Marlington’s Irelyn Johnson races to state cross country championship

The Dukes may have missed out on the OHSAA football playoffs, but in just about every other postseason tournament, Marlington made its presence felt.

And as the dust settles following the state cross-country meet and regional action in soccer and volleyball, the Dukes now have an individual state champion, a team still in the running for a championship, and another team that had a strong run cut short after a hard-fought regional final.

First up is Marlington’s Irelyn Johnson, who brought home the Dukes’ third overall individual state championship in cross country after her performance at the Division III state tournament, held at Fortress Obetz in Columbus on Nov. 1.

Marlington has had a storied past in this sport, as Jarrod Eick and Colin Cernansky won individual titles in 2008 and 2022. Cernansky’s title came in the middle of the Dukes’ three-year reign as team champion in Division II. Johnson, however, is the first female to reach this height — and seeing as how she’s a junior, who knows? Perhaps there will be another title on the way.

After cleaning up at the district meet before moving on to regionals, where she won again in 18:20.09, Johnson entered Fortress Obetz with the sixth-fastest qualifying time. As the race started, she hung near the leader and was less than a second off the pace at 400 meters and in third place.

Johnson moved up a spot and, in a pack of four runners, was only five-hundredths of a second behind Port Clinton’s Morgan Wiechman at the one-mile mark.

It was the second mile where Johnson made her move, darting to a narrow lead over Wauseon’s Ella Rhoades at 3,200 meters — a lead she would not surrender for the remainder of the race — finishing first, 3.35 seconds ahead of runner-up Martins Ferry’s Alanna Williams.

As a team, Marlington placed ninth with 289 points. Oakwood claimed the title with 71 points, while Huron came in second with 110. Among area schools, Tusky Valley (188) edged Minerva (192) to take third place.

Other Marlington runners included Jordynn Martz, who placed 98th in 20:24.50; Brin Boyce (20:33.92), who finished 109th; Brynn Reese (20:42.43), who placed 120th; and Bella Ritchie, who closed the scoring by coming in 134th in 21:04.10.

Lake Center Christian

There was one other area runner competing in Columbus — but in Division IV. That was Lake Center Christian’s Gianna Ritchie. The senior, who was state champion in the 800-meter run in June, placed fourth at the Youngstown Boardman regionals and qualified individually for the state meet. Ritchie finished in 78th place with a time of 20:26.03.