Boys Track & Field: Joel Addo helps Olentangy Orange Pioneers leap to second at state

Paying attention to detail helped Joel Addo secure the Olentangy Orange boys track and field team’s best finish in the Division I state meet.

The senior set the program record while winning the high jump (6 feet, 8 inches) and placed third in the long jump (personal-best 23-5 1/4), leading the Pioneers to a team runner-up finish June 4 at Ohio State.

It was the fourth time Orange landed in the top five, scoring 30 points to finish one point behind Pickerington Central. The Pioneers were third in 2019, fourth in 2017 and fifth in 2018.

“Listening to coaching and focusing on the little things is so extremely important,” said Addo, who cleared all of his high-jump attempts before missing at 6-9. “There are so many little things that go into the high jump, and you have to make sure you do things a little better than the one before. But once you are out there, you can’t overthink things.

“Usually after clearing 6-6, which was my PR coming in, I’m a little tired, but I was feeling good. I knew if I can keep doing the same things, I can really win this. (High jump) coach (Tyler) Pierce has been telling me for weeks that if I could get the little things down, I could win this, and I did.”

Addo said competing in the long jump earlier in the day helped him relax and limber up for going up and over the bar.

“I always like doing the long jump first,” said Addo, who plans to walk on at Ohio State. “It helps get me warmed up for the high jump. When I got up there, I was happy I got third (in the long jump), but I knew I wasn’t done jumping. I jumped my best and it ended up being the best in the state.

“My PR (in the long jump) was 22-5 last year, and I hadn’t gotten that until today. I was feeling really good and we did some run-throughs and I felt extremely good. On the second jump, I knew what I had to do. I went out and did what I was taught and got third place.”

Addo did the heavy work, but his teammates added points to help the Pioneers climb in the standings.

Sophomore Saketh Rudraraju ran a career-best 9 minutes, 9.43 seconds in the 3,200 meters to place fifth for the team’s final four points.

“That was a big PR for me,” he said. “This sets me up for cross country, which is my best distance event. Hunter Moore, (a 2017 graduate), won (the state 3,200) in 2017 (in a program-record 8:58.47), and I hope to get it before I leave.”

Junior Bobby Ogles surpassed his own program record while finishing fifth in the discus (157-11).

“This is the biggest meet I have had,” he said. “I felt good in warm-ups, and I wanted to see what I could do. I know if I stayed small and smooth with it, I could get one off.”

The 400 relay of seniors Jamal Burton and Jordan Rudolph, junior Tyler Wallace and senior Gabe Torres was sixth in 41.99.

Rudraraju joined freshman Matthew Schroff, junior Carter Giacomelli and senior Bryan King on the sixth-place 3,200 relay (7:53.48).

“We have been top-five four times, and every time you can always find points in hindsight, but at the end of the day, a lot of things have to go right for you and go wrong for other people,” coach Adam Walters said. “Joel obviously helped us by winning the high jump and placing third in the long jump. That’s 16 points. Bobby Ogles in the discus, that’s four. The (400 relay) and (3,200 relay) both got three.

“Saketh was great in the very hot 3,200. He looked out of it with two laps to go and surges to fifth. What a team effort. I’m so proud of them. You have to appreciate these moments because they don’t come around very often.”

•Reilly Worthington had a season to remember for Olentangy. The senior thrower broke a program record that stood for decades multiple times over and competed at state.

Worthington, a Miami University commit, finished fourth in the discus (158-6). But he couldn’t help being a little disappointed with his performance in the shot put (17th, 48-5 3/4).

“Disc was great, but shot could have been better,” Worthington said. “I’m not really sure (what happened in the shot put). I felt all right, but two of my (attempts) went far left. The one that I did get in just didn’t go very far.”

Between last year and the early part of this season, Worthington inched closer to the program record in the shot put, which was Olentangy’s oldest at 52-11 3/4, set by Willard Brown in 1967.

“I just really didn’t think about too much when I broke it the first time,” Worthington said. “I just kind of said, ‘All right, well that’s done.’ And then it just kept getting better.”

Worthington, who came into the season with a personal best of 51-10 1/2, broke Brown’s mark with a 53-1 1/2 at the Granville Invitational on April 15. He broke it again in his next meet – the Liberty Freedom Relays on April 22 – at 55-3 and then twice more before settling on 59-1 1/2 at the district meet May 21 at Hilliard Darby.

Senior Quin Forgrave competed at state for the second time, setting a personal record of 18.51 in the seated 100 to finish second of six competitors. He placed third of three competitors in both the seated 400 (1:08.9), setting a personal record, and the seated 800 (2:31.34).

“At the banquet I kidded that he’s probably our most decorated track and field athlete in the history of our school,” coach Ken Whalen said. “If you think about, he’s six times all-Ohio.”

Sophomore Hugh Jacobsmeyer finished 17th in the 800 (1:59.6) on the heels of setting his personal best of 1:55.76 at regional May 27 at Pickerington North. He dropped more than 10 seconds off his time from the start of the season.

“Every week, he poured it on,” Whalen said. “He won a league title and won a district title. I think we went to the well one too many times and it didn’t happen (at state).”

–Michael Rich

•A razor’s edge was the difference between finishing 10th and making the final in the 800 relay for seniors Aedan Gilbreath and Nick Johnson, junior Brady Karam and sophomore J.J. Sebert.

Liberty’s only representatives at state finished 10th in 1:28.26, missing the final by .04 of a second.

“I was a little bit disappointed with that,” coach Nathanial Cikach said.

The group ran a program-best 1:27.62 at regional.

Gilbreath, Johnson, Sebert and senior Drew Gaitten broke the program record in the 400 relay (42.57) at district, and Gaitten, juniors Jaxson Eckert and Wesley Noeth and sophomore Andrew Kerscher did it in the 1,600 relay (3:22.88) at regional.

“It’s really hard to make states and we gave ourselves a shot with three relay teams,” Cikach said. “But all in all, running faster than any team in our school’s history is something we’re happy with.

“Overall, we’re really happy with where we are, especially with our sprints and our jumping events. I do expect a big jump in improvement with our distance guys. A lot of them were really, really young this year. We were pretty much all freshmen and sophomores for our top contributors.”

–Michael Rich

•Berlin had two athletes reach the state podium in senior thrower Caiden Hooks and junior runner Cooper Citro.

Hooks finished second in the seated shot put (20-7 1/4). Bloomdale Elmwood’s Jaydon Jenkins won with a 21-4 /4.

“I was really nervous, but I think I did well,” said Hooks, who lost both eyes to retinoblastoma in 2007. “(Jenkins) had some good throws coming in, and that made me a little nervous. It wasn’t bad for my first year of throwing, though.”

Citro placed fifth in the 800 (1:55.12).

“I really tried to get out (fast),” he said. “After that second turn, I knew I had to be up there after the cut to make sure I didn’t get trapped back there.

“When I lined up before the race started, it was pretty nerve-racking, looking up at the crowd and seeing everyone. Coach (Anthony Beggrow) said it was what I trained for and I needed to go out there and show everyone what I got. It was super exciting to be out here and represent my school.”

Citro was runner-up at regional in a program-record 1:54.85.

Also at regional, junior sprinter Moses Murphy was 10th in the 100 (11.18) and 200 (22.51), junior Jude Elkins was 10th in the 110 hurdles (15.66) and senior Kyler Heitzenrater was 16th in the discus (124-7).

Junior Preston Perkins, sophomore Evan Cornell and seniors Wyatt Bednar and Calvin Davies were 12th in the 3,200 relay (8:28.48).

–Scott Hennen

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BERLIN

•OCC-Cardinal standings: Thomas Worthington (111), Dublin Jerome (93), Marysville (85.5), Berlin (83), Olentangy (75.5), Hilliard Darby (75)

•Seniors lost: Wyatt Bednar, Calvin Davies, Kyler Heitzenrater, Caiden Hooks, Gage Lillie, Abram Murphy, Hugh Peterson, Zach Sherman and Matthew Weikel

•Key returnees: Cooper Citro, Evan Cornell, Jude Elkins, Moses Murphy and Preston Perkins

•Postseason: Eighth (45) at district behind champion Pickerington North (130.5), tied for 26th (8) at regional behind champion Westerville Central (55), tied for 52nd (4) at state behind champion Pickerington Central (31)

LIBERTY

•OCC-Central standings: Orange (176), Liberty (124.5), Dublin Coffman (100), Hilliard Davidson (68), Hilliard Bradley (29), Upper Arlington (25.5)

•Seniors lost: Dominic Abbruzzese, Ethan Berry, Jacob Bockenstette, Chase Borden, Benjamin Burton, Benjamin Cobler, Rishi Deepak, Drew Gaitten, Aedan Gilbreath, Tyler Greer, Caden Hansen, Will Hoffman, Ben Huefner, Isaac Hunter, Connor Ingram, David Johnson, Nick Johnson, Ian May, Logan McCarrell, Carson McKee, Luke Mitchell, Richdara Sok, Dean Stack, Tony Tolford, Holden Walters, Zachary Warrick and Tanner Williams

•Key returnees: Nick Bradley, Jake Barcus, Jaxson Eckert, Brady Karam, Andrew Kerscher, Colin Milligan, Wesley Noeth, Alex Okuley, Ronav Petel, J.J. Sebert and Adam Zaremski

•Postseason: Third (84.5) at district behind champion Pickerington North (130.5), tied for 16th (18) at regional behind champion Westerville Central (55), did not score at state

OLENTANGY

•Seniors lost: Rushi Bhatt, Shrey Bhatt, Josiah Brooks, Hudson Bull, Beckham Corbett, Andrew Ehrhardt, Caleb Falk, Quin Forgrave, Luke Galloway, Taye Gonzalez, Christian Hardin, Nate Karr, Min-Song Kim, Parker Lawrence, James Mihalich, David Moore, Zach Reed, Jack Renton, Truitt Robinson, Jacob Ryder, Junior Seisay and Reilly Worthington

•Key returnees: Alex Boyd, Roman Corbett, Aidan Darding, Eli Dray, Zach Funk, Zach Griffith, Hugh Jacobsmeyer, Parker Reed, Tommy Richards, Jason Rettinger and Caden Sampson

•Postseason: Fifth (49) at district behind champion Gahanna (122), 14th (21) at regional behind champion Westerville Central (55), tied for 46th (5) at state behind champion Pickerington Central (31)

ORANGE

•Seniors lost: Tyler Adams, Joel Addo, Jake Burre, Jamal Burton, Jathan Chalasani, Deron Daniels, Elias Dapolito, Brodie Dial, Peyton Frazier, Zamir Fuller, Jacob Hamms, Jack Helmer, Sammy Hoyt, Pavan Inaganti, Eric Kiekeben, Bryan King, Keegan Knapp, Zach Leonard, Max Longstreth, Tanner Martin, Victor Martinez, Sean McHenry, David Oluwamuyide, London Parker, David Payne, Josh Pearson, Dylan Reda, Max Reidelbach, Andre Robinson, Hunter Rohrer, Jordan Rudolph, Blaine Simonds, Will Stringer, Leyton Suver, Mohammed Thaim and Gabe Torres

•Key returnees: Carter Giacomelli, Bobby Ogles, Saketh Rudraraju, Matthew Schroff, Kobe Sharpe and Tyler Wallace

•Postseason: Second (116) at district behind Gahanna (122), second (43) at regional behind Westerville Central (55), second (30) at state behind Pickerington Central (31)

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Boys Track & Field: Addo helps Orange leap to second at state