COLUMBUS — 0 for 4.
That’s how Greene County area athletes fared in their respective finals, Friday June 2 at the OHSAA state track and field championships at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the Ohio State University campus.
Early in the day, Carroll’s Nikki Gazzerro and Yellow Springs’ James Browning both bowed out early in their high jump finales.
Gazzerro placed 12th in the girls Division II championship with a jump of 5 feet, 2 inches, which was two inches better than her regional jump a week ago.
A few hours later, Yellow Springs junior James Browning finished in a three-way tie for 13th place in the boys D-III high jump final. Browning tied with Edgerton’s Chance Evans and West Alexandria Twin Valley South’s Payton Gates at 6 feet, 0 inches, but he had cleared 6-1 at last week’s Dayton Regional.
Browning appeared to have cleared the bar on his final attempt at 6-2, but the back of his leg grazed the bar enough to bring it down.
In the Division I boys and girls 3,200-meter relay events, Beavercreek failed to medal as well. But both teams bettered their regional times with ease.
In the girls 3,200, the quartet of Stephanie Pierce, Jordan Grant, Jodie Pierce and Lauren Shuman placed ninth with a time of 9:16.25. That time was 10.5 seconds quicker than their regional seeding time of 9:26.60.
In that same girls D-I race, the winning team from Mason set OHSAA Division I, state meet and Jesse Owens Stadium records with a winning time of 8:56.62.
The boys Beavercreek foursome of Ian Johnson, Jacob Benigno, Riley Buccholz and Ben Ewert placed ninth with a time of 7:51.17, nearly 14 seconds quicker than their seeding time from last week’s regional championships.