HEATH — In his steady senior season, Valley’s Justin Moore made quite sure he didn’t in any way rock his proverbial boat —en route to his third and final coveted trip to the Division III state track and field meet.

His goal was to be back throwing for the first Friday in June, and go all out for the state championship — in not one but two events.

Moore did just that last week —capturing Region 11 championships in both the boys shot put and discus throw at Heath High School.

For Friday’s shot put, he repeated as the regional champion — having won last season’s competition at Southeastern with a then school-record throw of 58 feet and three full inches.

This time, he only needed 57 feet and three-fourths of an inch in the regional to win —as the top four placers in each event at the regional meet qualify for the state meet.

He was four feet better than the regional runner-up throw of Ashland Crestview senior Noah Stewart (53 feet), and seven feet greater than the regional third-place performer —Coal Grove senior Daniel Lunsford (50 feet and one-half inch).

Before Moore repeated as regional champion, he did so at the Southeast District Division III meet at Nelsonville-York —winning a second consecutive district title with a meet record throw of 58-4 3/4.

The six-foot and four-inch senior Moore — a Boston University signee — is now a three-time state meet qualifier in the D-III boys shot put, and already is a two-time all-Ohioan in the event.

As a sophomore, he was eighth —before finishing fifth out of 18 throwers a year ago, and breaking his own personal record and Valley High School mark with a best throw of six of 58 feet and six and one-quarter inches.

Since then, he broke those records yet again —which now stands at 63 feet and exactly one inch.

The top eight placers in each event at the state meet earn team points, and individually amass all-Ohio accolades.

Moore has his sights set on that shot put state championship, which will likely take that 63-1 — or even better possibly — in order to win.

He also returns to the state in the discus throw — which he qualified for as a sophomore but missed out on as a junior.

Not only is Moore back in the state discus, he is back in the biggest of ways — a regional champion in the event on Wednesday, with a school record throw of 177 feet and eight inches.

Stewart, the runner-up in that event as well, was the only other Division III boy to throw over 150-and-a-half feet —as he hit 171 feet and a single one inch.

Moore could have been a four-time state meet qualifier, but his freshman season of 2020 was canceled by the Ohio High School Athletic Association because of the coronavirus threat.

Moore gained 20 of the Indians’ 24 team points —a pair of 10-point triumphs for each of his championships.

The other four belonged to sophomore Dane Smith —a first-time regional qualifier for Valley, who competed in the shot put alongside Moore.

As a team, the Indians tied for ninth — with Norwalk St. Paul.

Smith’s best throw of six was 48 feet and seven and three-quarter inches, as the top nine prelim throws of the 16 regional qualifiers automatically advance to the finals.

There are three preliminary throws and three finals throws for those nine shot put and discus participants, with the best throw of six standing as that thrower’s official mark.

The only other immediate area qualifier was Oak Hill junior Garrett McKinniss in the boys 400m dash, as he completed the one-lap race and finished fourth in 51.12 seconds.

For the Division III girls, Notre Dame senior Charlie Lansing finished fifth in Wednesday’s prelims of the 100m hurdles, as she placed seventh in Friday’s finals —in a time of 16.74 seconds to score two points.

Oak Hill senior Ivy Gentry gained one point for the Lady Oaks — an eighth-place effort in the girls long jump.

As for Moore, he throws for the final time as a high school student-athlete on Friday —in the Division III state meet inside Ohio State University’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.

His shot put competition is at 1 p.m., followed at 4 p.m. by his discus throw.

Before that, McKinniss competes in the 400m dash semifinals at 11:10.

A complete list of results from the Division III Region 11 track and field meet can be found at www.oh.milesplit.com.

4 from Scioto County qualify

from Division II Region 7 meet

NEW CONCORD — Scioto County also enjoyed having a regional champion in the Division II Region 7 meet at Muskingum University—as Minford senior Luke Rader took home the boys high jump championship.

Rader was one of four individuals from the county qualifying for the D-II state meet — joining junior Charles Putnam of Portsmouth, senior Gracie Perkins of Wheelersburg, and freshman teammate Peyton Caudill of Minford.

Only Putnam is making a second state appearance —having made last season’s state meet in the boys 1,600m run, and doing so as one of two at-large state qualifiers in that event.

Rader, on Thursday for the meet’s first day, recorded a best jump of exactly 22 feet —on his first jump in fact of a possible six.

But Rader only took, and as it turned out, one more turn —and hit 21 feet and 10 inches on his second attempt.

The long jump, like the two throwing events, features a total of six jumps for the nine finalists —three preliminary jumps and three more for the finals.

With Rader’s first two jumps, he opted to pass on the final four — as the second through fifth-place jumpers all ranged from 21 feet and seven inches to 21 feet even.

That further secured Rader’s lock on the regional title, as he had already won the Southeast District Division II championship at Washington Court House —with a best jump of six of 21 feet and a quarter inch.

No other jumpers at the district meet even got to 19-10.

At last season’s rainsoaked regional meet at Chillicothe’s Herrnstein Field, Rader jumped 20 feet and eight inches for his best leap — and missed qualifying for the state among the top four by a mere razor-thin three inches.

However, Rader redeemed himself in this final try —as he has signed to jump, and run, at Marshall University.

In fact, he attempted to qualify for the state in two events —as he finished sixth in 15.44 for three points in the 110m high hurdles.

Rader will be joined at the state by his Falcon teammate Caudill —who finished fourth in Saturday’s regional finals of the boys 200m dash.

Caudill qualified for Saturday’s finals by dashing 22.68 seconds in Thursday’s prelims —good enough for fifth from the top two in each semifinal heat, followed by the next four fastest times.

Caudill then punched his state ticket by finishing fourth in the finals —in 22.17 seconds to edge the fifth-place finisher, Rashid Sesay (22.22) of West Muskingum, by a mere five one-hundredths of a second.

The top four times —including third-place Nathan Baker of Carrollton in 22.16 —were all within eight one-hundredths of a second of each other.

The Falcons finished with 14 team points —garnering a four-way tie for 10th.

Caudill, in 23.12 seconds, was the Southeast District Division II 200m runner-up —to Washington Court House’s Mason Coffman on his home track.

Putnam then followed Caudill’s qualifying in the very next boys event —the two-mile run covering 3,200 meters.

Putnam, in a fast nine minutes and 24 seconds and 81 one-hundredths of another second, placed just behind the race winner —and new regional record holder in the 3,200m — senior Marcus Runkle of Fairfield Union.

Runkle ran a 9:24.46 —officially becoming the new record holder, which was previously set a decade-and-a-half ago by Warren’s Tyler Cantley (9:30 in 2008).

Putnam posted eight Trojan team points, and cut his regional time down by a full 28 seconds —as he ran the two miles in nine minutes and 52 seconds a season ago, and finished fifth.

Had Putnam qualified in that particular two-mile, he would have needed to run at least 22 seconds faster.

A two-time all-Ohioan, and two-time top-1o placer, in the Division II boys state cross country race —he was the Southeast District’s Division II 3,200m champion, in 9:55.68.

The only female from Scioto County qualifying for the state meet was Wheelersburg sophomore Gracie Perkins in the high jump —the Southeast District Division II champion in that event in clearing an even five feet.

At the regional on Thursday, Perkins cleared five feet and three inches and finished third — defeating Laney Duff of West Holmes on the fewest misses tiebreaker for that third-place spot.

Perkins had all six of the Lady Pirates’ team points, as Meadowbrook senior Camden Black (5-5) and Warren freshman Sydney Starcher (5-4) were the champion and runner-up.

For the Wheelersburg boys, they had one point — junior Cody Risner with a 150-foot throw in the discus.

Minford’s only other point-gainer was sophomore Gavin Downey in the boys 800m run —as he was seventh for two points in two minutes and one second.

For Friday at the state meet at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, Rader (boys long jump) and Perkins (girls high jump) will both compete bright and early at 9:30 a.m. —while Caudill competes in the 200m dash semifinals at 3:50 p.m.

Putnam will run once again on Saturday —in the afternoon at 2:45.

A complete list of results from the Division II Region 7 track and field meet can be found at www.oh.milesplit.com.

Reach Paul Boggs at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1926, by email at [email protected], or on Twitter @paulboggssports © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved