COLUMBUS – It was a near perfect first day of state track for Colonel Crawford senior Mira Holt.
Having secured the ninth and final qualifying spot in the 100 and 400-meter dash, she could set her focus on long jump in the afternoon.
And she needed just one jump to nab bronze and add more All-Ohio honors to her illustrious career.
“I was excited with that being my first jump because my first jump is usually one of my better jumps,” Holt said of jumping 17-1. “Being able to start with that made me more comfortable for my next ones and I wasn’t stressing out as much. I wish I would’ve gone a little further and got second, but obviously I’m happy.”
She matched her first jump again on her first attempt of finals but never got above 17 in any other jumps. Tri-Village’s Adalynn Hines bested her by an inch and a half for second, and Coldwater’s Izzy Zahn blew the competition out of the water with an 18-7½ on her first attempt — she would add an inch to that on her final jump of the day for gold.
“It was crazy,” Holt said of Zahn. “She was in our region so I jumped with her, but it’s crazy and fun to watch.”
It was Holt’s first trip to the state meet as an individual, but she was comfortable competing in multiple events. And in fact, she thinks it helped her in the long jump.
“I’m used to the relays being down here and multiple events, so I think preparing earlier in the season and doing a lot of harder events at meets, conditioning, that type of thing,” she said. “And I kind of liked running first because it got me up and got me moving.”
She now sets her sights on All-Ohio honors in the two sprints. She’d seeded ninth and the top-eight earn a spot on the podium.
“I’m definitely happy,” Holt said. “With the running it’s just survive, I made it to the next day so that’s all that really matters. I could’ve been first or ninth, you’re running the same race.”
Bloomfield and Giesige cap off careers on the podium
Crawford County’s top two long jumpers, and two of the best in the state, got to compete one final time against each other.
Buckeye Central’s Corbin Bloomfield, the state runner-up in Division III last year, was hoping for glory but understood expectations had to be tempered having dealt with a hamstring injury all season.
Still, he placed fourth with a jump of 21-4¼.
“I think things could have finished a little better,” Bloomfield said. “I didn’t have the best season … but at the end of the season I really kicked it in and was doing good.
“I don’t know if it was the pit or the wind, but I definitely didn’t have the the jump I wanted and a lot of other kids I was talking to didn’t either.”
He wasn’t alone in thinking that. Giesige wasn’t thrilled with his jumps either.
“The pit was all right, it was a little filled up and the board was a little stiff, so nobody was jumping good,” Giesige said after placing fifth with a 21-4. “But I just want to thank God for this opportunity for everything he’s done for this whole season.”
It caps off a pair of unexpected journeys to state.
“When I was little I really didn’t think state was ever a part of my future, so I’m still shocked,” Bloomfield said, now a two-time All-Ohioan. “I got here two years in a row — especially with her hamstring this year — I’m really blessed.”
And for Giesige, he was hoping to improve on his junior year jumps. Making it to state was just a dream early on.
“I came out last year only jumping 20-1 and came into this year thinking mid-21 is gonna be good,” he said. “Then I pop and I kept popping higher, higher, and higher.
“Hard work paid off.”
Wynford senior signs off
Anthony Evans had the perfect mindset coming into Friday’s state meet.
“I knew yesterday just from walking here that this was going to be an amazing track and there was amazing competition,” he said.
His 50.06 may not have qualified him for the finals in the 400-meter dash, but the experience of making it to Jesse Owens was an accomplishment in itself.
“The coaches always saw the potential in me and they’ve been helping me for the last couple years to get to this moment,” Evans said. “It’s special, and I’m not going home empty handed. I have a couple meet records and I’m tied with Alizhah (Watson)’s record (49.80) when I ran at Mount Gilead, so I’m definitely not disappointed that it’s over.
“I’m just happy that I came this far.”
Other results from Day 1
Colonel Crawford’s 4×400 team of Adam Scott, Brady Hill, John DeGray, and Jacob Cochran broke their own school record with a 3:25.65 in preliminaries to earn the six-seed in finals.
“So many fast splits,” Scott said. “I didn’t expect so many teams to go under 3:26. But we punched our ticket to Saturday and I’m happy with it.”
Senior Gabby Roston saw her Colonel Crawford career come to an end with a 10th place finish in the pole vault. She entered at 10-6 and cleared it with ease, along with 11-0, before missing all three attempts at 11-4. Annamarie Montle of Federal Hocking was state champion with a height of 12-4.
zholden@gannett.com | 419-617-6018 | Twitter/X: @Zachary_Holden
This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: OHSAA Track & Field: Crawford County trio earn All-Ohio in long jump