State track back where it belongs at the Jesse O

In my senior year of high school, I decided to go out for the Arlington track team because I had nothing else better to do. That came as a surprise to my then-coach, Job Branan, who even said it's not common for seniors to go out for the track team. "Yeah, I realize that's odd, but I'm only doing this because I want something to do and I'm bored," I said. "I don't care really how I do this year and you won't ever really have to coach me at all," an 18-year-old me uttered. My discus throw I think ended up being not much better than 68 feet, and I think the furthest I threw the shot put was maybe 30. I didn't care, I wanted to have fun — which of course, I did — and my performances on the track didn't matter. After spending last weekend at the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium during the OHSAA state track meet, I wish I would've cared because I would've been able to brag to others about making it to state. I've only heard legends about the trip to the Jesse O being special, but I never experienced that myself. Now, after locking up the entire stadium because fellow Courier writer Zach Baker and I were LITERALLY the last two there late Friday night, and watching our area athletes show out, I fully understand why it's heralded as one of the best things in all of Ohio high school sports. That's because of the venue in which it's held. And area athletes seem to agree. "There's a great energy here," Columbus Grove's thrower Tadd Koch said. He finished in third place in the D-III discus. "We've been throwing at all of these smaller venues and this is such a huge jump up. It's awesome and it's something I definitely won't forget." That energy Koch speaks of, I think is what sets this apart from all other state finals I've been fortunate enough to cover. I'll admit, I'm more of a basketball and football guy, but the energy there pales in comparison to what I heard and saw over the weekend. The jubilation of victory and the agony of defeat is on full display from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. for two days straight, with the crowd being just as energetic in the morning as it was in the waning hours was something else. "This was amazing," Carey high jumper and state runner-up Anthony Bell said. "This was my first year coming down here and it's really an amazing experience seeing all these people cheering and watching you jump." That excitement and experience of it feeling like a state meet hasn't really been there since 2019, when it was last held at Jesse Owens. In 2020 — well, we can skip over 2020, and then in 2021, it was held at three different high schools across central Ohio—Hillard Darby, Pickerington North and Westerville North High Schools. It just didn't feel right. "Our No. 1 priority is we want that 'Wow' factor for our student-athletes," OHSAA executive director Doug Ute said at a recent meeting. "We want that 'Wow' factor when they pull up. They should. They deserve that." Man, did the Jesse Owens ever deliver on that. And of course, those kids deserve that, especially with how the last two years have been for them. No one — and I mean NO ONE — has given up as much as the spring sports kids have done in the landscape of high school sports. After having an entire season wiped out and another riddled with COVID restrictions, things felt right again at the Jesse Owens. "I'm so happy we were able to finally get here," Bluffton runner Eden Antrim said. He took fifth in the 1,600-meter run. "I know last year we weren't here, and I'm just so happy to be in a stadium here in Columbus." He's not the only one who felt that way.