COLUMBUS — Nathan Streby came within four seconds of a state title last year.
He’ll get another shot at glory Saturday.
The East Knox senior is one of four Knox County athletes headed to Columbus this weekend for the OHSAA state track and field meet, having qualified last week at regionals.
The meet will be held Friday and Saturday at Ohio State University’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
Streby, an Ohio State commit, placed second in the Division III boys 800-meter race last year. He finished with a time of 1 minute, 53.49 seconds – breaking the school record he’d set the weekend prior at regionals, but falling four seconds short of United’s Kaleb Nastari, a Penn State commit whose championship time of 1 minute, 49.56 seconds broke the Division III state meet record (set in 2007) by nearly two seconds.
Nastari’s time last June ranks third all-time at the state meet across all divisions (dating back 114 years).
Nastari and Streby are set to square off one more time at the high school level Saturday at 11 a.m. The seniors will come into the race seeded first and second, respectively, with Nastari (1:49.19) and Streby (1:53.99) both having run their fastest times of the season last weekend at regionals.
Streby is looking to become East Knox’s first state champion in any sport. He defended his Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference (1:59.08), district (1:56.19) and regional (1:53.99) titles this spring, winning last Friday’s regional race at Heath High School by more than four seconds.
This will be Streby’s third and final state trip (his freshman season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). He anchored the Bulldogs’ 4×800-meter relay team that placed 16th at state his sophomore year. Then, as a junior, he anchored the 4×800 and 4×400 teams, which finished fifth and eighth in Columbus, respectively.
Streby’s second-place finish in the 800 last June was the highest East Knox had ever placed in the state meet.
“He is the best runner to go through East Knox in all my years of coaching,” Bulldog head coach Jason Ewalt, in his 28th season at the helm, said Thursday. Streby has broken four school records in track, and he broke the school cross country record last fall.
“He will give it everything he has to try and make it to the top of the podium.”
Streby will be joined in Columbus this weekend by another Bulldog: sophomore thrower Isabella Grennell.
Grennell will be making her first state appearance, having just missed the cut last spring. She will compete in Division III girls shot put at 4 p.m. Friday.
Grennell made it to state by winning districts with a throw of 33 feet, 8 inches, then placing fourth at regionals with a throw of 34 feet, 11.75 inches (the top four finishers in each event at regionals qualify for state, along with two at-large qualifiers). Grennell placed third at this year’s KMAC competition.
Grennell won a district title last year as well, but placed sixth at regionals, narrowly missing the state cut. She will enter Friday’s competition seeded 18th – one of three freshmen or sophomores slated to compete in the event.
Fredericktown freshman Ella Bouton will make her first state appearance this weekend as well, competing in the Division II girls shot put Saturday at 9:30 a.m.
Bouton, one of three freshmen or sophomores on the list, is seeded ninth in the event. She captured a KMAC title (36 feet, 4.25 inches) before finishing third at districts (35 feet) and fifth at regionals (38 feet, 4 inches), earning one of the state’s two at-large bids.
Bouton placed third in the state (all divisions) in discus throw at last year’s OHSAA middle school state track and field meet. She narrowly missed the state cut in discus throw this year, placing sixth at regionals.
Bouton will be joined in Columbus this weekend by her teammate, Fredericktown senior Elsa Hoam.
Hoam will be making her second and final state appearance Saturday at 1:35 p.m., when she will compete in the Division II girls 1,600-meter race. Hoam is seeded 18th in the event.
Hoam won a KMAC title in the mile this season with a time of 5 minutes, 28.68 seconds. She placed second at districts (5:27.93) before finishing fourth at regionals (5:21.50), snagging the final guaranteed state spot.
Hoam placed fourth at regionals in 2021 as well, qualifying for state and placing 13th with a time of 5:25.37. She narrowly missed the state cut last year, placing sixth at regionals.
Hoam, an Ohio Wesleyan University commit, was a two-time all-Ohioan in cross country, having finished 16th in the Division III state race this year and 20th in the Division II state race last year. She qualified for state all four years in cross country.
Click here for more information on how to attend this weekend’s state track and field meet in Columbus.
