Lakota East girls track team wins Division I state championship

It was the slowest thing the Thunderhawks did all day — the only slow thing, in fact. A trophy of that size will slow anyone down.

Is that trophy as heavy as it looks, they were asked.

"If you hold it long enough, yes," senior Kaylyn Heath said.

Heath and junior Serena Clark dueled in two events — the 100-meter dash and 200 — and both won individual state championships, scoring 32 of the team's 65 points. That was more than enough for Lakota East to top defending champion Gahanna Lincoln, which finished second with 40 points.

» PHOTOS: State track, day one

"We were working for this the entire season," Clark said. "We won the GMC. We won district. We won regional. It means a lot."

"It's unbelievable to me," Heath said. "I can't even think. It's not even real. I'm just happy to have finished this year with a bang.

Heath and Clark finished first and second in the 100 in 11.93 and 12.12 seconds, respectively.

"I just wanted to pushing and keep driving," Heath said.

Clark later won the 200 (24.09), and Heath was fifth (24.77).

"Somebody said I looked mad running it," Clark said, "but I had to go get it."

Lakota East's 4x200 relay team of Dawn Hilton, Danni Stoughton, Azariyah Bryant and Camiyah James finished second (1:39.32). The 4x100 relay team of Hilton, Heath, Bryant and Clark won the championship (45.82).

Stoughton finished fifth in the 400 (56.69). Bryant placed third in the long jump (18 feet, 5¼ inches), and James finished fourth (17-11¾).

The championship comes in the fourth season as head coach for Rodney Heath, who said Lakota East had success in individual awards in the years before he took over.

"As a team, we could never get it that far," Rodney Heath said. "As we built, more kids decided this is what they wanted to do. It just happened that way. The girls were hungry."

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

In other area results:

• Middletown senior Shandon Morris finished third in the D-I high jump (6-10). Fairfield junior DeShaun Simpkins placed 12th (6-4).

• The Lakota West 4x100 relay team of Riley Meek, J.J. Ross, Malcom Rencher and Julian Wagner placed seventh in the D-1 race (42.84).

• Rencher placed seventh in the long jump (21-10).

• Middletown Madison junior Corey Morris finished 17th in the high jump (6-0).

• Monroe junior Christian Leach placed 12th in the 3,200 (9:57.03).

• The Badin 4x800 relay team of Michael Rand, Aidan Drake, Simon Hoppa and Owen Mathews placed 17th (8:28.38).

• Edgewood senior Natalie Watson placed fourth in the seated shot put division (11-2).

• Monroe's Jenna Hensley placed fourth in D-I high jump (5-5). Lakota East senior Jada Bouyer was ninth (5-2).

• Lebanon sophomore Hope Erbach placed 11th in the 1,600 (5:08.49).

• Lebanon sophomore Faith Duncan was ninth in the 3,200 (10:56.31).