Track & Field: Westerville Central Warhawks girls earn runner-up finish at state

With several underclassmen leading the way, the Westerville Central girls track and field team posted the best finish in program history at the Division I state meet June 3 and 4 at Ohio State.

The Warhawks scored 31 points to finish second behind Gahanna (47).

“At state, I thought a lot of things would have to go our way in order for us to do well and a good portion of it did,” said coach David Mentlow, who completed his second season. “The girls were able to find a way to get the points necessary.”

Central’s best previous finish was ninth in the Division III state meet in 2004.

Junior Amari Kiluvia, a transfer from Eastmoor Academy, led the Warhawks, finishing second in the 100-meter hurdles (13.77 seconds) and long jump (18 feet, 11 1/2 inches).

“I’m happy with the race,” Kiluvia said following the 100 hurdles. “It was a huge (personal record). I have a lot of competitors in the race. I come back next year, and I’m looking forward to it. I’m definitely glad I made the move (from Eastmoor). The coaches and athletes are a right fit for me. They’re supportive and encouraging.”

Mentlow said Kiluvia was a welcome addition.

“She’s a great kid and she’s a special athlete,” Mentlow said. “She’s amazing. She was just short in the long jump.”

Huber Heights Wayne’s Sanai Lynch won the long jump with a 19-1/4.

Sophomore Olivia Pace finished second in the 100 (11.71) and seventh in the 200 (24.73).

“I'm happy with the team finish,” she said. “We were all really excited, especially with the small number of girls we had to deal with. It was something we were thinking about, but we were all more focused on our individual events and the relay.”

Senior Taylor Hickman, junior Deja Curry-Brown and freshmen Alyvia Mentlow and Angel Ward finished fourth in the 800 relay (1:41.83).

With Hickman the lone senior to compete at state for Central, coach Mentlow said the future looks bright for the program.

“The good thing is we’re only losing one of them,” he said. “A big one, but we’re just losing one. We have a great freshman class and obviously a really good sophomore class with Olivia. We’re feeling pretty good. These girls can really grow.”

Coming off winning its first regional title May 27 at Pickerington North, the boys team had set its sights on the program’s first state championship.

Those hopes were dashed, however, when senior sprinter and USC commit Justin Braun was forced to withdraw before the preliminaries June 3 with a lingering quad injury.

“It was the same quad that he was nursing a little bit since last summer at an AAU national meet,” coach Jason Loughman said. “He pulled up in the open 200 and strained it a little bit. He was having a little bit of an issue with it at indoor. He thinks he might have re-tweaked something at regional.”

With Braun out, the Warhawks collected just two points.

“It was a sad weekend, a weekend that started after regional with a lot of momentum and just excitement around the possibilities of the state meet weekend,” Loughman said. “When we finally learned that Justin wasn’t able to go, a lot of air came out of the balloon. My heart broke for Justin not being able to compete at the state meet his senior year.”

In his first season at Central a year ago, Braun won state titles in the 100 (10.47), 200 (21.13) and 400 (46.14).

Junior Marcus Gordon Jr. accounted for the Warhawks’ points, finishing seventh in the 110 hurdles (14.53). He also was 11th in the 300 hurdles (39.2), while freshman Jaystin Gwinn was 12th in the high jump (6-4).

With Braun out of the 1,600 relay, Gordon, senior Chip Smith, junior Cullen Hronek and sophomore Parker Thompson finished 18th (3.33.49).

“We had a great season as a program,” Loughman said. “A lot of our boys finished the season as all-conference and all-district runners and state qualifiers. We’re regional champs and district runner-up. I know we would’ve liked to have been at full strength for the state meet, but it just didn’t happen this year.”

•Competing in her second Division I state meet, junior Marissa Saunders led the South girls team by finishing fourth in the 100 hurdles (14.03) and seventh in the 300 hurdles (45.24).

“Marissa is very track savvy and has a good understanding of what’s going on in the bigger picture,” coach Jimmy Gaul said. “You’re one of the last nine people running and the fourth fastest 100-meter hurdler and the seventh fastest 300-meter hurdler in the state of Ohio. There's a lot of people who would give a whole lot to be in that same position.”

Sophomore Alexus Roberts finished fifth in the 100 hurdles (14.36).

“That was fun to have a teammate this year and not be alone,” said Saunders, who helped the Wildcats finish 20th with 11 points.

Last season, Saunders won the 100 hurdles (14.05) and finished eighth in the 300 hurdles (46.71).

For the boys team, senior Reign Winston finished fifth in the high jump (6-7).

“The atmosphere here is amazing,” he said. “I really enjoyed jumping here. Westerville South will always be home. I came here from Gahanna my ninth-grade year and I loved it.”

Winston plans on competing in track in college, but remains undecided on a school.

“(Winston’s) been jumping for two years,” Gaul said. “When you think about the difference from one year to the next, what the level of disappointment is. Last year he didn’t have a great day at the district meet and we couldn’t move on. This year, he’s an OCC champion, a district champion, a regional champion, sets the regional record (6-10 3/4) and stands on the podium at the state meet.”

Senior Michael Donkor finished sixth in the 300 hurdles (38.88) and senior Ashton Diller was 14th in the pole vault (13-6).

•Ben Gabelman of North’s boys team earned the Warriors’ best finish at state, placing fourth in the 1,600 (4:12.15) to end a successful sophomore year.

After setting OCC-Capital Division records in the 800 (1:56.31) and 1,600 (4:19.14) during the league meet May 14 at home, Gabelman was district 1 runner-up in the 1,600 and finished third at regional to earn his first state berth.

Last fall, Gabelman finished 26th in the state cross country meet.

Also for the Warriors, freshman William Baumann was 11th in the long jump (21-6 1/2) and the 800 relay of seniors Bryce Abston and Koltyn Scarantine, sophomore Okiki Adeniyi and Baumann reached state but was disqualified.

North’s only girls qualifier, senior Lauren Hilderbrand, was 12th in the high jump (5-2).

The Warriors were represented at state for the first time since 2018.

—Dave Purpura

•DeSales sophomore Kenyetietta Quinn capped a breakout season by finishing third in the high jump (5-6) at state.

That was the same height that earned Quinn a fourth-place finish at regional and two inches better than her fourth-place finish in the Division I, district 3 meet.

“It was an all right day. The weather was nice but my knee was kind of messing with me,” Quinn said. “This was my first time running track in general (this season). I ran in middle school and was pretty good, but I didn’t do high jump until eighth grade. There were just a lot of people telling me to come out and I felt like I needed it.

“I’m glad to be here because I know a lot of people don’t get to be here. It was a pretty good season for the girls team.”

Quinn also anchored the 10th-place 400 relay (48.6) with junior Liz Meeker and classmates Katherine Dortmund and Isabella Swallow.

They were DeSales’ first girls state qualifiers since 2012, when Sophia Nnadi finished seventh in the shot put.

Quinn almost qualified in a second individual event as she was fifth in the 100 at regional in 12.5, just 0.06 of a second out of fourth place.

—Dave Purpura

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CENTRAL 

•OCC-Ohio standings: Boys — Gahanna (174), Pickerington North (141), Westerville Central (114.5), New Albany (55), Grove City (21.5), Westland (17); Girls — Gahanna (153), Central (131), New Albany (98), North (85), Grove City (40), Westland (16) 

•Seniors lost: Boys — Wyatt Barbour, Justin Braun, Daniel Gaskill, Mateo Gilbert, Salieu Koroma, Aidan Nowalk, Payne Raeuchle and Chip Smith; Girls — Shaneah Brown, Julia Cable, Maria De Cunha, Molly George, Taylor Hickman, Mallory Lewis, Isabella Troutman and Tara Will 

•Key returnees: Boys — Buba Bangura, Marcus Gordon Jr., Cullen Hronek, Bradi Kerrigan and Parker Thompson; Girls — Deja Curry-Brown, Amari Kiluvia, Alyvia Mentlow, Olivia Pace and Angel Ward 

•Postseason: Boys — Second (109) at district behind Lancaster (119.5), first (55) at regional, tied for 67th (2) at state behind champion Pickerington Central (31); Girls — First (103) at district, second (50) at regional behind Gahanna (73), second (31) at state behind Gahanna (47)

DeSALES

•CCL standings: Boys — Watterson (104), Hartley (76.5), DeSales (73.5), St. Charles (55), Ready (23); Girls — Watterson (125.5), Hartley (99), DeSales (82), Ready (23.5)

•Seniors lost: Boys — Miles Butler, Zavier Butler, William Djedje, Elias Grayson, Sam Haggard, Emmanuel Hood, Gregory Jones, Eric Michitsch, Dylan Pugh and Tyler Richards; Girls — Ashley Allton, Hayven Ayitiah, Audrey Callahan, Deborah Mawutor, Maddie McNamara, Pascaline Ndayishimye, Erica Offei, LeLe Sardari and Kate Stone

•Key returnees: Boys — Neal Godfrey, Brandon Lackey, Gabriel Offei and Charles Rizek; Girls — Katherine Dortmund, Liz Meeker, Kenyetietta Quinn and Isabella Swallow

•Postseason: Boys — Tied for 13th (5) at district behind champion Pickerington North (130.5); Girls — Seventh (41) at district behind champion Granville (88), 18th (13) at regional behind champion Gahanna (73), tied for 34th (6) at state behind champion Gahanna (47)

NORTH

•OCC-Capital standings: Boys — Canal Winchester (152), Big Walnut (144), Westerville North (96.5), Westerville South (95), Worthington Kilbourne (66.5), Dublin Scioto (56), Delaware (35), Franklin Heights (8); Girls — Big Walnut (128), North (115.5), Kilbourne (105), South (103), Delaware (71), Canal Winchester (60.5), Scioto (47), Franklin Heights (31)

•Seniors lost: Boys — Bryce Abston, Muhaymin Alam, Kai Dages, Owen DeTemple, Joseph Endres, Alex Hendon, Jonathan Henry, Robert Houser, Jaden Knasinski, Pavel Krantz, Max Lee, Ryan Mueller, John Ndive, Darrel Nzzegge, Lord Otchere, Malachi Peacock and Koltyn Scarantine; Girls — Harper Allen, Emily Bartholomew, Asiya Booth, Ansley Endres, Nicole Fernandes, Tatinnia Freeman, Sophia Guerra, Lauren Hilderbrand, Hannah Hutto, Ashley Kisor, Erin Mayle, Paige Miracle, Sophia Rentscghler, Zuhur Sofe and Emily Widman

•Key returnees: Boys — Okiki Adeniyi, Howard Baumann, William Baumann and Ben Gabelman; Girls — Kayla Curry-Brown, Amanda Cooper, Lexi Lawrence and Colleen Lynch

•Postseason: Boys — Fourth (68) at district behind champion Lancaster (119.5), 15th (20) at regional, tied for 46th (5) at state; Girls — Sixth (42) at district behind champion Central (103), tied for 24th (8) at regional, did not score at state

SOUTH

•Seniors lost: Boys — Emmanuel Asabere, Ashton Diller, Michael Donkor, Eeshwar Gattupalli, Savon Harris, Chase Jackson, Carter Jingo, Ian Karanja, Sahr Mani, Ben Moseley, Philip Simms, Ethan Stofel, Reign Winston and Tutu Yeboah; Girls — Samuella Acheampong, Elise Bennett, Rheygyn Carr, Cristina Guerra-Lizarraga, Emma Henderson, Sania Jackson, Xiaowen Li, Lillian Malone, Madison O’Neil, Mary Pedrozo, Samantha Shell, Katherine Stoll, Tiara Takyi and Jessica Yirenkyi 

•Key returnees: Boys — Gabe Combs and Nicholas Hoelscher; Girls — Nelia Guice, Zoe Guice, Leanne Ngo, Aubrey Paes, Alexus Roberts, Marissa Saunders and Meghan Worch  

•Postseason: Boys — Third (60.5) at district behind champion Gahanna (122), 13th (23) at regional, tied for 36th (7) at state; Girls — Seventh (41), tied for 16th (16) at regional, 20th (11) at state

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Track & Field: Westerville Central girls earn runner-up state finish