STATE CHAMPION: Landen Eyre paces way to 3200m win
Whiteoak junior Landen Eyre celebrates atop the podium after winning the Div. III state title in the 3200m run. (Photo courtesy of Whiteoak Athletics)
Landen Eyre has become Whiteoak High School's first state champion.
The WHS junior raced his way to the top of the Division III OHSAA podium at the 2024 State Track and Field Championships at Welcome Stadium at the University of Dayton Friday evening by winning the 3200-meter run.
Eyre — who entered the state meet with the top time from regionals — finished with a state-winning time of 9:10.07, a new PR. Eyre entered the race with a regional time of 9:24.20. At districts, Eyre ran a time of 9:15.03.
On Friday the second-place time in the 3200m race at state was 9:14.85, as Eyre won the event by 4.78 seconds.
The junior finished his first lap in fifth place, running a 1:08.84. By the second lap, he moved up to third place with a 1:12.47 lap (2:21.31, 800m).
Eyre held the second-place spots for the next four laps, with times of 1:10.67 (3:31.97, 1200m), 1:09.92 (4:41.89, 1600m), 1:09.59 (5:51.47, 2000m) and 1:09.10 (7:00.56, 2400m).
By the seventh lap, Eyre was in first, running his two fastest laps. The seventh lap, Eyre ran a 1:06.78 for a 2800m time of 8:07.34.
The eighth lap run by Eyre was the fastest of any runner in the event, as he blazed through the final 400m with a time of 1:02.73.
An hour earlier, Eyre was also third place in the 1600m run at state with a time of 4:14.86, another new PR for the junior.
Both times by Eyre are listed as Ohio Top 25 times.
This past fall, Eyre raced to a second-place finish at the Div. III state cross-country meet.
Check back to highlandcountypress.com for more from the state meet.
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