Medina boys send strong contingent to state meet

Bees finish fourth at Division I regional as six athletes qualify for Columbus

Three runners compete on a track, with the front runner wearing a black uniform and another wearing a red Mentor jersey.

Medina's Nate Fisher, pictured competing earlier this season, qualified for the state meet in a pair of relays.

Janet Werner

Todd Stumpf Todd Stumpf Medina Weekly

Published June 2, 2026 - 9:08 a.m. Modified June 2, 2026 - 9:08 a.m.

Medina’s boys track and field team showed it remains among the best large-school squads in the area, turning in a strong performance at the North Royalton Division I Super Regional and sending a solid group of athletes to the state meet this weekend.

Medina finished fourth in the regional standings with 57 points, trailing Mentor (91.5), Solon (89.5) and St. Ignatius (77), while edging Berea-Midpark (55). Six Bees advanced to the state meet in six events.

Senior Jackson Riffle will compete in Columbus in three events. He qualified in the 400-meter dash with a second-place finish and also advanced in the long jump with another runner-up performance. Riffle joined senior Liam Meade and fellow seniors Carson Henning and Nate Fischer on the winning 4x400-meter relay team.

Meade also qualified in three events. He advanced with a third-place finish in the 800-meter run and was part of the regional champion 4x800 relay team with Fischer, Henning and senior Joey D’Aurelio.

Senior Owen Stepsis captured Medina’s lone individual regional championship, winning the pole vault.

Other regional results

Division II: Competing at the North Royalton Regional, Highland’s boys finished 39th among 40 scoring teams with one point. The 4x800 relay team of juniors Andrew Bossart and Colton Klein and sophomores Andrew Welch and John Hildenbrand came close to qualifying for state, finishing eighth.

Buckeye’s boys also competed at North Royalton. The Bucks sent a strong group to the regional, but only one athlete advanced. Senior Brady Salazar finished seventh in the 400-meter dash to earn an at-large berth.

Division III: Cloverleaf’s boys competed at the Austintown Fitch Regional and finished 23rd with six points. A total of 32 teams scored, led by Woodridge with 80 points.

The Colts qualified four athletes for the state meet as the 4x800 relay team of seniors Caleb Neville and Gavin Forbes and juniors Noah Mion and Matthew Jenkins placed third to earn an automatic berth.

The state track and field championships will be held over four days this year following the expansion from three divisions to five. Competition begins with preliminaries and field events in the smaller divisions before concluding with Division I finals Saturday.