State Track Notebook: Laracuente-Huebner sets records in girls high jump
COLUMBUS — Juliette Laracuente-Huebner surprised herself and in the process rewrote the record book.
The Highland senior claimed her first-ever Division II state championship in the girls high jump Friday morning in Ohio State's Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium after two straight times of finishing third in the event at the state meet.
More so, Laracuente-Huebner set the D-II state meet record and the overall D-II state record with a final leap of 5-10.75.
"To be able to come out here and do it on the biggest stage in the OHSAA and all that, it means a lot," she said.
It's been a stated goal all year for her. She wanted an outdoor high jump state title to go with the three she earned during the winter indoor seasons. The previous two years she ended in third place in the outdoor high jump. But besides winning the crown Friday, she wanted to leave her mark.
She achieved that.
"Just hitting that mark and putting my name on there forever. Doing what I talked about last week, which is I want to leave a legacy behind, it means a lot," she added.
While she finished with clean marks across the board from 5-foot to 5-8, some of the earlier clearances saw her graze the bar with it somehow staying put.
Laracuente-Huebner struggled to find her rhythm in the choppy early goings of the competition.
"It’s harder to stay loose and warm and on my A game," she said. "I had 20 minutes in-between my warmup jumps and before I even jumped and maybe more (time) honestly. That’s what made it difficult at those first few heights."
Once the field of 18 thinned out and the time between attempts got quicker, she got stronger and stronger. Fresh legs helped with that, too, since it was her first event of the weekend as she attempts to win four state titles.
"Every year I come in and I’m very hungry for the state title in the high jump. It’s such a tough competition with Karis and Allison and all those girls who made it here," she said of Liberty-Benton's Karis Willow and Columbus Academy's Allison Klinefelter. "They’ve all popped up some great numbers this season and great numbers today. That pressure was real and it has been the past three years, so I’m very glad I got my chance out there at the top of the podium and had my shot at it.
Klinefelter fell out of the competition at 5-5 to settle for fourth, while Willow made 5-5, but couldn't get 5-6 ,ending in third. Cincinnati Wyoming junior Penelope Webb, who had four misses on the day before posting a 5-7 on her final attempt at the height, pushed Laracuente-Huebner.
But the Scot had an answer, clearing 5-8 on her first attempt, while Webb couldn't reach the height.
From there it was about setting the record. The D-II state meet mark of 5-10.25 set in 1995 by Dana Stearns of Bexley and the overall D-II mark of 5-10.5 set in 2007 by West Geauga's Katelyn Williams was in the crosshairs. That's why the bar was set at 5-10.75.
Laracuente-Huebner failed on her first two attempts, but easily got it with plenty of room between herself and the bar on her final try. From there, she decided to have some fun and went for 6-feet.
"I definitely wasn’t expecting 5-10 and 3-quarters," she said. "I wasn’t even expecting to try 6 foot this year. It was the first time ever seeing the height. I had three great attempts at it. I’m just excited to see what comes after this."
Following the early high jump, she competed in the heat of the 90-degree day and won her heats of the 100-meter hurdles and 200 meters to put herself into Saturday's finals. She ran a 14.13 to post the best time in the hurdles and a 25.09 to end with the second-best time heading into Saturday's race.
The Saturday events were contested before the Marion Star print edition's deadline.
Besides the two races, she will also compete in the long jump Saturday morning where she is going for an outdoor three-peat in the event.
"This being the first event, I shouldn’t, but I let it dictate the rest of the meet most of the time," she said. "These past few years I got third and I was happy. Obviously, I wanted more and I took it out on the other events. Getting first and getting that record makes me hungry for the rest of the day and going for all those records in the hurdles and the long jump. I’m excited."
RV's Cooper Miller takes 6th
The progression of Cooper Miller was showcased Friday afternoon during the Division II boys pole vault. The River Valley junior finished on the podium in sixth place after posting a personal record of 14-8.
A year earlier, he was 15th at 13-10.
"I’ll take it. It doesn’t seem like I went too high. Last year I jumped 13-10 and this year 14-8. I was hoping to get in the 15s this year, but I’ve got to take it at this point. I had a good consistency day today. I didn’t miss a height up until 14-8," Miller said.
Indeed, he had a clean sheet through 14-8, but missed on his three attempts to reach 15 feet.
"Today we ran into a pole problem," he said. "I had a pole that was too small and tried moving up and one too big and didn’t really have one in-between there. We were messing around with the standards, trying to make it work. Even though it didn’t work out, I’ll have to move on to bigger poles now, longer, better poles. It’s going to shoot me up higher in the future. I'm ready to get back into the offseason now and put my work in. I’m already thinking about it."
Because of his experience a year earlier, he felt at home jumping in the Jesse.
"Today, I treated it like another day at the office. I came in and cleared 13, 13-6 casually like it was another day. I got to the higher heights and stayed locked in and got over them. That’s all it took really," he said.
RV's Ethan Lyon also sixth
While he went as a spectator to last year's state meet throws, River Valley junior Ethan Lyon admitted it was different being inside the D-II boys shot put ring as a participant.
"For the first time, I was very nervous, and I think that kind of slowed me down. I wasn’t ready for the ring to be as slick. I couldn’t feel like I could get a push on the ball. I got a good mark out and was feeling good in the warmups," Lyon said.
He said that he threw on warmup roughly 59 feet, which is close to her personal record. On his first attempt, he put himself in a good spot with a 54-3.25. However, he fouled on his next two tries, but was still good enough to make the nine-thrower finals. On his first try in the finals, Lyon tossed it 55-9.25, but fouled on his last two attempts to settle for sixth place.
"Even on the fouls, I was trying really hard," he said. "I think I was pulling my head off the shot. I was really excited to push into it. I think I was over-trying. For my first time here and placing in the state is very cool, but next year I’m going to be ready when I come back. I’ll be ready for this next year."
Lyon is also part of the Saturday morning boys discus.
Other athletes compete
Elgin freshman Julia Kuba made the podium in eighth place of the girls seated shot put with a measure of 11-4.25.
The Mount Gilead boys 4x800 relay team of Aaron Gannon, Owen Hershner, Parker Bartlett and Will Baker was ninth in 8:10.69 to miss a podium position by one spot, while Elgin's team of Ethan Marshall, Isaac Dillon, Sage Brewer and Kolby Wasserbeck was 12th in 8:16.04 in the Division III final.
North Union senior Drue Duncan ended 13th in the boys D-II shot put with a 50-7.5. Also for the Wildcats, senior Hannah Carney missed qualifying by one spot for the finals of the D-II girls 400 by ending 10th overall in the semifinals in 58.83.
Northmor's boys 4x400 relay of Cowin Becker, Lucas Weaver, Connor Radojcsics and Bo Landin made the Saturday D-III finals with an eighth-best time of 3:29.36, while Radojcsics was 14th in the boys pole vault at 13 feet, and Natalie Hunter was 14th at 9-6 in the D-III girls pole vault.
rmccurdy@gannett.com
419-610-0998
Twitter @McMotorsport
Instagram @rob_mccurdy_star
This article originally appeared on Marion Star: State Track Notebook: Laracuente-Huebner sets records in high jump
