Avon High School's boys and girls track teams both placed third at the Division I indoor state championships on March 6 at the Spire Institute in Geneva. Avon Lake's Rileigh Scarvelli dominated the Division II throwing events, repeating as champion in both shot put and weight throw. Bay's Jayden Perrine set a strong mark in the 200-meter dash.
The Division I and II state indoor track and field championships took place on March 6 at the Spire Institute in Geneva, where area teams from northeast Ohio performed strongly. Avon's girls team scored 40 points to secure third place behind Hilliard Davidson (66 points) and Mason (53 points), with all their points coming from track events across seven of the 10 running competitions. Coach Sam Ulery expressed satisfaction, stating, “I’m super happy with where we are. Timewise, they did great. Place-wise, I thought they competed in every race they were in.”
The Avon boys also finished third with 29½ points, primarily from field events, despite competing in Division I while set for Division II outdoors. Huber Heights Wayne won with 48 points, followed by Westerville Central at 38. Senior Max Hauck placed second in the shot put and noted, “Being able to go out there and compete against every level is awesome.” Jackson Hughes contributed third in the long jump (22-8½) and tied for third in the high jump (6-6).
In Division II, Avon's Lake girls took fifth, driven by sophomore Rileigh Scarvelli, who won the shot put (41-3½) by over 2 feet and the weight throw (49-1¼) by nearly 7 feet. Her season-best weight throw of 53-4 ranks first nationally among 10th-graders. Scarvelli said, “Obviously, everybody who is here is really good, so it feels good to win both events.”
Bay's Jayden Perrine shone with second in the 60-meter dash (6.88 seconds) and a Division II 200-meter win in 21.52 seconds, the 10th fastest ever at the indoor state meet. He reflected, “I wanted to be a state champion more than anything.”
Amherst's boys placed third with 23 points, led by Camden Simo's second in the weight throw (57 feet, 9¼ inches). Avon's Kaitlyn Reese competed in four events, helping to second in the 4×800 relay (9:27.77) and third in the 4×400 (3:58.84), while placing seventh in the 1,600 (5:04.97) and sixth in the 800 (2:16.57). She explained, “I was just trying to score points for the team today.”
Ally Brediger added second in the 400 (55.90) and third in the 60 dash (7.56), though disqualified in the 200. Other notables included Paige Justice's fourth in high hurdles (8.68) and Amherst's third in the 4×400 relay (3:23.72).