LEXINGTON — Galion’s Samantha Comer is headed to the OHSAA Division II state track and field championships.
Comer, a senior, booked her passage to the state meet, set for June 4-5 at Pickerington North High School, by placing third in the high jump on Thursday in the regional meet at Lexington. She cleared a top height of 5 feet, 4 inches.
Joining Comer in the high jump at the state meet next weekend are Juliette Laracuente of Marengo Highland, Sydney Koker of Johnstown Northridge, and Shelby’s Kassie Stine.
Laracuente won the regional championship in the high jump, topping out at 5 feet, 6 inches. Koker placed second, also clearing 5 feet, 6 inches. Stine finished fourth with a top effort of 5 feet, 3 inches to earn the final state meet berth.
Comer has a good chance of competing in two events at state meet. She posted the best time in the 100-meter hurdles, crossing the finish line in 15.28 seconds to win Heat 1 of Thursday’s preliminary two races. She is the top qualifier in the event and will start in Lane 4 in Saturday’s finals. The race is scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m.
Galion’s girls 4×800-meter relay squad finished 11th in the event finals on Thursday. The team of senior Brooklyn Gates, juniors Zaynah Tate and Ava Smith, and freshman Raygann Campbell posted a time of 10:07.85.
Tate will be back in action on Saturday, competing in the finals of the 800-meter run. It’s scheduled to begin at 1:55 p.m.
Gates will compete in the finals of the 3,200-meter run on Saturday. The race is scheduled to begin at 2:15 p.m.
The Galion boys 4×400-meter relay missed out on qualifying for the finals at the regional meet. The team of seniors Simon Shawk and Caleb Branstetter and juniors Andy Sparks and Cannon Butler finished the race in 3:32.66. That was the tenth best time and less than two seconds behind the last team to qualify for Saturday’s finals.
Galion senior Kaitlin Bailey barely missed qualifying for the 200-meter dash finals in Thursday’s preliminary race. She turned in a time of 27.85 seconds, .76 seconds behind the last runner to qualify for Saturday’s finals.
Tigers junior Clayton Yost is scheduled to compete in the finals of boys shot put on Saturday at Lexington. Yost is in Flight 2 of the shot put.
Caleb Branstetter is scheduled to compete in the high jump on Saturday at Lexington. Branstetter, Ayden Bath of Vermilion, and Paul Bryant from Madison-Plains each cleared 6 feet, 4 inches in their respective district meets and share the best seeding mark in the regional field of 16 competitors.
All field events begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
