Knox Pages will select one student athlete to be recognized as the Park National Bank Athlete of the Month during the 2023-24 school year. Nominations for Athlete of the Month are accepted from Athletic Directors and Coaches, but are ultimately chosen by Knox Pages and are based on the student’s exceptional athletic performance, effective teamwork and achievement in their communities. Park National Bank is proud to support this initiative and is giving the athletic department of each school $1,000 in honor of each athlete chosen.
CENTERBURG – For the second straight year, Payton Tucker stood alone in a Centerburg uniform at the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s State Cross Country meet.
The event wasn’t too big for the sophomore, who beat her previous year’s run by almost a minute. She finished 78th at the state meet with a time of 20:17.1.
“I wasn’t really (nervous),” said Tucker, who was named Park National Bank’s Athlete of the Month for November. “I felt really confident at regionals.
“I was excited because this was what I had worked for all year.”
Tucker’s season began at the Northmor Invitational in August, where she placed second.
Tucker was in the top 10 of every meet from that point forward, with the exception of the Highland Flying Scots Invite, where she came in 11th against mostly Division I runners.
A fifth-place finish at districts in Hilliard, followed by sixth place at regionals in Pickerington, earned Tucker her second straight appearance at state.
Fortress Obetz, which hosted the state event on November 4, has a course which begins with a large hill, then stays relatively flat. The hill didn’t intimidate Tucker – just the opposite.
“I like the big hill at the beginning. I was able to get past it and do the best I could,” Tucker recalled. “The weather was perfect, too.”
Tucker’s journey to state, however, didn’t begin in August. It began even before her freshman year started.
Her journey began when she first watched her older sisters, Elise and Avery, running under the Centerburg banner.
“I saw them run, and it was fun,” Payton said of her sisters. “I definitely started because of them.”
Like Payton, Elise and Avery also paced their way to the state cross country meet. Both helped their respective Trojan teams qualify, while Avery qualified in 2021 as an individual in her senior year.
At the time, the state meet was held at National Trail Raceway in Hebron. The course had smaller hills than the current course at Obetz. Elise, in her senior year, ended her career with a run of 21:47.3. Avery’s last run was 20:58.6.
Bragging rights for Payton?
“I just hope to follow them,” Payton Tucker said. “I look up to them.”
Like her sisters, Tucker also participates on the Centerburg track team. Her focus is on the 800- and 1,600-meter runs, as well as the 4×400.
Away from the course, Tucker is a dedicated student. Her favorite class is art – not a surprise, as she displays a love for all things artistic in her spare time.
Tucker enjoys painting and crochet, but she spends a lot of time on photography, including editing her photos.
Once out of high school, Tucker is considering going into photography of a different sort: She plans to earn a degree and go into radiology.
In between cross country and track seasons, Tucker plans to focus on Cinderella, Centerburg’s upcoming school musical. Like her running career, Tucker is very talented on stage but very humble.
“I don’t really want a main role,” she said. “I really enjoy the background roles. … I did a musical in eighth grade. We alternate between musicals and plays, so I wasn’t in one last year.”
