RunningLane: Monesmith, Johnson, Hartman Excel In Alabama

(One of the RunningLane's standout performers Morgan Monesmith shown during 800 meter competition at the OHSAA Division I State Championships) 

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The first major post-season meet with national implications went down this weekend at James Clemens High School in Madison, Alabama. 

RunningLane Championships acted as a distance-based festival featuring the 3200m, 800m and 1 Mile events with offerings in various open races and highlighted by Championship Division contests. 

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Ohioans carried a major presence in all three elite competitions on the girls side. Leading off on Friday evening was newly crowned OHSAA Division II 1600, 3200, 4x800 and team state champion Grace Hartman, who toed the line against a collection of the nation's best 3200m specialists. There, Hartman, from Oakwood High School and running unattached on this occasion, clocked 10:21.54 for 4th place, trailing Caroline Wells (FL), Caroline Lehman (FL) and Jenna Mulhern (PA) and finishing just ahead of Emma Squires (MI). 

This mark puts a sizable dent in what was Hartman's existing 3200 personal best (10:24.53 at the '21 Wayne Invite), but note that for record keeping purposes in Ohio, high school and summer seasons are categorized separately. The OHSAA high school campaign officially concluded on Monday, June 7th. For informational purposes, we'll cite here and in instances below an athletes overall body of work.  

Hartman's effort at RunningLane turned out to be a model of consistency, as all eight of her 400m splits were in the 1:16 to 1:18 range. She crossed the halfway point with a 1600 meter split of 5:09.63. 

The rising senior's work wasn't done with the 3200, however. Hartman also lined-up in the Elite 1 Mile, where she recorded a new personal best showing of 4:46.11 for seventh place overall amongst a deep field of national talents. 

3200m Results

Saturday's action was highlighted, in part, by Morgan Monesmith, who took 1st place honors with a 800 mark that would shake-up the national rankings. Her 2:06.89 showing is not only a personal best by a substantial margin, but also the best time recorded by an Ohioan in 2021 and No. 5 on the USA leaderboard. 

Coming off a runner-up finish the week before at OHSAA Division I - Hilliard Darby, Monesmith broke into new territory in Alabama. Lowering her PR by almost 4 seconds, her time stands as No. 3 nationally for junior class competitors trailing only Roisin Willis (WI) and Juliette Whittaker (MD), who both happen to be Olympic Trials qualifiers.

In terms of in-race context, Cady McPhail (AL) gapped the field early and went through 400 in 62 seconds. Monesmith bided her time, didn't panic and drew even with McPhail at the 600m point and then displayed the strong finishing kick we saw from her several times during the OHSAA post-season tournament. In the end, she executed a negative split (1:03.85 / 1:03.03) on her way to crossing the line first. It amounted to be Monesmith's sixth victory in seven 800m outings for 2021 in what is likely to be considered her marquee event. 

Monesmith also contested the Championship Division 1 Mile race, where she produced a 4:57.78 mark in what represented her competitive debut at the distance. 

In the Elite 1 Mile race, Allison Johnson led Ohio's charge with her third place performance. The diversely talented Johnson, who excels at the 100H, 400, 800, 1600 and 3200 during the OHSAA season, recorded an outstanding personal best 4:41.29 mark to follow only Addy Wiley, who set the Indiana state record in the 1600 en route to the finish line and Sadie Engelhardt, who established a new 14-year-old age-group world record. Wiley and Engelhardt went 4:38.14 and 4:40.16, respectively. 

For context on Johnson's improvement, her 1600m best to this point was 4:50.35 (achieved at OHSAA District Granville last month) and her latest showing equates to a 4:39.66 when utilizing MileSplit's conversion calculator. 

Johnson got out of the gates in 1:12.30 for the first 400 and saved her best work for closing time, where she went 1:08.97 over her final lap. She complemented those efforts with 1:09 high and 1:10 low splits for laps two and three. 

We expect to see the now graduated Mount Gilead phenom one more time on the summer circuit (Brooks PR Invitational) before she settles in to her next permanent location in the fall, State College at Penn State University. 

RunningLane Championships: Ohio's Girls Results

RunningLane Championships: Ohio's Boys Results