COLUMBUS — Ridgedale has been the best Division V 4×800-meter boys relay team all season. Thursday afternoon the foursome proved it.
The Rockets won the race with a time of 7 minutes, 51.73 seconds during the OHSAA state track and field championships in Ohio State’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium Thursday, June 4, behind the effort of Isaac Lust, Brogan Weston, Ellitot Weston and Breyton Richmond.
“With all the hard work we put in, its been leading up to this moment. It showed, and I’m really proud of that,” said Lust, who started the race.
During the season, Ridgedale won every race it competed in except one. It took Lexington, the defending Division I state champion 4×800 relay, to beat them and the Rockets still posted a then Division V-best result of 8:02.49 during the Marion Night Invitational in early May.
“We’ve been talking about winning state all year,” said Richmond, the anchor runner. “It was never in my mind we could actually do that until we ran against Lexington. At regionals it became more of a thing because we beat Maplewood who was our comp all season. After we did that, it was a reality that we could do it if everyone ran as good as they did today. They did.”
Maplewood was Ridgedale’s closest competitor coming into the state meet. At the Cuyahoga Heights regional, Ridgedale edged them 7:55.67 to 7:56.34. They were the only two teams in D-V to go under eight minutes all season.
But during Thursday’s race, no one was coming close to the Rockets.
“There was pressure. Everybody looks at those entry times, and they saw us up there on top,” Brogan Weston said, runner of the second leg. “There was an expectation for us to finish the job. Each of us trusts each other and we know we put in the work so there was pressure by we had confidence and tried to remain humble and motivated to do the best we can.”
Lust started the race, sitting in third in the lead pack most of the way, getting the baton to Brogan Weston in fourth place about 10 meters from the leader. A pack of five emerged out front on his first lap, then on his second trip around, he surged into the lead, giving his younger brother Elliot Weston an 10-meter gap.
Elliot Weston kept the advantage then stretched it out to more than 25 meters before Richmond took over, wondering where everyone was.
“I felt I was more nervous because I didn’t know where anyone was at,” Richmond said. “I was terrified they were gaining on me the entire race. I knew I had it when I was (200 meters to go) because I didn’t see them challenging me at all. I knew once he didn’t challenge me at the 100 mark I was a full dead sprint. It was pure happiness.”
Ridgedale won the race by nearly five seconds, beating Cedarville’s 7:55.05 and Maplewood’s 8:00.47 and McDonald’s 8:00.76.
It was a charmed season for the group. The Rockets won 11 races in 2026. With the exception of a four-second victory at the Northwest Central Conference meet and the close one at regionals and the state race, all of the wins came by 10 or more seconds.
Ridgedale finished eighth at last year’s state meet as Lust, Brogan Weston and Richmond were joined by Evan Ricketts and ran an 8:08.72.
