Eyre wins indoor state championship; Fite places 12th 

On Friday (March 7) at the SPIRE Academy near Cleveland, Whiteoak senior Landen Eyre repeated his heroics from nine  months ago in Dayton and earned another state championship in the 3200-meter race at the State of Ohio Indoor Track & Field Championships.

Eyre qualified for the indoor state championships in the 1600m and the 3200m races, as the senior standout competed in the 1600 and finished second, earning the title of state runner-up. 

“Landen ran a great race and went for it when he had to. He beat the state cross-country champ but was edged out by Will Baker, the star runner from Mt. Gilead,” Coach Doug Hughes said. “After the race Landen was good, said he felt great and was going to go get the 3200. I had a great feeling after seeing how well he recovered.”

A couple hours later, Eyre again had to face Baker in the 3200, along with 14 other top competitors from all over the state of Ohio. 

Coach Hughes detailed the race: 

“Landen took the bull by the horns early on and raced out in front for the first 600 meters but smartly settled into a comfortable third place for the middle 1800 meters and tucked right behind the two frontrunners, including 1600 champ Baker. 

“With 600 meters left, Landen charged to the front of the race and continued his surge. Then with 200 meters remaining, Eyre pulled away from Baker for good for a nearly four-second victory. 

“It was a textbook race, one might even say the perfect race.” 

Eyre crossed the line at 9:29.96 for his second career state championship. For the day, Eyre tallied 18 total points, earning Whiteoak an eighth-place team finish all by himself.

Eyre now enters his final high school outdoor track season and will look to add to his hard-to-fathom résumé of two state titles, two state runner-ups and three other top 5 podium finishes at the state level. 

• Lynchburg-Clay's Kyler Fite (pictured below with Landen Eyre) placed 12th in the 3200-meter run with a time of 10:15.