The Alliance Middle School track & field teams put on dazzling performances at the 2018 Ohio Middle School Association Track & Field Championships in Dublin, OH on Sat, May 19th as the AMS boys ran and jumped their way to a Division 1 State Championship, and the youthful AMS girls finished as the 4th place overall team in Division 2.
Although the AMS boys only had seven athletes competing in the meet, each of the “Super 7” (Gage Ford, Jermaine Lawson, Rylan Thomas, Carva Hancock, Jordan Simms, Ovie Jones, and Richard Kelly) came up with outstanding, point-scoring performances to help lead the team to victory in a hotly contested meet against a field of 27 scoring teams in Division 1. The AMS boys captured six Top 3 performances and 11 Top 10 performances as they edged out Dover Middle School 99-98 to win the State Title.
8th grader Gage Ford was the State Long Jump Champion for the Aviators, with a 16 foot, 9.75 inch leap into a stiff headwind, while 8th grader Jermaine Lawson garnered a pair of 2nd place finishes in the 100 Hurdles and 200 Hurdles. 8th grader Carva Hancock captured 2nd place in the High Jump and 6th place in the 110 Hurdles, while 7th grader Rylan Thomas blitzed to a 3rd place finish in the 100 Meters, and 7th grader Ovie Jones took 5th in the High Jump. Sterling performances by both the 4x100 Meter Relay team (Ford, Thomas, Jones, and Jordan Simms) for 4th place, and the 4x200 Meter Relay team (Simms, Jones, Lawson, and Thomas) for 3rd place, put the State Championship within reach, but it took a gritty 7th place run in the 800 Meters by 7th grader Richard Kelly late in the meet to push the Aviators into the lead for good.
The AMS girls sent ten athletes, including nine 7th graders, to Dublin and each one managed at least one Top 10 State Meet performance. The Lady Aviators were paced by "Lightning" Li'Airah Prather's 4th place finishes in the 100 Meters and 200 Meters, while the 4x100 Relay Team (Xnai Hatcher, Prather, Neveah Russell, and Dymond Oesch) and 4x200 Relay team (Leah Cameron, Hatcher, Oesch, Emma Reese) both also took 4th place. Each of the 4th place finishes also represented the top times in the State Meet by 7th graders and all-7th-grade teams.
The Aviator girls also had a bevy of 7th place finishers - school-record holder La'Kasja Edwards in the Discus, Leah Cameron in the 200 Meters, Bella Guappone in the High Jump, and the lone veteran 8th-grade girl for AMS, Emma Huff, also in the High Jump. Dymond Oesch sparkled in the Long Jump with an 8th place finish, while Leah Cameron added an 8th place finish in the 200 Meters as the Lady Aviators took 4th place out of 34 scoring teams in Division 2 in the meet.
The total points scored by the Alliance Middle School Boys & Girls combined (176 points) ranked #2 behind just Dover among the 90 teams competing in Division 1 and 2 at the 2018 Ohio Middle School Association Track & Field Championships in Dublin, OH.
AMS Boys' Results
Team: State Champions; 1st Place out of 27 scoring teams in Division 1.
1st Place: Gage Ford Long Jump 16 feet, 9.75 inches
2nd Place: Jermaine Lawson 110 Hurdles 16.90 (16.54 PR in Prelims)
2nd Place: Jermaine Lawson 200 Hurdles 29.95 (PR)
2nd Place: Carva Hancock High Jump 5 feet, 2 inches
3rd Place: Rylan Thomas 100 Meters 12.34 (PR) (1st Place 7th grader @ State)
3rd Place: 4x200 Meter Relay (Jordan Simms, Ovie Jones, Jermaine Lawson, Rylan Thomas) 1:42.69 (PR)
4th Place: 4x100 Meter Relay (Gage Ford, Rylan Thomas, Ovie Jones, Jordan Simms) 49.71
5th Place: Ovie Jones High Jump 4 feet, 10 inches (3rd Place 7th grader @State)
6th Place: Carva Hancock 110 Hurdles 19.30
7th Place: Richard Kelly 800 Meters 2:40.36
10th Place: Gage Ford 100 Meters 13.12
12th Place: Carva Hancock 200 Meters 28.16
13th Place: Richard Kelly 1600 Meters 6:01.15
AMS Girls' Results:
Team: 4th place out of 34 scoring teams in Division 2.
4th Place: Li’Airah Prather 200 Meters 28.38 (1st Place 7th grader@ State) (28.10 PR in prelims)
4th Place: Li’Airah Prather 100 Meters 13.60 (1st place 7th grader @State) (13.34 in prelims)
4th Place: 4x100 Relay (Xnai Hatcher, Li’Airah Prather, Neveah Russell, Dymond Oesch) 54.22 (1st Place all-7th-grade team @State)
4th Place: 4x200 Relay (Leah Cameron, Xnai Hatcher, Dymond Oesch, Emma Reese) 1:57.60 (1st Place all-7th-grade team @State)
7th Place: Leah Cameron 200 Meters 29.62 (3rd place 7th grader @State) (28.67 PR in prelims)
7th Place: La’Kasja Edwards Discus 73 feet, 8 inches (3rd place 7th Grader @ State)
7th Place (tie): Emma Huff High Jump 4 feet, 4 inches (PR)
7th Place (tie): Bella Guappone High Jump 4 feet, 4 inches (PR)
8th Place: Leah Cameron 100 Meters 13.83 (13.78 in prelims)
8th Place: Dymond Oesch Long Jump 13 feet, 7 inches (2nd Place 7th Grader @State)
9th Place: Bella Guappone 200 Hurdles 35.17 (PR)
10th Place: Celebrity Brown 100 Hurdles 19.37 (PR)
11th Place: La’Kasja Edwards Shot Put 30 feet, 1 inch
11th Place: Celebrity Brown 200 Hurdles 35.93
16th Place: Emma Reese 100 Meters 14.41
16th Place: Xnai Hatcher 200 Meters 29.80 (PR)
18th Place: Neveah Russell 200 Meters 30.39 (PR)
19th Place: Emma Huff Long Jump 11 feet, 4.5 inches
20th Place: Neveah Russell 100 Meters 14.71