Who are the must-watch track and field athletes heading into the postseason?

There have been plenty of stellar performances by track and field athletes in Greater Cincinnati this season.

With conference championships taking place over the last week, the only meets left this season are the district, region and state championships.

The Enquirer has already provided a rundown of the top marks in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana this season. Now it's time to take a look at a few storylines as the season enters its final month.

The great Ohio girls sprinting showdown

Cincinnati has a chance to place at least three runners on the Division I 100- and 200-meter podiums at state for the third straight year. The Greater Miami Conference boasts some of the best sprinters in the region, but a Southwest Ohio Conference star is looking to crash the party.

Mason senior Abby Love has season bests of 12.04 seconds in the 100 and 24.07 seconds in the 200. The Rutgers commit is undefeated at both distances this season, having run four total races. She was also a part of the 4x100-meter relay team that ran a time of 46.91 seconds on April 20, the fastest time in Ohio this season.

Colerain's Summer Swartwout is coming off a second place finish in the 200-meter dash and a third place finish in the 100-meter dash at the 2023 state championships. The senior, who is committed to Cedarville, boasts season bests of 11.96 seconds in the 100 and 24.52 seconds in the 200. She is also undefeated in all her individual races this year. She currently has the fourth-fastest time in the state in the 200-meter dash.

Lakota East junior Heaven Wills is looking to continue the Thunderhawks' sprinting legacy that was established by Azariah Bryant in 2021 and 2022. Wills has set new personal bests this season of 11.95 seconds in the 100-meter dash and 25.32 seconds in the 200-meter dash. Her 100-meter dash time is the fourth-fastest in Ohio this season. Wills has run against Swartwout once, crossing the 100-meter dash finish line at Lakota East 0.42 seconds behind Swartwout.

Dashayla Worlaw's season progression suggests that she is saving her fastest times for the postseason. The Mt. Healthy junior recently ran season-best times of 12.25 seconds in the 100-meter dash and 25.51 seconds in the 200-meter dash, both at the SWOC championships.

Wills and Worlaw will face off for the first time this season at the DI district meet at Ross. Love and Swartwout will meet at Mason in a district meet. All four will take to the same track for the first time this season if they all qualify for the regional meet in Wayne, and they should all be in contention for a state championship on June 1 at Dayton's Welcome Stadium.

Wyoming's field excellence

The Cowboys have never won a girls field event state title. Now they have a chance to win two in the same year. Junior Penelope Webb and sophomore Olivia Hill already have state runner-up finishes to their names and are on the path to cementing their legacy as track and field legends at Wyoming.

This season, Hill has jumped over 18 feet in the long jump for the second and third time in her career. In doing so, she has extended the school record to 18 feet, 4.5 inches, a distance that is third statewide in Division II this season. She is also close to breaking the 100-meter dash school record; Hills personal best is 12.25 seconds.

Webb cleared five feet, seven inches in the high jump twice last year, including at the state meet. In her fourth competition this year, she cleared five feet, 7.25 inches on May 2 to raise her state-leading mark. That height is also the fifth-best height in city history.

Conference titles

Here's which teams won conference titles this year. The Cincinnati Hills League, Eastern Cincinnati Conference, Greater Miami Conference and Southwestern Buckeye League had not completed their league meets at the time of writing.

Cincinnati Metro Athletic Conference: DePaul Cristo Rey won its first girls title with 142 points. The Hughes Big Red earned their second straight runner-up, their best finishes since winning in 2015 and 2016. Taft won the boys title with 148.67 points. It's the Senators' third straight championship.

Girls Greater Catholic League: Seton only won four events at the GGCL championships, but had athletes score points in every event but one (the 100-meter dash). The Saints scored 140 points to win their first league title since 2015.

Greater Catholic League-Coed: Carroll swept the boys and girls titles. McNicholas was the highest Cincinnati-area finisher in the girls standings, taking third place with 24 points. Fenwick led the Cincinnati-area schools in the boys standings, finishing in third place with 30 points.

Greater Catholic League-South: Micah Rice scored 26 total points for Moeller in the sprint events and Richard Obioha won both the discus and shot put to lead the Crusaders to the GCL-S title with 92 points. They put their name on the league's trophy for the second straight year.

Miami Valley Conference: The CHCA Eagles collected 19 top-four finishes to win the boys team title with 162.5 points. It is their first since 2021. Summit Country Day, which was the boys' runner-up, won the girls team race with 191 points. Vanessa Carrington, Reddyn Cleaver and Ama Karikari helped the Silver Knights score the most points by a team champion since SCD scored 195.5 points in 2018.

Northern Kentucky Athletic Conference: Notre Dame won the girls Division I title with 109 points, thanks to top-four finishes in every event. Cooper won the boys Division I championship by holding off Covington Catholic, 96 points to 92 points. The Jaguars and Colonels were tied at 86 points heading into the 4x400-meter relay, but the quartet of Elijah Harrison, Eli Scroggie, Landon LaCroix and Preston Winiger won the event to secure the team title.

Bishop Brossart swept Division II, winning the girls team title with 110 points and the boys team title with 106.50 points. Beechwood was the runner-up in both the boys and girls standings.

Southern Buckeye Athletic and Academic Conference: Batavia won its second straight American division title with 152 points. Clermont Northeastern (144.50 points) won the boys National division title, holding off Williamsburg thanks to a thrilling finish in the 4x400-meter relay.

The Bethel-Tate girls won their second straight National division title with 153 points. Samantha Ringhand scored 30 individual points and ran on the winning 4x100-meter relay as New Richmond won its first American division title since 2019. The Lions held off three-time defending champion Western Brown, 127 points to 119 points.

Southwest Ohio Conference: Adrian Avent, Josh Basich and Jayden Thompson led the Harrison boys to their first league title since 1997. The Wildcats scored 111 points to beat Mt. Healthy by a wide margin. Harrison and Talawanda split the girls title thanks to the Wildcats' win in the 4x400-meter relay. Both squads finished with 84 points. Talawanda had won six straight outright titles before this year's tie, Harrison gets its name on the trophy for the first time since 2015.

Top athletes heading into the postseason

Koy Beasley, La Salle: The senior is committed to play football at Purdue, but he is making sure he leaves one final mark on the track. His time of 10.55 seconds in the 100-meter dash is the third-fastest in the state this season. He recently won the GCL-South 100- and 200-meter dash titles and is undefeated in his individual races this year.

Samantha Erbach, Waynesville: The senior, who is committed to play soccer at Xavier, was the first girl in Ohio to break five minutes for the 1,600 meters this season when she ran 4:58.74 at Miamisburg. She has since bested that mark, winning the Angela Bizzarri Mile at Mason in 4:54.06. Erbach has also recorded new personal bests in the 400 meters, 3,200 meters and 5,000 meters, and has won all but two of her races.

Luke Erdman, Beechwood: The speedster has a chance to win multiple state titles. His times of 10.99 seconds in the 100-meter dash and 22.30 seconds in the 200-meter dash both lead Class 1A. He also has the fifth best long jump distance among small school jumpers at 21 feet, four inches and has run on the fastest 4x100-meter relay team in Class 1A this year.

Alexis Howard, Simon Kenton: The sophomore is an all-around athlete for the Pioneers. She has top 15 marks in the state in the 100-meter dash (12.37 seconds), long jump (17 feet, 10 inches), triple jump (37 feet, 3.75 inches) and high jump (four feet, 10 inches). Howard has won all of her 100-meter runs and triple jump competitions, and got second in the only long jump she didn't win.

Josh Holder, Cincinnati Christian: Holder has established new personal bests this season in the discus, hammer throw and shot put. His discus mark of 179 feet, two inches currently ranks second in the state in DIII, while his put of 55 feet, 10 inches is currently tied for third in the state. He has either won or gotten second place in all of his competitions.

Calvin Kilgallon, Lebanon: He had a fantastic start to the calendar year, winning the 800 meters at the indoor state meet in 1:53.77. On the outdoor circuit, he set new personal bests and school records in the 1,600 meters and mile, and has a new 3,200-meter personal best. Kilgallon also ran on the second fastest 4x800 meter relay in school history at the ECC championships on May 8.

Will Sheets, Covington Catholic: After coming back from a hip injury to take third place at the 2023 Class2A cross country state championship, Sheets has set fire to the track. He won last year's Class 3A 3,200-meter state title, but must face Louisville Collegiate's Riku Sugie, who has run nine seconds faster than Sheets' season and personal best of 8:57.45. Who would've thought that winning a 3,200-meter state title in Class 2A could be tougher than winning in Class 3A?

Isabella Vonlehman, Conner: Vonlehman currently boasts top 10 times in the state in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and 400-meter dash. She is looking to close out her high school career by improving on top five finishes in all three events at last year's state championships. She has won each of her races except for her runs at the highly-competitive Wayne Invitational.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Track and field: top storylines with postseason on the horizon