Southeast’s Julia Wheeler paces the pack during the Division IV 3,200 meters at the OHSAA state championships.
Melinda Furr/Special to Portage Sports

By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Southeast senior Julia Wheeler had just one runner — Huron’s Rylie Towns — who was even in the same stratosphere as her as the Division IV 3,200-meter race progressed.

“Julia ran a really smart race, she ran her race,” head coach Melinda Furr said. “The girl from Huron was on her coat tails the entire time. Julia was just running her pace.”

At about the 120-meter mark, Wheeler, who also placed fourth in the 1,600 with a time of 5:01.86, kicked it into high gear and just sprinted to the finish and was able to separate herself.

Wheeler’s time of 10 minutes, 46.87 seconds was a hair less than 2 seconds faster than Towns. It gave her the school’s first state championship since Jenna Fesemyer won all four seated events in 2015.

Before that, you have to go back to 2008 when Nikki Murphy was the state shot put champion.

Wheeler’s performance was not a personal best.

That happened in early May at The Optimist Meet at Austintown Fitch when her time of 10:45.97 broke a 41-year-old school record, but only earned her second place, more than 4.5 seconds behind Marlington’s Irelyn Johnson.

The Pirates’ headliner actually did not arrive in Columbus with the best time in the state based on regionals.

“She liked that,” said Furr of her competitor who placed fifth in the 3,200 at state last year.

Wheeler may have had butterflies in her stomach, but not a lot.

“I think it really helped going into states as the second seed because it did take the pressure off,” she said. “Not everyone there, including the crowd, was expecting me to win. On paper, they would’ve expected the other girl to win.”

On the other hand, Wheeler was not oblivious to the fact that she was fully capable of winning the race: “I knew that, if I ran a good race and kept performing like I did all season, I definitely had a shot at state champion, but I was in the mindset of not pressuring myself to achieve that. If it’s God’s will, it’s God’s will. I’m just going to run as hard as I can and enjoy my last race at states.”

Furr and her coaching staff believed Wheeler, who will continue her track, and also cross country exploits at Youngstown State University, was going to bring the championship home to Palmyra.

“When Julia runs carefree, that’s when she’s at her best, and that’s what she’s been doing all season long. We were very, very confident,” said the coach. “For her, she has the stamina. She does everything an elite runner needs to do both pre-race and post-race from workout, diet, sleep recovery, all the things needed to be a really good distance runner. Mentally, she’s really grown over the years and become cool and confident within herself and less anxious.

“It was really, really awesome to be a part of her four years and see her growth.”