Davidson girls track's 3,200 relay wins second straight OHSAA title

The Hilliard Davidson girls 3,200-meter relay gave distance coach Nate King a going-away present at the Division I state track and field meet June 6 at Ohio State’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.

The Wildcats earned their second consecutive state title in the event, rallying to win in 9 minutes, 6.6 seconds. King announced earlier this spring that he was stepping down as distance coach and also as girls cross country coach.

Senior Celia Schulte anchored the relay, rallying from fourth place to win. Lancaster enjoyed the early lead and finished second (9:07.91).

“I had a pretty good feeling going into it because we have been working so hard and I know what this group of girls is capable of,” Schulte said. “I’m really proud, and I’m really happy to leave King off on a great note. This is his last year coaching and he’s been amazing to me and the rest of the team.”

Schulte was joined by Ashley Alsko, Erica Kaulen and Gemma Pusateri. Schulte, Alsko and Pusateri ran on last year’s relay with Emi Schroyer.

Kaulen and Pusateri helped close the gap for the Wildcats, setting up Schulte to complete the comeback.

“That first leg at state is always really chaotic, so in my mind I was thinking Ashley knows exactly what she needs to do,” said Schulte, who will run at Furman. “Our second and third legs did a great job of catching one person at a time, just digging away at passing girls. By the time I got the baton, we were in a great spot. You just go catch girls.”

King said his runners followed the game plan to perfection.

“It was really nice,” King said of the relay winning in his final season. “They understood the assignment and we knew if we were going to pull it off, there was really only one way that we could do it. ... That was we’re going to be in the middle for a long time and try to move the baton up, move the baton up and give Celia a shot at the end.”

Last season, Davidson won the race in 9:03.67.

The Lancaster relay was comprised of Marisa Heil, Amelia Fries, Hadley Allen and Harper Allen. Hadley and Harper are sisters.

“We had (a record) from the last race by nine seconds, so that is really big,” said Harper Allen, who anchored the relay. “The fastest in school history ... everyone at the state meet is (elite). Everyone here is good enough to be here. It’s fun to be in the mix.”

Olentangy Liberty was 11th (9:28.97), Dublin Coffman finished 12th (9:33.18), Dublin Jerome was 14th (9:36.57) and Olentangy Berlin finished 17th (9:50.89).

After winning the previous week in a Division I regional- and program-record 7:39.44, the Jerome boys 3,200 relay improved on its time but finished second (7:38.51) at state behind Lexington (7:37.65).

The Jerome relay was comprised of Ethan Ishida, Cayden McClure, Graham Tyler and Charles Guerrera.

Guerrera, the anchor, took the baton from Tyler and had a slight lead for his opening lap. He was passed by Lexington’s Latrell Hughes on the second lap and was edged at the finish.

“There’s nothing wrong with second,” said Guerrera, who will run at Syracuse. “Those Lexington guys almost broke the state record (7:36.33) and we ran faster than last week. There’s definitely a lot to be happy about today. We all went out there and raced our hardest. We did what we were supposed to do. We executed our plan and there’s no shame in that. We did our best.”

Competing in his first state meet as a senior, McClure was pleased with the finish.

“We’re 100% happy,” he said. “This is my first time coming here. (Other) guys have been here multiple times, but you just come out and be that missing piece of the puzzle. Losing Sam (Ricchiuti) from last year, I’m really happy with how we performed.”

Ricchiuti now competes at Syracuse.

Westerville North was seventh (7:44.21), Liberty placed 13th (7:56.01), Gahanna Lincoln was 15th (7:57.48), Olentangy Orange was 16th (8:01.06) and Lancaster finished 18th (8:10.27).

High school sports reporter Frank DiRenna can be reached at [email protected] and at @DispatchFrank on X.

(This story has been updated with a photo gallery.)