Girls Track & Field: Hilliard Darby Panthers’ Ady Armstrong aims for more state success

When all was said and done, Hilliard Darby’s Ady Armstrong was just happy to make it to the Division I girls track and field state meet June 3 and 4 at Ohio State.

The sophomore missed the first month of the season with an injury to her left hip flexor, suffered during soccer season.

“That was hard for me,” she said. “So just coming here at all after that injury is just great, especially in the 400 (meters), which is my worst event. I PR’d (in the preliminary). I couldn’t really do anything to treat (my hip). I just had to sit out of practice.”

Armstrong, who will compete in the New Balance Nationals on June 16-19 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, ran the 400 preliminary in 56.69 seconds June 3 to be seeded fourth before turning in a 56.88 the next day to finish sixth.

“I was hoping to do a little better,” Armstrong said. “It’s just another reason for me to keep practicing. I think I let my nerves get the best of me. Before the race, I got a little nauseous, so that got me a little shaky. I think just working on calming down (will help me) next year. I’m hoping to come back in more than one event.”

Despite the injury, Armstrong set program records this season in the 100 (12.2) and 400 (56.69) and came within 0.01 of matching a third in the 200 (25.2), which is held by 2012 graduate Cailyn Rack (25.19 in 2010).

Armstrong was making her second appearance at state after joining senior Mia Wyngarden and 2021 graduates Gabrielle Hammonds and Krystal Singh a year ago on the 1,600 relay, which finished fifth (3:56.71).

Wyngarden, a Wright State commit, also made her second state appearance, finishing sixth in a program-record 2:14.35 in the 800.

She originally set the mark with a 2:14.38 to finish second in the regional May 27 at Pickerington North, breaking the record of 2:17.03 that her sister, Sydney, set in 2017.

“I was just really happy that I made it here and ended on a good note,” Wyngarden said. “My sister was there. I was so happy. I graduated right before, so I was just on cloud nine. I’m usually so tired after my races, but it was awesome.”

Sophomore Ashley Cornathan also made her second appearance at state in the discus, finishing sixth with a throw of 123 feet, 9 inches after placing 14th (111-3) a year ago.

“Last year, I didn’t do as well as I wanted to,” she said. “It was a bigger crowd than I thought it’d be, so I had to tone it down for myself, so I wouldn’t get psyched out.”

Cornathan set a personal best of 134-0 with a second-place finish at regional.

“The goal next year is growth (by) building some numbers,” coach Devon Staton said. “We had 46 girls this year and finished sixth at regional, which is our best finish since before Bradley was built. Let Ady be Ady and Ashley be Ashley, and find some pieces along the way.”

•Bradley hurdler Gracelyn Peebles wasn’t about to miss out on a chance to run at state, so she went to work.

After finishing ninth at regional last season, the senior made the most of her workouts as well as every race to become the program’s first state placer. Peebles finished sixth in the 300 hurdles in 44.97.

“I’ve been beyond the moon over this entire experience,” she said. “I’m running at state. I’m running against the top girls in the state.

“I don’t live by the ‘if’ standard. A lot of people live by ‘if I do this’ or ‘if I do that.’ I love living by the ‘when.’ If I leave it up to the ‘if,’ it would never get done because there are too many ‘ifs’ possible. There’s only one ‘when.’ ”

Peebles was the program’s first state competitor in 11 years. The program started in 2010 and only had a 400 relay reach state in 2011.

Last season at regional, Peebles was ninth in the 300 hurdles in 46.47. On May 27, she was runner-up at the regional in a program-record 44.49.

“I was ninth in the region last year in prelims, so I didn’t get this far,” said Peebles, who will run at Detroit Mercy. “My PR wasn’t anywhere near a (program) record.

“I take every race as a learning experience. My dad, Gaylin Peebles, records every race of mine, and I break them down. I learned a lot from that.”

Peebles also was on the 10th-place 400 relay (1:46.1) at regional with junior Haylie Elosh, senior Ashley Long and freshman Camryn Vecchio.

Other individual regional qualifiers were Long in the 400 (fifth, 58.9), freshman Morgan Kaylor in the shot put (10th, 34-3 3/4) and senior Jaelyn Hopson in the high jump (11th, 5-1).

—Scott Hennen

•Led by its distance runners, Davidson tied for sixth (20) at state.

Senior Alyssa Mason, juniors Caitlyn Jones and Dillon Sweetman and freshman Emi Schroyer opened the meet by finishing second in the 3,200 relay (9:14.61) behind Medina (9:11.01).

Mason also was second in the 3,200 (10:35.26) as Olmsted Falls’ Katie Clute captured the title (10:28.97), while Jones was fifth in the 1,600 (4:58.9), Sweetman was 10th in the 3,200 (11:11.92) and Schroyer was 10th in the 800 (2:16.02).

In the 1,600 relay, Jones, senior Koharu Takahashi and sophomores Cayden Campbell and Fama Seck finished 10th (3:59.66).

“This year’s team was really special,” coach Matt Beatty said. “Our goal is to win the OCC every year and our senior leadership was the best we’ve had top to bottom in a long time.

“Our seniors understand what our program is about and the sacrifices that they’ve made over their four years and understanding that team comes first was evident in everything that we accomplished this year.”

The Wildcats won the OCC-Central Division title with 118 points, ahead of second-place Olentangy Orange (108).

—Frank DiRenna

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BRADLEY

•OCC-Central standings: Davidson (118), Olentangy Orange (108), Upper Arlington (98), Olentangy Liberty (84), Bradley (73), Dublin Coffman (42)

•Seniors lost: Emma Brooks, Ella Duncan, Jaelyn Hopson, Olivia Hudson, Ashley Long, Sara McClory, Gracelyn Peebles, Elyanna Rondon and Joanna Zoller

•Key returnees: Haylie Elosh, Morgan Kaylor and Carmyn Vecchio

•Postseason: Ninth (36) at district behind champion Westerville Central (103), 19th (12) at regional behind behind champion Gahanna (73), tied for 59th (3) at state behind champion Gahanna (47)

DARBY

•OCC-Cardinal standings: Olentangy (116.5), Dublin Jerome (97), Marysville (93), Darby (84), Olentangy Berlin (69.5), Thomas Worthington (63)

•Seniors lost: Alivia Cannon, Mia Daley, Grace Lusher, Grace Pitt, Lauren Saulino and Mia Wyngarden

•Key returnees: Ady Armstrong, Ayele Amouzouvi, Ashley Cornathan, Mackenzie Davern, Sydney Kloth, Alexis Sherman and Paige Simmons-Norris

•Postseason: Fourth (64) at district behind champion Westerville Central (103), sixth (33) at regional behind champion Gahanna (73), tied for 24th (9) at state behind champion Gahanna (47)

DAVIDSON 

•Seniors lost: Olivia Bradley, Gianna Colombini, Jayce Conley, Gabriella Eben, Leah Egelhoff, Whitney Ho, Reese Kerr, Zhiyue Lin, Mia Martinez, Alyssa Mason, Madelyn McDonough, Elizabeth Miller, Sarah Ryan, Madison Sweitzer, Koharu Takahashi, Sydney Thompson and Sugru Yahaya 

•Key returnees: Cayden Campbell, Keegan Gehring, Caitlyn Jones, Emi Schroyer, Fama Seck and Dillon Sweetman 

•Postseason: Second (96) at district behind Westerville Central (103), third (47) at regional behind champion Gahanna (73), tied for sixth (20) at state behind champion Gahanna (47)

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Girls Track & Field: Darby’s Armstrong aims for more state success