Belpre’s Blake Rodgers competes in the 4x800 meter relay during a track meet earlier this season. (Photo by Aaron Lee)

DAYTON, Ohio — Due to renovations to the track at Ohio State’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, this year’s state track meet will be held at Dayton’s Welcome Stadium.

Washington and Noble counties will be represented at this year’s meet, and several local athletes are in position for high podium placement.

Caldwell’s Gwyn Lori and Shenandoah’s Braxton Barnett both will have a good shot to bring home state titles in Division III.

Lori won the regional shot put title with a throw of 46 feet, 10 inches.

That mark has her ranked first going into the state meet, nearly four inches ahead of second-ranked Brooklynn McIntire of Rootstown (42-11).

As a sophomore at last year’s state meet, Lori threw 38-.75 to finish 10th.

She also qualified for state in the discus. She won the regional at 141-6, which has her seeded second behind Dixie’s Sierra Brinson (147-4). Last year, Brinson was the state runner-up while Lori was 11th at 115-5.

The Redskin junior will be looking for redemption after missing the podium in both events a season ago. She’ll compete in both events Thursday, with the shot put at 3 p.m. and the discus at 6. Also competing in the discus will be Eastern’s Emma Hayes, who is seeded 17th at 120-2.

Barnett figures to have a much different experience at the state meet than he did last year as a freshman. In 2023, Barnett competed in the 300 hurdles and finished eighth (40.40) to find a spot on the podium. This year, he has a chance to win the event as he’s seeded first with a regional time of 37.92. Lowellville’s Michael Ballone (38.28) is seeded second and posted the only regional time within one second of Barnett.

And that’s just one of the four events Barnett will be competing in at state. The Zeps sophomore is seeded third in the 110 hurdles (14.58), fourth in the high jump (6-4) and eighth in the long jump (21-7.75). He has an opportunity to earn All-Ohio honors in four different events. He’ll get started Thursday with the long jump at 3 p.m. and then the high jump at 6. The 110 preliminaries are scheduled for 4:40 while the 300 prelims are at 6:45. Should Barnett advance to Friday’s finals in both hurdles events, he’ll run in the 110 at 6:30 p.m. and the 300 at 7:30.

Shenandoah’s girls team will be represented by Mya Leach in the 200 and Isa Estadt in the 3200. Leach also will be joined by Mackenzie Williamson, Brenna Leach and Rachel Haga in the 4×1.

Estadt is seeded 11th in the two-mile (11:21.69), which is slated for 8 p.m. Friday. Mya Leach comes into the 200 seeded 16th (26.46). The prelims are set for 7 p.m. Thursday.

The 4×1 team clocked in at 50.73 at regionals which has them seeded 15th. They’ll run in the prelims at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

Belpre senior Blake Rodgers, a regular at the state track meet, will compete on the big stage for the final time Friday night. He’s scheduled to run in the 3200 at approximately 8 p.m. Rodgers is projected to finish runner-up in the event for the second year in a row.

The Wright State signee has had quite a progression throughout his high school career. As a freshman, Rodgers ran with teammate and eventual state champ Eli Fullerton in the two-mile. He finished 11th with a time of 10 minutes, 10.64 seconds. Rodgers took a big jump as a sophomore, cutting more than 44 seconds off his time and placing fifth at 9:26.06. Last year, Rodgers’ placed second at 9:26.22.

In this year’s regional meet at Heath, Rodgers finished second in the 3200 with a time of 9:25.81. He was bested only by Whiteoak junior Landen Eyre (9:24.20). Eyre and Rodgers have the top two times going into state competition.

Fort Frye junior Kyndal Buchanan is headed back to the state meet in the pole vault. Buchanan qualified for state as a freshman, finishing 17th at 9-6. After missing out on a return to state as a sophomore, Buchanan vaulted 10-8 at the regional meet to finish fourth and earn her spot. She’s seeded 12th and will compete at 3 p.m. Thursday. She’ll be competing with Federal Hocking’s Annamarie Montle, who is seeded second at 12-1. Montle is a returning All-Ohioan after placing eighth in the D2 pole vault for Athens last year.

Also competing at 3 p.m. Thursday will be Caldwell junior Ethan Crock, who is seeded 10th in the discus at 148-6.

In Division II, Warren will be taking three individuals and a relay team to state.

On the girls side, high jumper Sydney Starcher and pole vaulter Amanda Rauch both will be competing at 9 a.m. Friday.

Starcher cleared 5-3 to place at the regional meet in New Concord. The Warren sophomore is a returning All-Ohioan after placing fifth in the high jump last season at 5-2. Starcher is one of five girls in the event who jumped 5-3 at regionals. There are eight girls in the event who cleared 5-4 or higher, so it should be very competitive.

Rauch was the regional runner-up with a mark of 10-8. The junior is seeded ninth going into state.

Also competing Friday morning will be Eric Carr in the boys long jump. Carr jumped 20-11.25 at regionals and is seeded 16th in the state field.

The Warren boys also will be represented by the 4×8 team of Tave Earley, Kyle Anthony, Spencer Rehl and Tyler Frye. The foursome won the regional title with a time of 8:04.02. They are seeded 10th in the state field and will run at 9:15 a.m. Friday.

Elsewhere in D2, senior Adam Cooper will rep the Morgan Raiders at the state meet. Cooper placed fourth in the 300 hurdles at regionals, clocking in at 40.60. He’s seeded 18th.