COLUMBUS — Miami Trace’s Drake Litteral, who will be a senior when school starts again in August, cemented his place among the top sprinters in school history when he finished eighth in the finals of the 200-meter dash at the Division II State track meet Saturday at the Jesse Owens Track at The Ohio State University.
After clocking a career-best time of 22.39 in the State prelims Friday, Litteral ran a 22.95 in the finals to claim the final spot on the podium.
“That was the goal (placing at State),” Litteral said. “Those are the fastest kids in the state and I was happy enough to be racing against them.
“I had a bad start coming off,” Litteral said. “I was more than happy to just be there.”
Litteral began the season running the 200-meter dash in the mid-23-second range.
Next up for Litteral will be working towards getting ready for the 2016 football season, where he is a running back for the Panthers.
“I’d like to thank coach Noes,” Litteral said. “He’s the one who talked me into running track in the first place. Without him, I wouldn’t be here at all. He definitely pushed me beyond my limits.
“I’d like to thank Jeff Creamer,” Litteral said. “For all of those times I didn’t want to do all of the work-outs he wanted us to do. He made me do them, and, in the long run, they helped me out a lot. Without him, my time probably wouldn’t have improved too much.
“I would like to give a special shout-out to Tim Walters,” Litteral said. “For helping me in his free time when he didn’t have to. He gave me a lot of pointers and I’m happy to know him.”
“It was pretty special to watch Drake stand up there on the podium and receive his medal,” Miami Trace head coach Brent Noes said. “He had a great season for us and it’s nice to see him cap it off by standing on the podium at the State track meet.
“He wasn’t really happy with the way he ran his race, his time,” Noes said. “The result, I think, has finally settled in on him and I think he realizes how special it is to have that opportunity. He’s willing to work that much harder to get back there next year.”
Also for Miami Trace Saturday, sophomore Katie Seyfang placed 10th in the shot put at the State meet. Please see a future edition of the Record-Herald for a report.
