Regional Roundup: Highland's Jett Black, NU's Griffin Osborne earn runner-up medals
LEXINGTON — His afternoon started with jitters. It ended with jubulation.
Highland sophomore Jett Black earned a spot into next week’s state track and field championships by tying for second place in the Division II regional boys pole vault competition May 29 at Lexington High School.
“It was a lot of nerves. During warmups, I wasn’t taking up all my jumps, and that’s what got the nerves getting to me,” he said.
Highland’s Jett Black goes 13-6 in the D-II boys pole vault at Lexington pic.twitter.com/me4GagVnoK
— Rob McCurdy (@McMotorsport) May 29, 2025
Once he found his rhythm in competition, Black proved his indoor pole vaulting state championship was no fluke. He finished at 14 feet, 8 inches to match the mark of Ottawa-Glandorf’s Alex Schoreder. Liberty-Benton’s Stefan Kolan won the event with a vault of 15-6.
“Once I took up that first jump at 14-4 on my bigger poles, all those nerves went away and it started clicking for me,” Black said.
The goal was to just make the top four to assure an automatic berth into the field at the state meet in Ohio State’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
“Once I started jumping well and realized I was up there, it was like pure shock to be honest. I wasn’t really expecting it. I was really happy about it,” Black said of his finish.
Griffin Osborne also a regional runner-up
Coming out of last week’s River Valley district meet, North Union junior Griffin Osborne was placed in the first flight at Thursday’s boys long jump competition and not seeded to be a podium finisher, going 20 feet, 6 inches just days earlier.
On May 29th, he outjumped expectations. Osborne went 22-1 to not only finish on the podium and not only earn a state bid but end as a D-II regional runner-up.
“The goal was to just get fourth,” he said,. “Everybody else was jumping really good, too. I didn’t think I was going to jump that.”
He opened his day with a leap of 20-3 1/4, then popped his second-place jump on his next attempt. He nearly matched it on his third try, going 21-11 1/2, but he was safely on the podium and then some. Only Toledo Central Catholic’s Victor Singleton who went 22-11 1/2 was better on Thursday.
“Just try to get farther,” Osborne said of his mindset after his second jump. “Especially with whoever got first, he’s too good. It’s good to have that type of competition to push myself.”
Other field event competitors at Lexington
Black and Osborne were the only Marion-area athletes to earn D-II state berths by finishing in the top four during the first night of regionals from Lexington.
River Valley sophomore Ben Isler was the only other podium finisher by ending in the top eight, taking seventh in the boys pole vault at 14-0.
North Union’s Wyatt Davis was 12th in the boys long jump at 19-11, and River Valley’s Madalyn Gwinner was 11th in the girls shot put at 34-6. RV’s Jackson Kloha fouled on his three boys discus attempts, and RV’s Averie Strine did not make the opening height in the girls high jump.
Athletes advance to May 31 regional finals
The sprints, hurdles and relays held semifinals with the top eight times advancing to the regional finals set for May 31 at 12:30 p.m.
North Union sophomore Gabby Lindsey was second in the girls 400 meters at 56.47 seconds. She was also fifth in the 200 at 25.24.
Highland senior Toby Rogers was fourth in the boys 300 hurdles at 41.54, and teammate and fellow senior Kameron Stover was eighth in the girls 400 at 59.28.
The 800, 1600 and 3200 runs place everyone into Saturday’s finals. Competing from the Marion-area will be River Valley’s Erica Mason and Highland’s Reagan Maibach in the girls 800, North Union’s Lauren Hall in the girls 1600 and 3200 and Highland’s Matthew Miller in the boys 3200.
Competing in field event finals Saturday at 11 a.m. will be River Valley’s Finley Blevins and Eva Moran and North Union’s Stella Hancock in the girls pole vault, Lindsey in the girls long jump, and Gwinner and Highland’s Kynzie Green in the girls discus.
Other regional results from Lexington
Finals for the girls and boys 4×800-meter relays were held May 29th with North Union’s girls finishing 16th in 10:41.88 and Highland’s boys finishing 14th in 8:38.79.
In Thursday’s semifinals, Hancock was 15th in 21.72 in the girls 100 hurdles, Stover 15th in 13.13 in the girls 100, North Union’s Nick VanHoose 16th in 11.58 in the boys 100, North Union’s girls 12th in 1:48.13 in the 4×200 relay, River Valley’s boys 15th in 1:33.54 in the 4×200 relay, North Union’s girls 15th in 51.95 and Highland’s girls 16th in 52.76 in the 4×100 relay, and North Union’s boys 13th in 44.67 and RV’s boys 15th in 45.12 in the 4×100 relay.
D-II regional results from Piqua
The boys from Mount Gilead and Pleasant competed at the Division II regional in Piqua on May 29.
MG missed a state berth by one spot and 0.41 seconds in the 4×800 relay, running fifth in 8:01.63.
MG’s Kasen Wallace tied for eighth in the pole vault at 12-6. Teammate Gauge Shipman posted no result in the discus.
Two area runners advanced to the May 31 finals from Thursday. MG’s Tae Davis was sixth in the 110 hurdles at 15.36, and Pleasant’s Sean Murphy was fourth in the 400 at 43.53.
Pleasant’s Jacob Myers in the high jump and MG’s Joey Baldwin in the shot put will compete in Saturday’s field event finals. Also running on May 31 will be MG’s Liam Stalnaker in the 800, MG’s Will Baker and Owen Hershner in the 1600 and Baker, MG’s Henry Bartlett and Pleasant’s Joey Dietsch in the 3200.
Failing to advance out of the semifinals were Wallace in the 110 hurdles (13th, 16.19) and 300 hurdles (14th, 43.53), MG’s 4×200 relay (ninth, 1:32.47), Pleasant’s 4×400 relay (10th, 3:32.91) and MG’s 4×400 relay (12th, 3:36.11).
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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Regional Roundup: Marion-area D-II athletes heading to state track
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