Adams County athletes advance to regionals after strong district meets
Beau Hesler swept three sprint races and a relay title as Adams County athletes punched multiple tickets to regionals from district meets in Albany and Nelsonville.
Adams County sent a strong group of track athletes into the regional round after district meets at Albany Alexander High School and Nelsonville-York High School produced wins, personal records and several top-four finishes. The biggest local breakthrough came from North Adams senior Beau Hesler, who turned in the kind of postseason performance that can carry a season well beyond May.
Hesler, the defending state champion, passed on his usual 800 meters and instead swept the 100, 200 and 400. He won the 100 in 11.01, set a personal record of 22.37 in the 200 and added another PR in the 400 at 46.59. He then joined Coy Fogle, Kaleb Eldridge and Dalton Pence on North Adams’ district champion 4x400 relay, which finished in 3:23.33. Fogle also claimed the boys 300-meter hurdles title in 39.55. With that kind of speed spread across three individual events and a relay, Hesler looks like the county athlete best positioned to keep extending his season.
The district meets mattered because the path forward was clear: the top four finishers in each event advanced, and those qualifiers moved on to regionals before the state tournament. The Ohio High School Athletic Association’s 2026 calendar has Division II and IV regional meets on May 27 and 29, while Division III and V regionals are set for May 28 and 30. For Division V qualifiers from Nelsonville-York, the next stop is Chillicothe High School.
West Union also left the district meet with a championship effort. Lydia Armstrong, Emma Crawford, Ella Shupert and Tabitha Armstrong won the girls 4x800 relay in 10:37.21, giving the Senators another strong postseason marker. In Division V, Manchester senior Joel Blythe won the boys 400-meter dash in 52.29, and Hunter Raines moved on in the 110 hurdles after placing fourth in 17.95.
The results fit a larger pattern for Adams County programs. North Adams boys won the 2026 Southern Hills Athletic Conference track championship earlier in the month, while Peebles boys and West Union girls finished second in the league meet. That depth across North Adams, West Union, Manchester and Peebles has turned regional qualifying into a county-wide standard, with multiple schools now preparing for another round of high-stakes races, jumps and relays against the Southeast District’s best.
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