Area Athletes Brings Back Plunder from State Track Meet
COLUMBUS—The local athletes invaded Columbus with 13 athletes competing in 13 separate events. Most came home with hardware by being part of the top eight finisher. The top eight scored points and received medals.
Lynsey Shipley and Ellie Ruby each won medals for the fourth year in a row ending their careers as two of the most decorated track athletes from Scioto County. In 2018, Shipley won four medals and Ruby won three with one being a State Championship. For Shipley, her four-year total stands at 11 with one championship and Ruby ends with ten medals and two championships.
Lynsey Shipley led the charge with the most medals as the Portsmouth senior qualified in four events and scored in all four events. This was the second time that she medaled four times in the same year. The last time was when she was a sophomore. On Friday Shipley qualified in all three running events (100m, 200m and 400m Dashes) and then placed 4th in the long jump, leaping 17-9 in the preliminaries to head into the finals in third place. That jump held on for fourth place.
On Saturday in the running finals, Lynsey Shipley fought her way to a fifth-place finish in the 100m dash with a time of 12.36, nearly 0.2 seconds better than the preliminaries. She came back just under an hour later to place second with a strong finish in the 400m dash with a time of 56.80, just 0.4 seconds off of the championship. The time was 0.58 better than her preliminary time. In 2017, her state championship time was 56.28.
Shipley completed her stellar career with a fourth-place finish in the 200m dash in a time of 25.36.
Ellie Ruby finished her outstanding career with her second State Championship in the Long Jump.
On Friday, Ruby qualified to both the finals of the 100m and 300m Hurdles with the third fastest time in both fields. The Wheelersburg senior had qualified in four events to the state meet but dropped out of Wheelersburg’s 4x400m relay team since the event was less than an hour before the Long Jump.
In the Long Jump, Ellie Ruby had three preliminary jumps. The top nine of the field moved onto the finals. Ruby’s first two jumps were fouls for no recorded distance. Another foul would put her out of the contest.
Down to one final chance, she successfully placed her foot on the board and leaped 17 ft 9 in to take first place in the preliminaries.
On the first jump of the finals Ellie Ruby hit 18-3 ¼. By the time she stepped up for her last jump, that leap had secured her the championship. But she leaped for her second-best measurement of her career with a jump of 18 feet 6 ½ inches on the last attempt. Her school record stands at 18-7 in the event.
On Saturday, Ellie Ruby started with the 100m Hurdles. She cleared the first six smoothly but hit the seventh badly and stumbled into another hit at the eighth hurdle. She cleared the last two to hold onto seventh place with a time of 14.94. Her time in the preliminaries would have placed her fourth and her personal best of 14.35 would have only placed her third in the state field.
Seventy minutes later, Ruby completed her high school career by improving her preliminary time in the 300m Hurdles to finish third. She was 1/100th of a second behind second place and 1/100th of a second in front of fourth place.
Breydan Tilley of Minford qualified to the state in three events. He qualified on Friday to the finals in the 100m Hurdles. He was 17th in the preliminaries in the 300m Hurdles and did not advance to the finals. In the afternoon, the senior participated in the High Jump. He missed the first attempts at 6-0 and 6-2 but cleared them on the second attempt. He cleared 6-4 and 6-5 on his third and final attempt at each height to claim sixth place.
On Saturday, Breydan Tilley cleanly covered the ten hurdles in the 110m race to take fifth place with a time of 14.87, nearly identical to his preliminary time in an impressive show of consistency.
Wheelersburg’s Paige Emnett qualified to the state in both throwing events. She was 16th in discus with a toss of 105-6. Her personal best remains at 120-1 from the district meet.
In the Shot Put competition, Paige Emnett threw 39-6.5 in the prelims to make the finals sitting in fourth place. The Junior was able to reach 40-2 in the finals but two more passed her mark to drop her to 6th place.
Wheelersburg girls also send two relay teams to the state meet. The 4x100m relay team of Gabby Deacon, Lani Irwin, Lauren Jolly and Libby Miller won their preliminary race as the only team to finish in front of them was disqualified. In the finals, they ran 51.16, just 7/100th off their preliminary time. But this time placed them eighth overall. The team of a junior, two sophomores and a freshman holds the Wheelersburg record in the event with a time of 50.96 which they ran at the Regional meet.
The Lady Pirates’ 4x400m Relay of Alyssa Dingus, Lani Irwin, Gabby Deacon and Lauren Jolly placed 18th with a time of 4:21.65.
The only area athletes to qualify to the state in Division II was Northwest Boys’ 4x800m relay team. Necessity forced a change of one of the legs of the relay from the qualifying squad and Gabe Morrell replaced Harald Rundquist. But the now-team of one sophomore and three freshmen (Billy Crabtree, Josh Shope, Gabe Morell and Landen Smith) finished 18th in a time of 8:41.56.
The state track meet added a different twist this year. Usually the top four finishers in each event in each regional advance to the state. This year in all the running events, they opened two berths to the next two best times out of all the regions to fill all nine lanes of the track at Jesse Owens Stadium. While there were 18 participants in the running events this year, there were still only 16 in each of the field events.
Wheelersburg and Portsmouth tied for seventh place in the state for Girls Division III with 22 points each. Wheelersburg got 18 points from Ellie Ruby, three from Paige Emnett and one point from the 4x100m relay team and Portsmouth’s 22 points all came from Lindsey Shipley. Minford boys were 30th in a four-way tie thanks to Breydan Tilley’s seven points.
Division II Results:
Boys’ 4x800m Relay: 18) McDermott Northwest (Billy Crabtree, Josh Shope, Gabe Morrell, Landen Smith) 8:41.56
Division III Results:
Girls’ Results: 7Tie) Wheelersburg/Portsmouth 22
100m Hurdles: 7) Ellie Ruby (Wb) 14.94
100m Dash: 5) Lynsey Shipley (Po) 12.36
4x100m Relay: 8) Wheelersburg (Gabby Deacon, Lauren Jolly, Lani Irwin, Libby Miller) 51.16
400m Dash: 2) Lynsey Shipley (Po) 56.80
300m Hurdles: 3) Ellie Ruby (Wb) 44.71
200m Dash: 4) Lynsey Shipley (Po) 25.36
4x400m Relay: 18) Wheelersburg (Alyssa Dingus, Lani Irwin, Gabby Deacon, Lauren Jolly) 4:21.65
Discus: 16) Paige Emnett (Wb) 105-6
Long Jump: 1) Ellie Ruby** (Wb) 18-6 ½, 4) Lynsey Shipley (Po) 17-7
Shot Put: 6) Paige Emnett (Wb) 40-2
Boys’ Results: 30) Minford 7
110m Hurdles: 5) Breydan Tilley (Mn) 14.87
300m Hurdles: (Prelims): 17) Breydan Tilley (Mn) 41.81
High Jump: 6) Breydan Tilley (Mn) 6-5
Long Jump: 6) Lane Ruby (SE) 21-3 ½
Lynsey Shipley medals (All Division III):
2015 8th in the 400m dash, (13th in the 100m dash, 13th in the 200m dash)
2016 2nd in the 400m dash, 5th in the 100m dash, 6th in the 200m dash and 6th in the long jump
2017 1st in the 400m dash, 3rd in the long jump
2018 2nd in the 400m dash, 4th in the 200m dash, 4th in the long jump, 5th in the 100m dash.
Ellie Ruby medals (2015-17 Division II, 2018 Division III):
2015 5th in the long jump, 5th in the 100m Hurdles, 8th in the 300m Hurdles
2016 1st in the long jump, 2nd in the 100m Hurdles, (9th in the 300m Hurdles)
2017 4th in the long jump, 2nd in the 100m Hurdles, (9th in the 300m Hurdles)
2018 1st in the long jump, 7th in the 100m Hurdles, 3rd in the 300m Hurdles