COLUMBUS — She was denied in her bid for a repeat three-peat, but St. Peter’s star Alysse Wade still left an indelible imprint at the state track and field tournament.
The Eastern Michigan University signee broke her own state meet and Division III records in the 100 meter hurdles, winning in 14.07 seconds Saturday morning. She defended her state title in the 100 meter dash about 10 minutes later before capping a remarkable two-year stretch with a third-place finish in the 200 dash.
Wade won all three events at last year’s state meet.
“Obviously I’m disappointed. I wanted to be able to get a third gold medal,” Wade said after descending the podium for the final time in an illustrious high school career. “I don’t think I really gave my body the right recovery in between. I kind of let myself get a little too tightened up and then I struggled to loosen back up for the 200.
“I’m still pretty happy. It didn’t end exactly how I wanted it to, but I ran faster in my hurdles and I know that I still have a lot of improvement to make in my other two races the next four years.”
Wade broke the Division III state meet record in the 100 hurdles in Friday’s preliminaries, crossing the line in 14.31 seconds. She one-upped herself Saturday, holding off Grove City Christian’s Calista Manns (14.13) for the gold.
Wade then won the 100 dash in 12.13 seconds, a scant .01 ahead of Malvern’s Zoe Moser. Moser would have her revenge in the 200, winning in 24.88 seconds. Fort Loramie’s Kennedi Gephart was second in 25.29 and Wade was third in 25.34.
While Wade’s title came as no surprise, the Division II high jump crown won by Shelby’s Uriah Schwemley was an eyebrow-raiser. Schwemley was the only jumper to clear 6-foot-6 and he did it on his first attempt. His bid to clear 6-7 came up short, but it couldn’t temper the junior’s enthusiasm.
“The first few jumps I was still a little nervous,” Schwemley said. “After that I was like, ‘It’s just another meet.’
“I knew I could get 6-6. I thought I could get 6-7 today.”
Shelby teammate Cameron Stine finished ninth with a top leap of 6-2. It was Stine, a fellow junior, who convinced Schwemley to return to track after he gave up the sport in junior high.
“I wish Cameron would be up there (on the podium) with me,” Schwemley said. “That’s OK. We’ll get them next year.”
The area produced a second record-setter in Colonel Crawford distance ace Chad Johnson. The senior smashed the Division III and state meet record in the 3,200, cruising to victory in 9:05.43. Runner-up Noah Fisher of Ayersville was almost 22 second behind Johnson, finishing in 9:27.29.
Complete results from the state meet can be found here.
