These Greater Cincinnati track and field athletes will run circles around you this spring
Track and field at the high school, college and professional levels is transitioning from the indoor to the outdoor season.
High schoolers across Greater Cincinnati have started down the roads that will culminate at the University of Kentucky's Shively Stadium and Dayton's Welcome Stadium.
As the season officially gets underway this weekend, here are a few track and field athletes to watch.
Boys
Robert Cameron, Holmes
The senior, who was second on the soccer team in scoring and wrestled at 144 pounds this winter, returns to the track hoping to return to the state meet. In 2023, he finished sixth in the 100 meters and as a part of the 4x100 relay. He also finished 16th in the 200-meter dash, a race where he could make the podium this spring.
Luke Erdman, Beechwood
The speedster led the Tigers in receiving on the football field last fall, then immediately turned to the indoor track to fine-tune his speed. At the 2023 state track meet, he took second in the 100- and 200-meter, fourth as part of the 4x200 meter relay and seventh in the long jump. Three weeks ago, he ran a personal best of 7.14 seconds in the 60-meter dash at the Kentucky High School Athletic Association indoor track and field state championships.
Grant Harrison, New Richmond
The high flyer is coming off a second-place finish in the pole vault at the 2023 state meet. His outdoor personal best is 15 feet, 8 inches while his indoor best is an even 16 feet, a height that earned him a second-place finish at the 2024 indoor state meet. He has also participated in the 100-meter dash, 110-meter hurdles, and the long jump.
Ethan Long, Covington Catholic
The senior has stood out in multiple disciplines, competing in the 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters, long jump and high jump.
He competed at the 2023 state meet and finished seventh in the 200 meters, 13th in the long jump and 15th in the 100 meters. Look for those marks to improve as the Colonels dropped from Class 3A to 2A this year.
John Podojil, Indian Hill
The senior is making the most of his high school eligibility after quarterbacking the football team to a 9-3 record and scoring nearly 6 points per game on the basketball court. He has already signed to run at Miami University but will be looking to return to the state meet after a sixth-place finish in the 100 meters and a 10th-place finish in the 400 meters in 2023.
Micah Rice, Moeller
Like Podojil and Erdman, Rice refines his speed on the track to stay sharp on the gridiron. Last year, he ran on the state runner-up 4x200 meter relay and eighth-place 4x400 meter relay. He also took eighth in the 400-meter dash, a race where his personal best is 49.06 seconds.
Evan Trapp, St. Xavier
The University of Alabama commit has had a senior year to remember. His cross-country personal best of 14:59.50 is a top 10 time in school history. He placed fifth in the 3,200 meters at the state indoor track meet on March 3, and ran in the Nike National indoor meet two weeks ago.
His outdoor accolades include a fourth-place finish in the 3,200 meters and a gold medal in the 4x800 meter relay at the 2023 state meet.
Northern Kentucky boys distance
Ryle's Tiger Bartlett, a University of Cincinnati signee, is coming off a cross-country season in which he ran a sub-15 minute 5K for the first time. He placed 10th at the Class 3A state meet. On the track, he placed second in the 1,600 meters and fourth in the 3,200 meters at the 2023 state meet. His 1,600-meter personal best is 4:15.47 and his 3,200-meter best is 9:00.61.
Conner senior Joey Carroll took second in the 3,200 meters at the 2023 Class 3A state meet with a 9:25.73. He set a personal best of 9:11.15 in the event in November. Carroll also took ninth place in the state cross-country meet last fall.
Nathan Ruth won Bishop Brossart's first individual state cross-country championship last fall. Last spring, he helped the Mustangs' 4x800 meter relay win a state championship, finished fifth in the 1,600 meters and sixth in the 800 meters.
Covington Catholic sophomore Will Sheets won the Class 3A 3,200 meter title and ran a leg of the winning 4x800 meter relay. Last fall, as the Colonels dropped to Class 2A, he injured his hip and could only run in two cross-country races but took third at the state meet.
Cooper sophomore Paul Van Laningham has shown promise through three seasons of high school running. He improved from 51st at the 2022 state cross-country meet to third in 2023. At last year's state track meet, he took sixth in the 3,200 meters to round out a dominant effort from Northern Kentucky in the longest race on the oval. His cross-country personal best is 15:27. His best time in the metric two-mile race is 9:32.93, a mark sure to improve.
Girls
Callie Bentley, East Central
She didn't make it to the 2023 state track meet but did win 10 800-meter races in 2023. Her personal best is 2:20.04. She also had 10 top-three finishes at 1,600 meters, with a personal best of 5:24.31. Bentley advanced to the cross-country state meet, running a personal best of 18:19.30.
Myah Boze, Ross
After successful runs on the soccer field and basketball court, Boze could win a state championship to finish her high school career. She was the 2023 Division I runner-up in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 43.29 seconds and took seventh place in the 100-meter hurdles with 14.89 seconds.
Viktoriya Emelianova, Ryle
The senior has won state championships in three different settings and is looking to repeat on the outdoor circuit. Her open-air personal best in the shot put is 42 feet, 10.5 inches. She also can throw the discus, taking second place at the 2023 state meet. Two weeks after winning the 185-pound state wrestling title, she won the indoor shot put state title with a throw of 38 feet, 7 ½ inches.
Samantha Erbach, Waynesville
She has signed to play soccer at Xavier University but she could have run track and cross country in college if she wanted to. Erbach owns a third-place finish and a runner-up medal at the Division II state cross-country meet. On the track, she anchored the state champion 4x800 meter relay, took second in the 1,600 meters and fourth in the 800 meters in 2023. She has personal bests of 2:13.53 in the 800, 4:51.32 in the 1,600 and 11:17.51 in the 3,200.
Olivia Holbrook, Campbell County
The junior is a solid cross-country runner who also excels at the middle distances on the track.
Last spring, she took fourth place in the Class 3A 800-meter run in a personal best time of 2:12.23. She also took eight in the 1,600 meters, a race in which her personal best is 503.24.
Natalie Kiefer, Harrison
The senior and Eastern Kentucky University signee will run for her first state-podium finish.
After finishing 11th in the 800 meters at the 2023 state meet, she went to work during the indoor season. That campaign culminated in a state championship and a new state record of 2:10.83. Her outdoor personal best is 2:14.81.
Abby Love and Efa Paschka, Mason
The senior and sophomore stood out for the Comets as they were the team runner-up at the 2023 state track meet.
Love, a sprinter, ran legs of the second place 4x100 meter relay and ninth place 4x200 meter relay, took fifth in the 200 meters and sixth in the 100 meters. She has personal bests of 11.70 seconds in the 100 meters and 24.47 seconds in the 200 meters.
Paschka is one of the best distance runners in Southwest Ohio. She is coming off a second-place finish in the 1,600 meters at the 2024 OHSAA indoor state meet. Before that, she took 12th place at the 2023 cross-country state meet. At the 2023 state track meet, she ran on the second-place 4x800 meter relay, took sixth in the 1,600 meters and ninth in the 3,200 meters.
Vivian Momper, Madeira
She has a bit of range as a sprinter, winning the 2023 Cincinnati Hills League championship in the 400 meters, then running on the third place 4x200 meter relay team and seventh place 4x100 meter relay team at the state meet. Momper also has personal bests of 12.43 seconds in the 100 meters and 25.42 seconds in the 200 meters.
Lily Parke, Beechwood
The sophomore has been a driving force for the Tigers as they won the 2023 outdoor track and field team title, the 2023 cross country team title and a second-place team finish at the 2024 indoor track and field state championship.
Last spring, she ran on the second-place 4x800 meter relay, took second in the 1,600 meters and third in the 800 meters. Parke then won the Class 1A regional cross-country title before a runner-up finish at state. She recently won the 1,500-meter state indoor title with a new personal best of 4:47.88 and finished second in the 800 meters in 2:22.75.
Parke isn't the only leader for the Tigers. Maddy Brauch, Maryah Counts, Charlie Gerrein, Isabelle Ginter, Katie Kocan and Nora Wilke all finished on the podium at the 2023 outdoor state meet.
Evelyn Prodoehl, Lakota East
After a sixth-place finish in the 3,200 meters at the 2023 state meet, she turned to speed and strength training over the summer. It paid off with a state-record 16:59.10 5K time at the Greater Miami Conference championship and a Division I cross-country state championship. In January, she ran 5:04.48 for 1,600 meters and 10:41.84 for 3,200 meters at various indoor meets.
Andora Riley, Newport
The junior finished second in the shot put and seventh in the discus at the 2023 Class 1A state track meet. and recently took second in the shot put at the state indoor track meet. Her personal best discus throw is 113 feet, three inches and her best shot put is 35 feet, 4 ½ inches.
Isabella Vonlehman, Conner
The senior is a two-time state placer in the two shortest events on the track. In 2023, she took fourth in the 200 meters, fifth in the 100 and 400 meters, and ran on the eighth-place 4x400 meter relay. At the 2024 indoor state meet, she was the 60-meter runner-up and took sixth place at 200 meters. Her outdoor personal bests are 12.01 seconds for 100 meters, 24.99 seconds for 200 meters and 57.54 seconds for 400 meters.
Olivia Hill and Penelope Webb, Wyoming
The underclassmen made a name for themselves in the field events at the 2023 state meet.
Hill, now a sophomore, took third in the long jump with a personal best leap of 18 feet, 1 inch. She recently jumped 18 feet, 3 ¼ inches at the Nike indoor national meet.
Webb, now a junior, placed second in the high jump with an attempt of 5 feet, 7 inches. That tied her personal best. She will be a favorite to win this year's state title since last year's champion, Juliette Laracuente-Heubner, is now a freshman at the University of Cincinnati.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio high school track & field: Cincinnati athletes to watch in 2024
