hockey and Gahanna girls bowling teams defended their state championships.

Senior midfielder Molly Griffith scored on a penalty shot with 5:29 to go in overtime to give the Eagles a 2-1 victory over Thomas Worthington and their fifth state title overall, including their fourth under coach Janet Baird.

Led by four-year regular Lilu Smith, Gahanna won its third state girls bowling title in four seasons. The Lions, who closed the 2020-21 season having won 74 consecutive COHSBC matches, defeated Beavercreek 3-1 in the championship match.

13. SERVING UP ACES – After his freshman season was canceled because of the pandemic, Gahanna sophomore Brandon Carpico became his program’s first state qualifier since 2013 and went on to beat Mason’s Vignesh Gogineni 6-4, 6-3 to capture the Division I singles championship in boys tennis.

“It feels awesome,” Carpico said. “The goal was just to qualify and be here and now I’m at center court with the trophy. ... I didn’t really expect it this year because I’m young, but it’s really come true.”

Also in boys tennis, New Albany seniors Devin Boyer and Ryan Mudre won the Division I doubles title May 29 and then helped the Eagles to a runner-up finish in the OTCA team tournament the next day.

In Division II, Columbus Academy seniors Arie Tuckerman and Jack Madison were state runners-up in doubles.

14. SO CLOSE – In its 19th season, all of which have come under coach Jen Chapman, the Liberty girls volleyball team reached a state final for the first time. The Patriots lost to Rocky River Magnificat 25-21, 24-26, 25-14, 25-19 in the Division I title match Nov. 13 at Wright State to finish 27-2.

The Olentangy boys volleyball team came up just short of a title June 6, losing to Middletown Fenwick 25-22, 25-18, 25-16 in the Division II final at Pickerington Central. The Braves, who finished 16-9, had been ranked ninth in the final state poll.

15. HOOP DREAMS – Newark was the area’s top girls basketball team, reaching the Division I state final in the final season for coach J.R. Shumate, who stepped down a few weeks later.

The Wildcats lost to undefeated Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame 57-55 in the championship game to finish 27-1. Newark defeated Akron Hoban 55-41 in a state semifinal and Dublin Coffman 75-73 in a regional final.

Two other teams fell short of the state as Worthington Christian and Africentric both lost in Division III regional finals.

16. COLLEGE STANDOUTS – The coaching career of former DeSales football and wrestling star Luke Fickell hit a new high when he guided Cincinnati to the College Football Playoff for the first time.

Another former DeSales player, 2018 graduate Ty Van Fossen, is a starter for the Bearcats at linebacker, while Westerville South graduate Brad Robbins is the punter for Michigan, which also made the playoff.

In women’s volleyball, 2019 Hartley graduate Chia Nwokolo was a key player for Pittsburgh as it made a run to an NCAA Division I semifinal.

Kentucky senior Abby Steiner, a 2017 Coffman graduate, ran a college-record 35.8 in the 300 on Dec. 11 at the Louisville Cardinal Classic in women’s track. She also tied the college record in the 200 when she ran 22.38 at the NCAA indoor championships March 13 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

17. THE MORE THE MERRIER – Ohio got a taste of a more inclusive postseason model in 2020 – when every team was permitted to compete in the football playoffs for the first time because of the pandemic – and that continued in an altered way this fall, with the number of playoff qualifiers doubling to 16 teams from each of 28 regions.

KIPP Columbus, competing in Division VI, Region 23, took advantage by qualifying as a No. 12 seed and then upset fifth-seeded Willow Wood Symmes Valley 16-13 on Oct. 30 to open the playoffs.

On Oct. 29 in Division II, Region 7, third-seeded Olentangy Berlin experienced the opposite feeling when it was upset by 14th-seeded Wooster 23-20 in the first round.

18. MORE WINTER SPORTS SUCCESS – At the state gymnastics meet March 6 at Hilliard Bradley, Coffman sophomore Emily Yoshino earned a runner-up finish in the floor exercise (9.525) and tied for fifth on balance beam (9.4).

Upper Arlington represented the Central District at the state hockey tournament, where it lost to Lakewood St. Edward 3-0 in a semifinal March 13 at OhioHealth Ice Haus. It was the Bears’ first state appearance since 2007.

19. SPECIAL ACHIEVERS – Two players from central Ohio have made a splash in the NFL on special teams for the first time this season.

Godwin Igwebuike, a 2013 Pickerington North graduate who went on to play for Northwestern but went undrafted in 2018, has been one of the kickoff returners for the Detroit Lions.

Camaron Cheeseman, a 2016 Gahanna graduate who played for Michigan, was drafted in the sixth round by the Washington Football Team on May 1 and is the team’s long snapper.

The others from the area who were selected in the 2021 draft were safety Darrick Forrest, a 2017 Walnut Ridge graduate who played for Cincinnati and was picked by Washington in the fifth round, and edge rusher Jonathon Cooper, a 2016 Gahanna graduate who played for Ohio State and was picked by the Denver Broncos in the seventh round.

20. ENDURING TRAGEDY – The Columbus Condors men’s basketball team had played eight games in The Basketball League, a minor professional league, when one of its top players was injured in an accident.

A.J. Davis, a 2007 Linden-McKinley graduate who helped the Panthers reach a state semifinal in 2005 and then went on to play collegiately and overseas, pulled to the side of the road on Interstate 70 to give food to a homeless person May 5 when he was struck by a vehicle.

Davis had to have his legs amputated because of the impact to his lower body.

After having their next two games postponed, the Condors won three of their first four after the accident.

“We just know when we come on the court that we’re playing for something more than ourselves,” Condors player Richie Gordon said.

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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Best of 2021: Top 20 highlights in central Ohio high school sports