State track meet renamed after Jesse Owens

Some key changes and new looks are happening for Ohio high school track and field this spring. Leading the way is that the Ohio High School Athletic Association has renamed the high school state track meet. It will be called the OHSAA Jesse Owens Track and Field State Championships. This year's state track meet is the 90th anniversary of the historic 1936 Olympics where Owens became the first Team USA track athlete to win four gold medals in a single Olympic Games performance. The OHSAA also unveiled the schedule and format with the expansion from three to five divisions. This year's expanded four-day state track event is scheduled for June 4-7 at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the campus of The Ohio State University. The state meet had been a two-day event for decades under the previous format. Competing for Cleveland East Tech High School, Owens won nine state track and field tournament events, including four as both a junior and senior in 1932 and 1933, and set seven state records. At the national interscholastic meet in Chicago his senior year, he set a world record, tied a world record and set a national high school mark. Owens then enrolled at Ohio State, where he performed one of the greatest feats in athletic history at the Big Ten Championships held in Ann Arbor, Mich., on May 25, 1935. Owens set world records in the 220, 220 low hurdles and the long jump and tied the world mark in the 100, all in a span of about 45 minutes. In 1936, Owens qualified for the Olympic Games that were held in Nazi Germany and captured four gold medals, winning the 100, 200, long jump and 4x100 relay. Owens died on March 31, 1980. "We are extremely excited to honor Jesse Owens in this way," said OHSAA executive director Doug Ute. "His name and accomplishments speak for themselves, and having their picture taken in front of his statue during the state championships is the goal of every track and field athlete in Ohio. Renaming the state tournament after Jesse Owens is a natural and will continue to lift up his legacy for everything he meant to Ohio and our country – on and off the track." The OHSAA announced divisional expansion for boys and girls track and field in Jan. 2025. The state track tournament begins 1 p.m., Thursday, June 4 with the first set of Division V field events. The state meet finishes Sunday, June 7 with the Division II running finals which get underway at 1 p.m. With the expansion to five divisions, there has been concern about the potential lack of certified officials coming off of the COVID-19 pandemic. "We have approximately 940 certified officials, which is around a 10 percent increase over the numbers we had coming out of COVID and a four percent increase versus last year, said BJ Duckworth, OHSAA sport administrator and director of officiating development. "I would expect to have around 600 tournament-eligible officials." Duckworth reported the number of district tournaments is unchanged, so there are no major officiating effects or changes in that round. With Division 1 being only around 80-85 teams, they will move directly to a regional tournament. And with no Division I district meets it shifted away any potential burdens as far as shortages of officials. "We will have 16 regional tournaments, four more than in the past. To help offset this additional need, we have done a few things," said Duckworth. "Ten of the 16 regionals will be held on Thursday and Saturday, shifting as much of the officiating burden as possible to the weekend. This will also shift some school travel away from a school day." Lorain County schools will be represented at all five Northeast regional sites. Two Northeast regional sites will host two regional meets. North Royalton will host Divisions 1 and 2. Austintown Fitch will host Divisions 3 and 4. Avon (girls only), Elyria and Lorain will be at Division 1, Region 2 meet on May 28 and 30 at North Royalton High. Regional qualifying athletes from districts from Amherst, Avon (boys), Avon Lake, Midview and North Ridgeville will advance to the Division 2, Region 6 meet on May 27 and 29, also at North Royalton High. Brookside, Elyria Catholic (boys), Firelands, Clearview (boys) and Keystone will be at the Division 3, Region 9 meet on May 28 and 30 at Austintown Fitch High School. Black River (boys), Elyria Catholic (girls), Clearview (girls) and Wellington will be at the Division 4, Region 12 meet on May 27 and 29, also at Austintown Fitch. Black River (girls), Columbia, Lake Ridge, Oberlin and Open Door will be at the Division 5, Region 14 meet on May 28 and 30 at Cuyahoga Heights High School. The lone Northwest school rep from the area, Vermilion, will be at the Division 3, Region 10 meet on May 28 and 30 at Piqua High School. "We wanted to have a wider base because the officiating community is aging," said Duckworth. "We wanted to diversify the base. We started revamping our pool of officials back in the 2022-23 school year before we knew expansion was coming. That allowed us pinpoint people in key officiating positions that we're keeping our eye on for an elevated assignment (meet referee, head umpire, head field judges and clerks). Then expansion started to bubble up towards the end of 2023-24 school year it helped us to identify those as potential (candidates). "With the framework in place early it's helped make the process easier. Some of those folks aren't yet ready. They might need another year or two of mentoring. But being able to rotate those that we rotated out of the referee or head field judge role who were willing for one more year to go back in to help guide the newer person to fill that role should help. It's working because we're halfway from where we need to be. It was good timing." Owens Memorial Stadium was opened in 2001 and is the home of OSU track and field and soccer, as well as other events. The first OHSAA state track meet was hosted there in 2004. The 2025 OHSAA track and field state tournament drew more than 35,000 total people over two days, including fans (29,642), competitors, officials, tournament staff, administrators and media. Contact Paul Heyse at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.