“It didn’t start out really great for us because our long jumper didn’t make the finals, and we were kind of counting on that, but I thought we could score 40, maybe 50 points, and usually that’s enough,” Fernandez said.
“We were worried about Butler, Hoover and Beechcroft, but then after the hurdles and the 100 we’re at 16 points right away and I said, ‘All right, they’re clicking on all cylinders.’ And you can just tell. The kids, I don’t have to say anything to ‘em. The hardest job was yesterday, getting everybody to the finals today, and then they showed up and they showed out.”
Sophomore Keng Martin finished fifth in the 110 hurdles then classmate Jamier Averette-Brown won the 100-meter dash and anchored victories in the 4x100 and 4x200 (both with Martin, Key’Shawn Garrett and Semarion Sroufe) teams to get the Warriors out to a huge lead in the team competition.
Averette-Brown and Garrett added second- and third-place finishes in the 200 for another 14 points
They ended up with 60 points, easily beating Lexington (39) and Butler (36) to claim the third state track title in school history.
Fernandez has been part of all of them, first as an assistant in 1995 then as the head coach in 2000.
“I thought every five years, this is pretty easy, right? And then we had to wait 25 more years for the boys to it,” he said, noting the Wayne girls won the state title last year while the boys finished in second place by one point. “I’m lucky. I really am lucky to be able to enjoy the first of everything and to see what they did. It’s hard to explain. It’s really neat. I’m a Wayne grad, too. I ran track here. I teach there, so to be able to do this and to be able to share it with these kids, it’s an amazing feeling.”
Among the firsts was a sweep of the 100-meters. Before Averette-Brown took home the boys title, Wayne senior Te’aira Branham-Patrick won the girls event.
“I never think about that,” Fernandez said. “We were just happy to have one, but to get them go, ‘Boom, boom,’ it was such a surreal moment.”
Three other champions came from local schools in Division I:
300 hurdles: Faith Brown of Beavercreek won the girls 300 hurdles with a stadium record time for 41.0
100 hurdles: Logan Wilkins of Fairmont won the 110 hurdles with a time of 13.88
4x400 relay: Butler won the boys 4x400 relay as Tayven Crump, Luke Campbell, Braydon Thaxton and Jordan Gross ran a Division I and state meet record of 3:12.06
Pole vault: Garrett Guinther of Sidney won the pole fault by clearing 17’.
Here are the others to finish in the top eight:
Girls 100 meters: Heaven Willis of Lakota East finished fifth while Emma Goins of Little Miami finished sixth
Girls 200: Goins finished fourth, and Samaria Williams of Centerville finished seventh
Girls 400: Nia Poole of Ponitz finished seventh, and Haylie Yeazell of Lakota East finished eighth
Girls 3200: Evelyn Prodoehl of Lakota West finished fourth
Girls 100 hurdles: Faith Brown of Beavercreek finished second, and Mikaylah Chandler of Lakota East finished third
Girls 300 hurdles: Katlyn Pham of Lakota East finished fourth
Girls 4x100: Wayne team of Ma’khayla Bass, Trinity Bibbs, Kendall Turner and Branham-Patrick finished third; Lakota East team of Chandler, Wills, Qiersten McClain and Ivy Smith finished fourth; Chaminade Julienne team of Janiya Ward, Sydney Haywood, Claire Downer and Cloie Williams finished sixth
Girls 4x200: Centerville team of Lauren Jessup-Aiken, Ashlyn Rickert, Sariah Turner and Samaria Williams finished fourth
Girls 4x800: Lakota West team of Prashi Vatsal, Evelyn Prodoehl, Alyese Caldwell Downing and Kaitlin Kaszubski finished sixth
Girls high jump: Claire Downer of Chaminade Julienne finished eighth (5-5)
Girls pole vault: Anna Lehmann of Centerville finished fifth (12-4)
Girls shot put: Tatyana Green of Troy finished fourth (41-10.25)
Boys 100-meters: Will Strong of Tippecanoe finished seventh
Boys 200: Strong finished eighth, and Joel Nimoh of Lakota West finished seventh
Boys 800: Tayven Crump of Butler finished fourth
Boys 1600: Jackson Davis of Beavercreek finished fourth
Boys 3200: Samuel Darmainie of Springboro finished fifth
Boys 4x100: Lakota West team of Kolyn Olgletree, Finn Mason, Rece Mason and Joel Nimoh finished second
Boys 4x200: Butler team of Levi Campbell, Allen Mabson II, Braydon Thaxton and Jordan Gross finished fourth
Boys 4x400: Beavercreek team of Gio Louprasong, Aiden Howard, Aaden Hildebrand and Jackson Davis finished eighth
Boys 4x800: Butler (Campbell, Thaxton, Crump and Korey Snyder) finished third while Centerville (Daniel Emmert, Tyler Swan, Jagger Noel and Kasem Kaheal) finished eighth
Boys long jump: Max Deckard of Tippecanoe finished eighth (22-06.75)
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