Lady Panthers win medals at state track finals at OSU

The final results may have fallen short of their hopes, but the Euclid Panther girls’ track team didn’t return home empty-handed.

At the state track finals at The Ohio State University’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in early June, the Lady Panthers made it to the medalists’ platform in two events, and just missed winning a medal in a third event.

Artia Gunn, the junior speedster who has another year left in her high school career, earned two medals—one for finishing seventh in the 100 meter hurdles and another for anchoring the eighth-place 4x100 relay quartet. The top eight in each state finals event are called to the stand where they receive their keepsake medallions.

In the relay race Gunn ran a strong anchor leg, kicking into high gear as she neared the finish line, to ensure that the Panther quartet would not be denied a trip to the medals stand. The 4x100 team, which had finished fourth at the Austintown Fitch regional, covered the 400 meter distance in 48.9 seconds.

The other members of the relay unit were: senior Tchanavia Spencer, junior Taylor Rambo, and senior Erin Rambo. The same foursome also qualified for state in the 4x200, but failed to make it past the semifinals in Columbus.

On an oppressively hot and humid afternoon, in which the heat took its toll on competitors in the distance events, Euclid’s Emily Sweet just missed out on bringing home another medal for the Panthers in the grueling 3,200-meter race. She placed ninth at the state meet with a respectable time of 11 minutes, 26.5 seconds—about 20 seconds slower than the personal record (PR) she’d set a few weeks earlier.

Emily, a junior who did earn a medal last year as a member of the Panthers’ 4x800 relay squad, moved into ninth position with about three laps to go in the 3,200 meter event. But each time she made a move to accelerate past one of the three runners just ahead of her, they also stepped on the gas.

Afterward, Sweet was obviously disappointed that she didn't earn a medal, but said she really wasn’t sure what position she was in during those final three laps. “I was hoping to set a new PR and get on the podium again, she said, adding that the saddest thing about the van ride home with her teammates was the realization that their season had come to an end “and we will be losing two of our senior girls”—alluding to the fact that Erin Rambo and Tchanavia Spencer won’t be part of the team next season.

“Still,” Sweet added, “I think we’ll do pretty well next year.”

 And what about the three-sport athlete’s immediate summer plans? “Well,” Emily smiled, “I’ll take two weeks off to be a teen-ager and then start training for cross-country."