OHSAA announces state track meet will be named after Owens

COLUMBUS – The Ohio High School Athletic Association has announced that its annual track and field state championships in early June will be named after track and field legend and pioneer Jesse Owens, while the OHSAA also unveiled the schedule and format for this year's event with the expansion to five divisions. The OHSAA Board of Directors unanimously accepted a proposal from OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute that, effective immediately, the event be renamed the OHSAA Jesse Owens Track and Field State Championships. This year, 2026, is the 90th anniversary of the historic 1936 Olympics, after which Jesse Owens was nicknamed "Superman" for his unprecedented accomplishments under intense scrutiny and at a time of significant global uncertainty. Owens was a four-event champion in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, winning gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter races, the long jump and as a member of the 400 relay team. The state tournament, which this year expands from three to five divisions, will be held over four days at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the campus of The Ohio State University June 4-7. In January 2025, the OHSAA announced the expansion of the track and field postseason tournament from three divisions to five. The state tournament will begin Thursday afternoon with the first set of Division V field events and finishes Sunday afternoon with the Division II running finals. The full schedule is posted at: https://ohsaaweb.blob.core.windows.net/files/Sports/Track-Field/2026/2026StateMeetSchedule.pdf Competing for Cleveland East Tech High School, Owens won nine OHSAA 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 during 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. Uncertain that he would even participate after recently falling down a flight of steps, 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.