LEXINGTON — In day two of the Division II, Region VI meet at Lexington High School, the Galion Tigers track and field teams saw 11 total student athletes earn a spot at the state meet in Columbus.
Freshman Hanif Donaldson was the only member to have earned a spot after the first day of competition back on Thursday, May 23 and did so by winning the long jump with a bound of 22-feet, 4-inches.
Fast forward to Saturday with the remainder of the field events and the running finals taking place.
On the girls side, the Galion Lady Tigers would post 46 points as a team and finish third in the field. The girls from Norwayne claimed the team title with 65 points.
Starting off the scoring for Galion was Kerrigan Myers. Myers, disappointed in her fifth place finish in the high jump Thursday, came out Saturday and blew away the competition in the 100-meter hurdles, setting yet another new record time en route to the title; 14.05. In that same race, teammate Samantha Comer earned fifth place in 15.43. Myers would later claim third place in the 200-meter dash to claim her second ticket to state in individual events, turning in a time of 24.54.
The only other member of the Lady Tigers to qualify for the state meet in an individual event was Brooklyn Cosey. Cosey turned in a distance of 17’1¾” to take the runner-up spot in the long jump at regionals and move on to the final meet of the season. Anna Court was also in action in the discus and finished with with a toss of 117-feet, 6-inches.
Myers and Cosey were not finished there however as they will also be on their way to Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium representing the blue and orange alongside Jalyn Oswald and Kaitlin Bailey. The four speedsters came together to claim a regional crown in the 4×100-meter relay, winning with a time of 49.03.
Over on the boys side for Galion, the Tigers would tally 39 points, good for fifth in the field. The Shelby Whippets claimed the boys championship, racking up 77 points over their two days in Lexington.
In addition to Donaldson, Jack McElligott will be moving on to state in a field event as he finished in third place at regionals in the high jump, clearing a height of 6-feet, 4-inches.
Braxton Tate also picked up serious points for Galion in the 3200-meter run. Tate crossed the finish line in a time of 9:49.77 which was good for a runner-up placement and eight points for the Tigers. Colbey Fox snagged the other regional championship in an individual event for the Galion by winning the 400-meter dash in a new school record time of 49.41.
Fox will team up with Evan Barker, Kalib Griffin and Isaiah Alsip at the state meet to take on the field in the 4×200-meter relay. The Galion relay headed in with the fifth fastest qualifying time but picked up speed and finished their race in 1:30.43 to finish fourth and advance.
Things will get started for Galion down at The Ohio State University at approximately 9:30 a.m. on Friday, May 31 when Donaldson is set to begin competition in the boys long jump.
