Seven Day 2 champions spearheads possibly best area Division II state track and field meet ever

COLUMBUS >> The only thing missing from Day 2 of the Division II state track and field meet was a bulk supply of GOAT emojis.

In a little over 90 minutes, possibly the best stretch of track and field on a state platform by area track and field athletes amid a rich history as it is was turned in.

>> This story will be updated with video later in the evening

Seven area state champions were crowned June 2 at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium — including two each individually by Beachwood’s Mia Knight and Perry’s Leah King — in a statement day for the local caliber and for the Chagrin Valley Conference.

The Bison repeated as D-II girls state team champions, paced by a performance for all time by Knight. The senior sprinter swept the 100- and 200-meter dashes and had a reel-in on the anchor of 4x100 that deserved to go viral.

Knight broke The News-Herald coverage area record to take 100 with a time of 11.65 seconds and the 200 with a 23.96.

“I kept imagining my last state meet, and I really just wanted to go out with a bang,” Knight said. “I just wanted to do the best I can for me and my team and just go out there and put it all out on the floor. This is my last meet aside from the (Midwest Meet of Champions), so I don’t care if I hurt. I don’t care if I can literally not walk for two days.

“Do the best that I can and use all of the training that I’ve done all season and just be great.”

Nowhere was she greater than 4x1. A premier closer had her best close, somehow picking off Akron Buchtel in the last 60 by opening her stride to its limits and edging a gold medal for Beachwood at the line.

“The 4x1 is honestly my favorite race,” Knight said. “I always tell my team, ‘Just give me the baton. I don’t care how far they are. I will do my best to win and get us 10 points.’ Just powering through, not breaking down, failing my arms. Trying to push, but just staying fluid and running like I know I can if I was going to be able to pass her and get a win.”

King ran exactly like Ohio knows she can run.

The Perry junior successfully defended her D-II 100 hurdles state crown and refused to relinquish 300 hurdles down the stretch for a hurdles sweep. King recorded a 13.89 in 100s and broke her own area standard set last week at the D-II Austintown-Fitch Regional with a 42.55.

She is the first female track and field athlete in school history to record four individual-event top-fours at state — and there’s still what should be a banner senior year yet to come.

“The 100s, you know I always want to go sub-14,” King said. “I did just that. I really wanted the (state) record. I got that. I just had to stay locked in, focus and like I said a couple days ago, I just have to prepare for this. I’ve been preparing for this all season, and these times are what I wanted. I’ve said they were going to drop, and I held up to my word.

“We all know (Akron SVSM’s Sara Foster, King’s main 300s competition) is a great athlete. She did have the top seed coming in, but you know me — if somebody’s in front of me, I’ve got to run them down.”

Chagrin Falls, after its third straight 4x800 state title on Day 1, got individual crowns from the back half of that relay on Day 2.

Annie Zimmer was dominant en route to taking 1,600 with a 4:53.98 that was never in doubt after a hard opening lap. The senior is the first girls mile state champion in school history to cap a career in which she was a seven-time top-six state placer.

“I think it’s just so exciting for me to get to close my season this way,” Zimmer said. “And I have always wanted to win a mile after Joe (Bistritz) did it (in 2016), watching him do it. So I think it’s the best way to end my season. It just made me really excited.

“I definitely went over it a lot with (Tigers distance coach Clay Burnett), because I run better when I know lap after lap what I’m trying to do. Mentally, I had a plan, and I tried to execute it. I think it’s the second and third lap where I tried to kind of push through. It’s the hardest for me. I think his plan worked perfectly.”

It also did for Catherine Coffey, as the junior rallied in the last 250 to take over the race and capture the 800 state title with a 2:13.63. Chagrin has had some great 800 runners in its history — Halle McClintock, Kirsten Stevenson and Carlene Cox to name a few — and Coffey is the first girls 800 runner ever for the Tigers to take a trip to the top of the podium.

“So basically, I just stayed relaxed the first 600 and then I had my eye on the girl in front of me,” Coffey said. “And then, pretty much I just picked a point on the last 150 to go — just go, and I never looked back. That was pretty much my plan.

“Clay and I went over that. We looked at last week, looked that (Fitch Regional) race over a little bit and we decided to fix some things. I just decided to execute today, and it worked.”

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