Lots of highlights around the area, but one local sports story stands out in 2023

When mentioned in the same breath as Jesse Owens, it was a special year.

Very few in the history of high school track and field in Ohio — and no one from the Marion area — did what Highland's Juliette Laracuente-Huebner did this spring when she won four state championships as an individual.

To quote her coach Chip Wendt, it was "iconic." And from my vantage point, it was the best local sports story in the Marion Star in 2023.

More on Juliette: State Track Notebook: Laracuente-Huebner sets records in girls high jump

Still more on Juliette: Laracuente-Huebner sweeps to four state championships, team runner-up finish by herself

Even more on Juliette: McCurdy: Laracuente-Huebner's weekend masterful in winning state titles

Laracuente-Huebner's weekend

So what kind of weekend was it in early June at Ohio State's aptly named Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium?

The Highland senior set the tone on Friday by recording the Division II state meet and the D-II overall record in the girls high jump at 5 feet, 10.75 inches.

"Just hitting that mark and putting my name on there forever, doing what I talked about last week, which is I want to leave a legacy behind, it means a lot," she said after taking third in the state the previous two seasons.

The next day, Laracuente-Huebner won the long jump title for a third straight year and did so with a leap of 19 feet, 11 inches, a D-II and stadium record.

Competing in the 100-meter hurdles, she ran to victory by over a second, finishing in 13.64 seconds, which would have shattered the D-II state meet and the D-II overall record she already shared at 13.89, but officials ruled it was wind aided.

She capped the performance in 90-degree heat by winning the 200 meters in 24.23 and by four-tenths of a second over the runner-up.

The 40 points were enough for her to finish as the team runner-up in Division II girls — doing so as a team of one.

"It was a great honor to be a part of that and to have a more-than-a-generational athlete," Wendt said. "I will never ever see something like this again."

She tried to join Ayersville's Sarah DeWolfe (1996) and Trotwood-Madison's LaVonna Martin (1983 and 1984) as individuals who won four events and a team championship.

Since 1975, she is the 21st non-seated female and the first since 2021 to win four events in the same state meet. Of those, only Mentor's Paige Floriea did so without the help of a relay among the four like Laracuente-Huebner.

Just 10 boys since the early 1900s have won four events at state and none have done so since 2013. Owens did it in 1932 and 1933, setting four state records in his final trip, 90 years before Laracuente-Huebner's iconic weekend.

Public address announcer Dennis Sabo mentioned that fact to the thousands of fans who witnessed her show in the stadium named for the Olympic hero.

"Jesse Owens really shaped the track and field world and especially in the state of Ohio," she said. "He's such a big name. Just my name being in the same sentence is very surreal, and it's awesome that everyone is putting us together."

More big results for the Scot

In March, Laracuente-Huebner gave the state a preview of what was to come at the Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches state indoor track meet at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva.

She set the Division II-III state indoor record in the high jump at 5-8.25, set the all divisions indoor record in the long jump at 20-3.5, ran a personal record 8.56 in the 60-meter hurdles for a win, and set the all divisions indoor record in the triple jump at 41-8.75. That sweep was enough to win team championship by herself.

She finished the indoor season by winning the triple jump championship at the New Balance Nationals in Boston where she was a runner-up in the long jump and 13th in the 60 hurdles. The Scot ended as a 10-time state champ in indoor track, three-peating the jumps to go with the hurdles title.

Following her outdoor weekend at state, she became a two-time All-American during the New Balance Nationals in Philadelphia.

Out of 48 competitors from around the country, she was a national runner-up in the girls long jump and fourth in the triple jump to also be named an All-American by placing in the top six.

She is currently a freshman at Cincinnati, where she is a member of the women's track team.

"I just want to leave a legacy behind, and I'm glad I came out here and won four and set meet records and put my name out there and made sure everyone knew who I was," she said.

Other 2023 area highlights

● River Valley's girls and Pleasant's boys advanced to the Division II state bowling tournament, while Ridgedale's Aubrie Smith and Marion Harding's Jayden Combs and Jordan Hensley competed at state, too.

● Pleasant's Jenna Hollenbaugh went to the state swim meet for a second straight year, competing in the 200-yard individual medley and 100 breaststroke, while Marion Harding's Autumn Fitzgerald went to the state gymnastics meet for a third consecutive season and competed in the vault.

● Mount Gilead's girls and Northmor's boys played in district championship basketball games for the first time in school history, while River Valley's boys got the district final for the first time since 2007, and North Union's girls also made it to a district title game.

● River Valley basketball's Carson Smith set school records with 48 points and 11 made 3-pointers in a game, while Combs rolled a perfect game in bowling.

● Pleasant's Daxton Chase finished fourth in Division III's 144-pound class at the state tournament to lead 20 other wrestlers and six other placers from the area.

● Highland softball was the only team in the area to make it to the regionals.

● After Laracuente-Huebner, there were nine other area athletes who finished on the podium at the state track meet.

● Pleasant and Highland both made it to the Sweet 16 in volleyball.

● Mount Gilead ended as the Division III state runner-up in boys cross country, while Pleasant was 11th, and five others competed as individuals.

Don't forget to vote for the Marion Star's top local sports moment of 2023 in the poll that can be found at MarionStar.com and its app. Voting continues through New Year's Eve.

Rob McCurdy is the sports writer at the Marion Star and can be reached at rmccurdy@gannett.com, 419-610-0998, X formerly Twitter @McMotorsport and Instagram @rob_mccurdy_star.

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Top Marion-area sports story of 2023 made history in track and field