Oak Hill High School

For the 9th straight season (longest streak in OHTF Program History) and 20th time in the last 21 seasons (after a 7 year drought) OHTF is sending an athlete or relay to the IHSAA State Finals! Thursday the Golden Eagles not only earned their 4th straight team Top 10 finish at the IHSAA Fort Wayne Carroll Regional but also qualified athletes for the 2026 State Finals in 3 events. On the night the Golden Eagles scored 21 points to finish 8th. It is the 2nd straight 8th place finish for OHTF and along with the impressive 4th straight Top 10's have now been Top 10 7 of the last 8 seasons. Perennial BIG School powers Homestead, Fort Wayne Northrop, and host Carroll went 1-2-3. Golden Eagles Juniors Jalen Scott and Kyle Brower both grabbed Regional Runner Up finishes to earn Top 3 Automatic State Qualifying spots. Both came agonizingly close to Regional Titles. Scott who was the Regional Champion in the 100 Meter Dash a year ago was just out-leaned at the line by an athlete from Northrop to take 2nd in 10.7. Scott not only earned a return trip to State with a Top 3 finish but also blew past the State Standard or 10.9. Brower matched Scott with a 2nd Place finish and hitting the State Standard of 14-9 in the Pole Vault. Brower set a new personal best clearing 14-9 and was in the lead with just 2 vaulters left before a jumper from Carroll set two personal bests to bump Brower back to 2nd. Both Scott and Brower's marks were 2nd best all time for OHTF. Scott matched Delmar Terry in 1986 and 1987 as the only multi time State Qualifiers in the 100 Meter Dash while Brower matches now OHTF Assistant Coach Gavin Holz as the only multi time OHTF Pole Vault State Qualifiers. The surprise of the night came during the 1st event when the Golden Eagle 4x800 Meter Relay ran a 14 second season best 7:59 to finish 4th. While the Top 3 auto qualifier spot was not reached (Homestead 7:54, Carroll 7:57, Yorktown 7:58) the Golden Eagles earned 1 of 6 callbacks to the State Finals with the 4th best non-Top 3 finishing time in the entire State. Team members were Junior Wyatt Hart, Senior Caden Myers, Sophomore Christian Smiley, and Senior Corban Tippey. 3 of the 4 Golden Eagles set major new lifetime bests in the event to punch the ticket to State. Hart led off in 1:59, Myers posted a 2:01 while Smiley posted nearly a 5 seconds personal best at 2:02, and Tippey anchored in an impressive 1:55. Tippey's split was the fastest of any athlete in the relay running any leg from any school. Both the relay time of 7:59 and Tippey's split rank 3rd All Time in Program History. Only the State Medal Podium relays in 2023 and 2024 ran faster in 7:46 and 7:52 while Tippey ties Landon Biegel at 1:55 for 3rd best split ever trailing only Owen Jackson's 1:52 and Trenton Sweet's 1:54. By qualifying for the State Finals it marked the 5th time in the last 6 seasons the 4x8 has advanced to the State Finals for the Golden Eagles. That is a State Best for any small school and a relay. Other finishers on the night were Junior Meyer Middlesworth taking 10th in the Pole Vault with a new personal best jump of 12 feet. Senior Thane Jones competing for the last time took 11th in the Shot Put with another throw over 48 feet. Hart doubled back in the 3200 Meter Run to post a personal best 10:02 to take 11th as well. Junior Luke Elzinga took 13th in the Long Jump with a jump pushing 21 feet. The other relay performance in the night was the 4x100 Meter Relay taking 11th in 43.7. The time just off their season best and 3rd fastest in OHTF Program History. Team members were Scott, Senior Jerald Graves, a long with Juniors Cayden Jones and Dylan Archer. Scott, Brower, and the 4x8 Relay now compete in the IHSAA State Finals on Saturday June 6th at North Central High School.