Jun 7, 2025
Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes McDonald junior Drew Zajack competes in the Division III boys discus at Ohio State Friday afternoon. With a personal-best mark of 178-3 feet, Zajack was crowned the state champion.
COLUMBUS — It may have been humid, the sun may have come and gone, and naturally – there was a weather delay – but an army of Mahoning Valley athletes converged to Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium for the opening day of the OHSAA State Track and Field Championships on Friday.
Most of the action on the first day consisted of preliminary rounds. Nonetheless, spots on the podium were still earned throughout the afternoon. The state meet made its return to the campus of Ohio State University following a one-year stay in Dayton while Ohio State resurfaced the track at Jesse Owens.
STATE CHAMP!!
For Drew Zajack, it came down to one, final attempt of his junior campaign.
And if there was ever a time to strike gold, amidst a packed crowd of onlookers sitting on a berm surrounding the throws area, Zajack found it. Hurling a mark of 178-3 feet, the Blue Devil junior took the lead, with only a single attempt left for Hopewell-Loudon’s Aiden Ewald.
Ewald fired off a 170-2, allowing Zajack to stand atop the podium as the sun began to set over Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. Zajack is the first McDonald thrower to win the boys discus since Ryan Henry earned gold in 2021.
After a campaign that Zajack admits had its ebbs and flows, the perseverance paid off.
“First off, I just want to thank Jesus Christ,” Zajack said. “I’ve been through so much this year, words can’t describe how grateful and thankful I am of him. I’ve asked for guidance and he guided me here. Just can’t thank him enough for giving me the strength to be able to finish the way I did today. The whole year, ups and downs — more downs than ups — and I just want to thank Jesus again for making me finish on such a high note this year.
“I’ve just been fighting injuries the whole entire year. At districts I finally got something, and then at regionals I did the same. During the shot put I ended up tweaking my back pretty bad, so today was a struggle, but I pulled it out.”
In some ways, that love for throwing has been building. He fondly remembers watching his family friend Zach Gray earn the discus title for the Blue Devils back in 2019.
That day provided him with a goal to strive for.
“I remember seeing him win a state championship and I remember telling my mom, ‘I want to try that. I don’t know what he does, but I want to try that when I’m older.’ I just want to thank God for putting me in this position,” Zajack said. “I’m super blessed to have Coach Mary. Mary Domitrovich, she doesn’t want any praise, but I got to throw a dog a bone. She knows all of the stuff, and I’m so blessed to have her as a coach.”
Earlier in the day, during the shot put, Zajack earned 16th place, marking 48-2 feet. During that competition, lighting was spotted in the area, leading to a delay in competition that lasted over an hour.
Having the discus after, it made for a lengthy afternoon, but Zajack was hungry for the opportunity to step back into the ring. Last June he earned sixth at Dayton, understanding there was room to grow.
“Last year it didn’t go the way I wanted it to go, but the lord above has a better plan for me, and I just have to get back to the grindstone and made a bunch of promises to a bunch of my family and a bunch of my friends, and I just did everything I could do be here today,” Zajack said.
Zajack’s performance highlighted a lucrative day on the podium for McDonald, which included a second-place finish in the boys 4×800-meter relay (Carson Klase, Joey Cappuzzello, Josh Krumpak, and Eddie Baldwin), clocking a time of 8:01:38, and a third-place medal for the girls 4×800 (Naomi Sheesley, Kylie Flere, Juliana Krumpak, and Selah Sheesley), 9:31.53.
Individually, the Blue Devils earned hardware in the girls discus with junior Emma Bundy marking a 133-3 for bronze and fellow junior Cierra Shiley taking home fourth in the girls shot put, 40-4.25 feet.
With a program that features so much lineage and history, Zajack is proud to understand that he’s now one of the greats, knowing that more of his high school chapter is still to be written.
“It’s just such a blessing. To be surrounded by such great people, it’s astonishing to just look around, look at the record board and look at the Ohio champions. It’s just a blessing to even look at it, it’s just insane” Zajack said. “The job is never done. I did it once, why can’t I do it again and work even harder?
“I can obviously train smarter and work harder. Everyone always has an extra gear to them. I think I have a massive gear to jump.”
ADVANCING TO FINALS
Although no Division I athletes from the Valley advanced from prelims to finals, in Division II, Girard’s Josiah Hunter clinched a spot in the boys 100-meter dash finals with a time of 10.78 seconds. Ursuline’s boys 4×100-meter relay team also qualified for the finals, becoming the final team to do so with a 42.83.
The area is much better represented in Division III, in which multiple individuals and relay teams qualified for the finals.
Ava Hulett became the only Mahoning Valley athlete to do so in two individual events. The Mineral Ridge standout ran a 14.81 in the girls 100-meter hurdles and 45.19 in the 300-meter hurdles.
Three Cardinal Mooney’s relay teams advanced to the finals; the girls and boys 4×100-meter relay teams qualified with times of 50.04 and 43.71, respectively, and the boys 4×400 team advanced with a 3:26.63. Sammy Rotunno, the only individual Mooney finalist, earned a spot in the girls 300-meter hurdles finals with a prelims time of 44.61. Springfield joined Mooney in the boys 4×400-meter relay final after running a 3:24.68 in the prelims.
Chalker’s Ethan Bosch will run in the boys 100-meter dash after a 10.78-second prelim performance. Josh Pazel of Lowellville ran a 49.80 in the prelims to advance to the boys 400-meter dash finals, and LaBrae’s Laylah Hayes qualified for the girls 200-meter dash finals after running 26.06 in the prelims.
OTHERS COMPETING IN FINALS EVENTS
DIVISION III
BOYS 4×800: Maplewood (Andrew Donaldson, Trevor Shipman, Ethan Nevinski and Micah Sparks), third, 8:02.57; Mineral Ridge (Josiah Toth, Dominic Pappagallo, Thomas Holko and Mitchell Bitner), 12th, 8:12.60. … GIRLS DISCUS: Kate Cross (Mineral Ridge, senior), 10th, 119-7 feet; Elise Edwards (Garfield, junior), 117-9 feet. … BOYS HIGH JUMP: Ryen Romigh (Jackson-Milton, senior), 13th, 6-2 feet. … GIRLS LONG JUMP: Gabriella Spooner (South Range, junior), seventh, 16-11.50 feet; Reagan Boiarski (Grand Valley, senior), 15th, 16-2.75 feet. … BOYS SHOT PUT: Joseph Linkesh (Mathews, senior), third, 59-11.25 feet; Jonathan Culp III (Mineral Ridge, freshmen), sixth, 55-11.50 feet. … BOYS DISCUS: Matthew Kujala (LaBrae, sophomore), 15th, 142-10 feet. … GIRLS HIGH JUMP: Halle Kuntz (McDonald, freshmen), tie-14th, 4-10 feet; Kirra Howard (Newton Falls, sophomore), tie-14th, 4-10 feet; Kelsey Cameron (Columbiana, senior), 17th, 4-10 feet. … GIRLS SHOT PUT: Riley Grace (Garfield, junior), 11th, 37-5 feet; Emma Bundy (McDonald, junior), 16th, 35-9 feet.
DIVISION II
GIRLS HIGH JUMP: Madolyn Gorby (Salem, sophomore), sixth, 5-2 feet; Peyton Colbert (Salem, sophomore), no-height. … BOYS LONG JUMP: Lucas Adams (Salem, junior), ninth, 20-11.50 feet; Enrico Jnpierre-Greene (Liberty, junior), 18th, 19-10.50 feet. … GIRLS 4×800: Salem (Maggie Hopple, Abby Knickerbocker, Jill Pieren and Maggie Hall), 12th, 9:50.46.
SEATED
BOYS SHOT PUT: Kellan Shipman (Howland, freshmen), second, 20-8.25 feet.
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