Malvern, Carrollton advance several relays and athletes to Columbus

By Ray Sarvis

FPS Staff Writer

Malvern

From consistently outperforming expectations at multiple invitationals to winning both the boys and girls Inter-Valley Conference North track meet titles, the Hornets have been on fire this season.

That momentum carried into the OHSAA Division III Region 11 track meet, held at Heath High School May 28–30. A year ago, the boys team placed 14th at regionals. Malvern sent two boys—Parker Bowe and Owen Ball—and only Bowe advanced to the state meet.

Fast forward to this season, and the boys team entered regionals not only with Bowe and Ball, but also with two relay teams. Neither relay advanced to Columbus, but the 4×800-meter relay reached the finals and placed eighth. Meanwhile, Ball joins Bowe at state this year. The overall improvement is clear in the team standings: the Hornets tied Baltimore Liberty Union for eighth place with 26 points.

What about the girls squad, you may ask? This year, the Hornets tied Frankfort Adena for 10th with 22 points. That’s quite the turnaround considering the girls didn’t score a single point at last year’s regional meet—and didn’t even compete, as no athlete made it out of districts.
This season, Malvern had two girls qualify in individual events, along with two relays advancing to Heath. While not everyone made it through, three of the four qualifiers did. The Lady Hornets made serious strides, dropping significant time.
Freshman sprinter Mya Doughty epitomizes that improvement. She won the district title in the 400 meters with a time of 1:01.65. In regional prelims, she clocked 1:00.78, then dropped another 1.4 seconds in the finals to finish second in 59.38.
Her teammate Kami Rayborn didn’t advance individually—placing 10th in the 400 prelims—but she’ll head to Columbus as a member of the 4×200 and 4×400 relay teams.
In prelims, the 4×200-meter relay team of Avery Sprague, Rayborn, Audrey Sikorsky and Doughty ran 1:48.91, then improved to 1:47.37 in the finals to place second.

The 4×400-meter relay team—Emma Maher, Rayborn, Sikorsky and Doughty—finished third in 4:09.20.
On the boys side, Parker Bowe once again dominated, claiming regional titles in both the shot put (56-8) and discus (170-4). After failing to make the shot put finals at the 2024 state meet but placing fourth in discus, the sophomore enters Columbus as a strong medal contender in both events.
Unlike last year, Bowe will have company at state. Ball advanced with a fourth-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles (15.83).

Carrollton

The Warriors advanced three relays and four individual athletes to the OHSAA Division II Region 7 track meet, hosted by Muskingum University from May 29–31.

For most, the journey ended there. But for senior distance runner Ricky Sibila and the girls 4×100-meter relay team, the season continues for one more weekend.

Sibila, who placed 14th at last year’s regional, left no doubt this time. In the 3,200-meter run, he chopped more than 53 seconds off his 2024 time to place fourth in 9:32.58.
He won’t be traveling to Columbus alone. The girls 4×100-meter relay team—Marleigh Osolin, Erin Shafer, Isabella Nuzzolillo and Emma Shafer—also punched their ticket to state, placing third in 49.86, nearly six-tenths faster than their prelim time.

Other Warriors who scored at regionals but did not advance included Kylie Ujcich, who placed seventh in the 3,200 (11:36.85), and the boys 4×800 relay, which also finished seventh.
As a team, Carrollton’s boys placed 23rd with seven points, while the girls placed 24th with eight.