The 2010 OHSAA Track and Field Championships, held at Jesse Memorial Stadium on June 4-5, in Columbus turned out to be a pretty successful for a few of our area athletes.
On Day 1, Keystone senior Corry Sprouse shocked a lot of people, including myself by winning the boys high jump competition in Division II.
I wasn't shocked because I didn't think he was capable of winning. I was shocked because it was the first time that Sprouse, who will play football for Notre Dame College, participated on the track team.
He ended up winning with a jump of 22 feet, 9 inches, narrowly defeating Edison senior Brady Gelvin, who jumped 22-8 1/2.
The fact that Sprouse won a state title in his first year of track was a pretty amazing feat for anyone.
Day 1 also saw the end of Perkins senior Matt Hoty's reign as shot put champion. Hoty, who will attend the University of Tennessee, came in as the two-time Division II champion and was defeated by Pemberville senior Justin Welch.
Hoty threw a record distance of 62-9 3/4, but Welch threw a 62-11 3/4 on the final throw of the day to win the title.
Hoty had to battle a fractured right wrist during the season, which might played a part why he didn't win for a third consecutive time.
Regardless, two first place and a second place finish at state is still a very impressive accomplishment for Hoty.
Day 2 at the state track meet belong to the Southview Saints.
The school had three state placers in Division I in their final appearance as a high school. Next year Southview and Admiral King will join forces to form the Lorain High Titans.
The highest finisher for the Saints was sophomore Christian Nogueras, who took third in the long jump with a distance of 22-9 3/4.
Sophomore Melody Farris finished fifth in 100 hurdles with a school record time of 43.91, while junior Shanique Ogle took sixth place in the shot put with a throw of 40-11.
Southview might be gone, but those athletes will always have those memories forever.
Lorain County got its second state champion of the weekend from Elyria Catholic senior Marty Coolidge.
Coolidge won the 3200 with a time of 9:03.11, which set the record at Owens Stadium, defeating Bay junior Michael Brajdic.
The victory was a long time coming for Coolidge, who finished third in 2008 and second in 2009 in the 3200.
Other notable placers were Vermilion sophomore Emily Cunningham, who took second in the 200 with a time of 24.93 and fifth in the 100. It was Cunningham's second trip in a row to the state track meet.
Edison's 400 relay of Seth Battle, Dylan Howard, Gelvin and Mike Yost almost came home with the gold.
The Chargers ran 42.58 but lost to Columbus Bishop Hartley, who finished first with a time of 42.57. The race was the most exciting of the weekend, unfortunately Edison fell a little short.
Overall the weekend went well. It was a long couple of days, but I got to watch some very special athletes give some very special performances on the biggest stage of the track season.

LORAIN - Things didn't start off very well for Southview Friday night, in its 65-46 win against John Marshall.

The Saints turned the ball over nine times in the first quarter, and had to overcome a 10-0 deficit to start the game.

Southview eventually gathered themselves and took control of the game in the third quarter.

The Saints turned the ball over just once compared to eight by John Marshall, and they outscored the Lawyers 20-7 to take a commanding 50-30 lead after three.

Tanitra Smith scored eight points in the quarter, while Danielle Montanez, Shanique Ogle, Marisol Torres and Breanna Fortney all got involved in the scoring in the third quarter.

The Saints finished with 18 turnovers for the game, but only had three in the second half. The Lawyers finished the game 29 turnovers.

Shanique Ogle stuffed the stat sheet in Southview's 57-44 victory against Warrensville Heights on Saturday.

Ogle finished with game-highs of 23 points, 21 rebounds and five blocks.

After the Tigers held Ogle to 12 through three quarters, she exploded for 11 in the final quarter.

Warrensville Heights coach Eric Mitchell was at a lost for words when describing Ogle's performance.

"I mean you can hope to contain her at best," Mitchell said of Ogle. "She an outstanding player."

Southview coach Scott Plzak said is wasn't Ogle's stats that impressed him, but a play she made towards the end of the game.

With the Saints comfortably ahead, Olge stole a pass and had a clear cut path to the basket. Instead of laying the ball up to her 25 points for the game she passed the ball to Tanitra Smith who scored.

"That play at the end of the game really epitomized what type of an all-around player she is," Plzak said.