State track, Days 2 and 3: 7 named All-Ohio; 'Burg boys finish fourth in state standings
COLUMBUS — To say that the 2026 OHSAA Track and Field State Championship Meet was a fruitful one for Scioto County would be an understatement.
That was evidenced on the final two days of competition for Scioto County’s best and brightest in the sport.
In all, a total of seven individuals earned All-Ohio honors over the final two days of competition, with South Webster’s Braden Mantell, West’s Keagan Salem and Wheelersburg’s Ella Hochstetler, Kenyon Evans, Ison Emnett, Cashton Adkins and Hunter Lawson all earning All-Ohio accolades to cap off the 2026 OHSAA Track and Field season.
Day 2 — Ella Hochstetler
Beginning Friday afternoon in the shot put, Wheelersburg’s Ella Hochstetler earned her second All-Ohio honor of the 2026 OHSAA Outdoor Track and Field season, throwing 42 feet and a half-inch to claim third place in the event — just 16 hours after winning the 2026 OHSAA Division IV State Championship in girls shot put.
Hochstetler, who threw 39 feet, four inches on her second throw — good enough on its own for a sixth-place finish in the final rundown — upped that to third place with her 42-foot, half-inch toss on her third attempt.
“I wanted to forget about what happened (on Thursday), even if it was the best thing in the world,” Hochstetler said. “As soon as you get that medal, you forget about it and you move on. You get your mindset right and you really focus on today, because it’s a brand-new day and a day to work hard and show off the hard work that I’ve been putting in during the offseason.”
That final result proved to a massive improvement from 2025, where Hochstetler finished 17th after posting a best of 37-foot, two-and-three-quarters inch throw in the OHSAA Division II State Championships.
“It’s honestly super exciting,” Hochstetler said. “I want to improve from year-to-year. Next year, I want to move up to second or first (in the shot put), and if it doesn’t work out to be one or two, keeping that same spot, but making sure that my throws are further or consistently in the same area.”
The most amazing part of it all? Hochstetler earned two All-Ohio honors in both throwing events, while battling mononucleosis and spending parts of days in the hospital.
“I’m beyond proud that I was able to get a third-place finish considering all the circumstances of this week and being sick,” Hochstetler said. “I’m just so grateful to be here and to have the amazing support.”
Day 2 — Braden Mantell
Following Hochstetler, South Webster’s Braden Mantell capped off a terrific distance running career with an impressive fifth-place finish in the boys 1,600 meter run.
In doing so, Mantell posted a season and personal-best time of 4:21.90 in the four-lap event.
Mantell led the opening lap of the event and was second after two laps. He never faded out of the top five, and ran split times of 1:02.56 on Lap 1 and 1:01.90 on Lap 4 to close out the impressive performance.
Only Ansonia’s Bennett Lehman, Beckett Negley, Samuel Philpot and Nigel Wenger had better performances.
“I led our regional (last week),” Mantell said. “I’m used to going to the front in the 1,600. I did what I could from there. They passed me up a little bit, but I stuck with them. They just had a better kick to them. However, I’m happy with how I raced. I gave it all I had.”
The finish added to a terrific week for South Webster. The Jeeps’ 4-by-800 relay team, which included Mantell along with fellow runners Liam Osborne, Logan Mantle, and Aiden Rowland along with reserve runners Brayden Weist, Cade McGraw and Griffin Allard, advanced to the state meet for the first time in 19 years, while the South Webster baseball program advanced to the OHSAA Final Four for the first time in program history.
“It’s awesome,” Mantell said. “The baseball team made it to state, our 4-by-800 got here (to Columbus) for the first time in 19 years and ran here yesterday, and now this. Being able to represent South Webster is just special. It’s a great community and we’re really putting ourselves on the map right now.”
Day 2 — Keagan Salem
Before the second weekend of May, West’s Keagan Salem had never participated in the 300 meter hurdles.
Three weeks later, the sophomore is an All-Ohioan, as one of Southern Ohio’s youngest rising stars in track and field finished in sixth place with his time of 40.47 in the event.
“It’s a huge deal,” Salem said. “I worked all season. This event is something that just camp up recently (as I just started it). I ran it at the conference meet, not expecting it to be my best event. I had to work hard and practice at it. It’s just a blessing to even be here. It’s so unexpected in an event that you never really do.”
Racing in the far lane, Salem edged out Ashland Crestview’s Max Durbin by seven-hundredths of a second and also beat North Adams’ Coy Fogle as well as Blanchester’s Casey Gilbert in the meet. Salem was not only the Southeast District’s fastest individual in the race, but the second-fastest non-senior in the event across all of Ohio in the OHSAA Division IV realm.
“It’s just really windy,” Salem said. “There’s a headwind. That start had to be good. I had to use it to my advantage at the beginning and get a good start, get a good top speed. Just coming through and maintaining top speed and if you’re facing that wind, just pray. Pray that you can hold your form and get through every hurdle without falling.”
Now, Salem will look to repeat the feat over the next two OHSAA State Track and Field Meets in both 2027 as well as 2028.
“It’s great,” Salem said. “Great community. I love everyone here. I had a couple of guys and some of my friends, my football coach, my principal all come down and support me. I wouldn’t trade this for the world. It’s great.”
Wheelersburg boys track and field — Kenyon Evans, Cashton Adkins, Ison Emnett, Hunter Lawson
Enjoying dominating efforts to close out Scioto County’s stay at the OHSAA State Track and Field Meet, the Wheelersburg Pirates’ boys track and field programs put on an absolute clinic on both Friday evening as well as Saturday morning.
Kenyon Evans, who has come up large time and again as one of the state’s premier jumping talents, joined Hochstetler in obtaining two All-Ohio honors.
Evans started that run with a personal best long jump of 24 feet, one-and-a-half inches to claim second place in the finals of the OHSAA Division III Boys Long Jump.
A masterful performance, one that was second in all of Ohio and the 81st best long jump in the entire United States among all high schoolers, would’ve won a state title in the additional four divisions that the OHSAA offers in track — but Cleveland Glenville’s Jay’vier Kerr was able to post a 24-foot, six-inch performance to win the event.
“Coming in, I knew I was good enough to go to state and compete with the best, so it was all pretty mental for me,” Evans said. “I needed to get myself out of this mental barrier so I really focused on that this past week.”
Still, Evans not only placed second in the long jump — but then added in a third-place mark in the high jump the following day. Clearing six feet, six inches on his first attempt at the mark, Evans was only outjumped by Orrville’s Mark Lorson and Springfield Northwestern’s Braylon Parker in the event.
“It means a lot,” Evans said. “To come out at state and perform was the goal this year, and that is what I came out and did. I am very happy with the outcome.”
Evans wasn’t the only one of the Wheelersburg contingent to do just that.
In fact, three Wheelersburg throwers added in three top-five finishes themselves to each claim one All-Ohio honor apiece.
Friday’s discus throw saw Marshall signee and Wheelersburg senior Cashton Adkins come up with a large number.
Throwing 171 feet, 10 inches on his second throw, Adkins’ mark was only behind that of Youngstown Ursuline’s Connor Crilley (173 feet) and Firelands’ Brett Beury (188 feet, eight inches) as Adkins capped off his final event on the podium as well.
Fellow senior teammate Ison Emnett, a Shawnee State signee, and Hunter Lawson added to the accolades on Saturday.
Just missing the podium in discus on Friday with a 155-foot, one-inch toss in that event, Emnett led the OHSAA Division III pack in shot put through two flights of throws after posting a 58-foot, nine-and-a-quarter inch launch on his second attempt.
Emnett would barely miss out on adding a state title to the hardware for Wheelersburg after Springfield Northwestern’s Crew Estep threw a 59-foot, half-inch mark on his third try to get the lead and retain it from there, but the senior held onto second place, while Lawson enjoyed a terrific outing with a monstrous fourth throw by posting a 57-foot, three-and-a-quarter inch toss for his personal best in the shot.
Both players, as a result, made it to the podium themselves.
“It’s awesome seeing them succeed,” Evans said of Adkins, Emnett, Hochstetler and Lawson. “I grew up with most of them so seeing them succeed makes me happy.”
Because of the above efforts, the Wheelersburg boys track and field program posted a program-best finish at the state meet, as their four All-Ohioans — Adkins, Emnett, Evans and Lawson — combined for all 33 Wheelersburg points for a fourth-place finish in the OHSAA Division III State Championship standings from a team perspective. The Pirates led the OHSAA Division III standings by 13 points at one point.
Only Glenville, Woodridge and Bishop Hartley finished higher in the final rundown.
“It’s awesome,” Evans said. “We’re certainly one of the best track teams to ever come through Wheelersburg, if not the best.”
For their overall success, Evans credited the Wheelersburg community for their support.
“It has gave us motivation to do everything that we needed to do,” Evans said, “and we’ve exceed our expectations and goals because of it.”
ADDITIONAL:
Notre Dame’s Ryan Purcell and Portsmouth’s JJ Purcell rounded out the state meet by finishing 13th (5:23.37) in the 1,600 meter run and 15th (10:09.43) in the 3,200 meter run, respectively.
