TC's Newlove ready to compete in Dayton

Every track and field coach wants their athletes to stay healthy throughout the season and peak at the right time – which is the end of the season.Well, Columbian junior Jack Newlove has done just that. Newlove, who's had an outstanding season from the beginning, has really kicked it into gear the past few weeks. He won the 300 hurdles race at the SBC Championships with a time of 38.14, he then won the district race with a time of 37.79 and then last weekend he claimed a regional title in Port Clinton with a school-record time of 37.22. He just keeps breaking his own record time and time again."My goal this year was actually just to break the school record and make it to state," Newlove said. "That obviously has went pretty well this year, but after I broke the record at the St. Francis meet, I knew I could run even better and have a better race. I knew I could PR again."I've honestly surprised myself a little bit with how many times I've broken it. But, yeah, it's been fun. I just have to keep running better every week, which I hope I do this week."If he does just that, he will likely be in contention for a very high finish in the Division I 300 hurdles race down in Dayton at the state track meet.Coach John Kihorany wasn't surprised by Newlove making it to state. Newlove was on the podium at the regional last season, but just missed the state meet. That surely has fueled him."I saw quite a few things coming along the way with him. I set goals for myself for him, but I never really expressed those goals to him," Kihorany said. "So once he would hit a goal, I'd check it off my own list and see where he goes for the next one and set the goal based on the time and touchdown mark. "But I knew he had high goals for himself this year. So my goal as the coach was to make sure I could do everything I could so he could achieve his goals. I told him a long time ago that my highest goal for him was to make the state meet, and he said it was his too. Being able to check that one off the list felt really good for both of us, and along the way break the school record was pretty exciting too."Newlove pointed to that St. Francis meet as the moment he knew he could realistically have a shot at state this season."I broke the school record at that meet, but I got second in the race," he said. "That was to a kid I just beat at regionals, so I knew I could really improve on that time and get more consistent and run better times after I lost that race. So that has fueled me to run better over the past couple of weeks."Kihorany added: One of the funny conversations I had with Jack was telling him that he's going to break the school record at some point, but he'd might have to lose to do it," he said. "I don't think he particularly liked that comment, but it was funny we talked about that because he did lose that St. Francis race, but that was when he first broke the school record. "I mean he even hit the last hurdle and it was a great race, but it's just something we can laugh about now."However, whoever has seen Newlove in the 300 hurdles the past few weeks certainly were not laughing. Winning the SBC title, the district and regional meets in Division I is no joke, and the run he's been on has led to his confidence this week heading down to Dayton.His time in the regional last week would've been good for third at the state meet a year ago, but Newlove said a 36 (seconds) might get him where he needs to be."A lot of hard work is finally paying off and it's a great feeling," Newlove said. "I think a mid-36 (seconds) is gonna win it this year. So I need to take around half a second off, which I think is possible. Just gotta keep getting better."But to end the season at state … nothing more I could ask for. That's where you want to get to. It's going to be fun. I've never been to a state track meet before besides in middle school, but high school is a different environment. There's a lot of fast kids, so it'll be exciting."Of course, sticking to his tradition this year, Kihorany wouldn't share his goals for this week for Newlove. But he does currently have the second-best seed time entering the state meet, which he's not far off from the top seed time of 37.19 from Mayfield's Ty Jackson."D-I, it's the cream of the crop. We are there and he belongs there," Kihorany said. "It's really exciting to run down there with that 'TC' on your chest in Division I at the state meet, it's the best of the best. We're just really excited to get down there. It's been a number of years since we had someone down there. But we're really excited and we're gonna ride this wave another week."