Sade Olatoye is tired, but still performing at her best.
The senior thrower for the Dublin Coffman High School girls track and field team will be looking for back-to-back championships in the discus and shot put when she competes in the Division I state meet Friday, June 5, and Saturday, June 6, at Ohio State.
Olatoye won both events in the regional meet May 27 and 29 at Pickerington North, but has working in the weight room to make sure she extends those standards and is prepared to defend her state titles.
"I have been lifting off of a schedule and I make sure I lift two days before (a meet) so I'm throwing on tired legs," said Olatoye, an Ohio State signee. "That means I have to be more explosive and use the strength in my arms."
For the second time in three weeks, Olatoye broke her own program record in the shot put. She threw 47 feet, 6 inches to win the regional title, topping her mark of 45-11 1/4 set in the OCC-Central Division meet that concluded May 16. In between, she threw 45-11 in the district meet that concluded May 23 at Hilliard Darby.
Olatoye also broke the program record in the discus at regional, throwing 162-8, as the top four finishers in each event qualified for state.
Last season at state, she threw 154-5 in the discus and 43-9 1/4 in the shot put. She enters state this year as the top seed in both events. Her regional throw in the discus was more than five feet longer than that of the second seed at state, Dresden Tri-Valley's Kaylee Antill (157-5), and her regional throw in the shot put was three feet longer than that of second-seeded Rashida Harris of Euclid (44-6).
"I'm always wanting to try new things to improve," Olatoye said. "I want to keep getting better."
Olatoye was not the only double champion at regional for the Shamrocks, as freshman Abby Steiner won both the 100 meters (12.32 seconds) and 200 (24.86).
"This was a new experience for me to compete with all of the best girls from our entire region, and it was an incredible experience that pushed me to do my best," Steiner said. "My favorite race is the 200, and that was my best race of the meet. Our (800) relay ran a PR by almost an entire second, too, which was big for us."
The 800 relay of Makenzie Henderson, Shaunqueza Stevens, Wambui Watene and Steiner placed second in a program-record 1:40.32.
"I'd definitely love to win the 200 and finish in the top two in the (800) relay and top three in the 100," Steiner said when asked about her aspirations for state. "I always get nervous before big races, but I won the 60 (7.55) and 200 (24.8) in the (Division I) indoor state meet (March 7 at the University of Akron), and that's given me confidence that I can compete with some of the best runners in the state."
The 400 relay of Shannon Downie, Stevens, Megan Gregory and Henderson also advanced to state by placing fourth (48.64).
Sophom*ore Megan Cameron fell one spot shy of advancing in the pole vault, as she tied for fifth (10-8) after clearing a program-record 11-0 in the district 1 meet.
Also competing at regional was Pasha Johnson-Rivers, who finished ninth in the shot put (35-9 3/4) and the 10th-place 1,600 relay of Watene, Sana Qamar, Megan Hoadley and Stevens (4:06.25).
The Shamrocks scored 56.5 points at regional to finish second behind Gahanna (99) as 39 teams scored.
The boys team had three individual state qualifiers along with the winning 3,200 relay of Simon Alford, Tyndale Hannan, Lucas Bons and Zach Bons (7:53.42).
Scott Cameron was runner-up in the pole vault (14-3), Zach Bons was second in the 1,600 (4:15.43) and Jason Boateng was fourth in the high jump (6-3).
"I was so focused getting into the top four (to qualify for state) that I lost some of my concentration (attempting 14-6)," said Cameron, a senior making his first appearance at state. "I have to make sure I stay focused and control my emotions at state."
Coffman scored 42 points at regional to tie Hilliard Davidson for third behind Pickerington North (91) and Watkins Memorial (49) as 38 teams scored.
Also competing at regional were the 1,600 relay of Justin Boamah, Alford, Zach Bons and Nick Riley-Popovich (fifth, 3:24.96), John Graf in the 1,600 (fifth; 4:21.71), Zach Bons in the 800 (seventh, 1:56.71), Lucas Bons in the 3,200 (eighth, 9:41.19), Stephen Headings in the 100 (10th, 11.53) and Alford in the 800 (14th, 1:59.87).
The Jerome boys team will be represented in the Division I state meet by its 1,600 relay, which placed third (3:20.48) at regional.
The relay was comprised of Nick Foley, Benton Wilson, Trevor Marcus and Aaron Muresan.
Also competing at regional were Muresan in both the 110 hurdles (fifth, 14.85) and 300 hurdles (fifth, 39.48), Bradley Davis in the 3,200 (fifth, 9:24.69) and Alex Jacobs in the pole vault (sixth, 13-6).
Jacobs also qualified for regional in the 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles, but elected to concentrate on the pole vault.
The Celtics finished 10th (21) at regional.
The girls team did not have any state qualifiers.
Competing at regional were Carly Davis in the 3,200 (fifth, 11:01.39), Lexi Grace in the 1,600 (12th, 5:34.33) and the 3,200 relay of Davis, Grace, Rachel Ferguson and Tiffany Hill (eighth, 9:38.59).
The Celtics tied Canal Winchester and Licking Heights for 24th (5).
No members of the Scioto girls team qualified for the Division I state meet, but the Irish had three fifth-place finishes at regional.
Finishing one spot shy of a state berth were Vanessa Robinson in the 800 (2:17.04), Mikhaylan Price in the discus (114-8) and the 3,200 relay of Robinson, Shayla Wigand, Meredith Billman and Maggie Harter (9:30.11).
Also competing at regional were Elo Agbaike in the 100 hurdles (sixth, 15.77) and long jump (ninth, 16-5), Nykee Scruggs, Dominique Tuff, Kali Steele and Tatayana Johnson in both the 800 relay (seventh, 1:43.68) and 400 relay (eighth, 49.22), Monae Williams in the shot put (eighth, 35-10) and discus (15th, 95-9), Wigand in the 800 (12th, 2:22.03), Ariel Arellano in the 3,200 (12th, 11:42.32) and Kymyanna Pannell in the long jump (13th, 15-6 1/2).
The boys team did not score at regional as the 800 relay of Evan Wallace, Dominick Cutchember, Joe Weeks and Francis Cutchember finished 11th (1:30.46).
