Morgan Gigandet is making Columbus like a second home. Not only has the talented Troy runner appeared twice for the state cross country meet, this Saturday at 6:20 p.m. she will be running in her second state track meet for the 3200.

Gigandet, only a sophomore, leads the way for the Trojans runners as the girls placed fifth overall in the regionals last weekend at Welcome Stadium. She is joined at the state meet by Troy senior Kelsey Walters in the shot put.

The Troy boys also will be represented at the state meet, after finishing 16^th overall at regionals. Competing for the boys will be Stephen Jones in the 3200.

The 3200 run saw Gigandet jump out to a lead over everyone on the opening lap and never looked back. She finished the event with a time of 10:47.23, a solid 23 seconds ahead of her closest competitor from Turpin. Also in that event, sophomore Emma Shigley had a solid performance with 11:41.54, placing her seventh overall in the meet.

Also advancing to the state meet will be Walters, as she placed second overall in the shot put with a throw of 41’10”. Walters opened the day with a throw of 40’8.5”, and when she qualified to the finals, her first throw of finals was her best. Also throwing shot and placing eighth overall at regionals was Alaura Holycross, who threw 35’1.5”.

Finishing just short of qualifying for the state meet was the 4x8 girls relay team of Megan Myers, Gigandet, Olivia Tyre and Shigley. They placed fifth with a time of 9:41.50, with only the top four advancing to the state meet.

Also qualifying for the regional finals was the 4x4 team of Walters, Jordan Hoffman, Kayla Hemm and Ciena Miller, and they placed eighth with a time of 1:49.60.

Ashley Barr advanced to the finals of the 400 dash, but the Trojans junior finished seventh with a time of 59.21.

Falling short of qualifying for the finals was Caitlyn Cusick in the 300 hurdles, as she ran 48.86 in the prelims and placed 14^th overall. Also falling in the prelims was Celina Courts in the 200 dash, as she ran her prelim time in 26.71, placing her tenth. To advance to the finals, runners must finish in the top eight of prelims.

Myers also competed in the 800 run, placing 12^th overall with a time of 2:27.69.

Finally in the running events, the 4x4 team of Miller, Alekhya Gollamudi, Lily Clouser and Hana Green finished 16^th in that event with a time of 4:23.52.

In the field events for the girls, Dasia Cole placed tenth overall with a 5’2 jump, while in the pole vault, Troy’s Christine Moser 11’2”, but due to her previous jumps she placed sixth overall.

The Trojans boys’ squad was led by Jones in the 3200, as he placed second with a time of 9:23.00. He finished less than four second off the time of the winning runner from Lakota East.

Zach Boyer placed sixth overall in the 110 hurdles, as he finished the event in 15.14. Also placing sixth was the 4x2 relay team of Jayden Culp-Bishop, Hayata Nagata, Austin Jacobs and Derrian Moody, as they ran a 1:30.13, missing qualifying for state by one second.

The 4x1 team of Hayden Jackson, Culp-Bishop, Jacobs and Moody also ran in regionals, and placed 13^th overall with a time of 44.83. Culp-Bishop also competed in the 200 dash, placing eighth overall with a time of 22.59. Finally in the 4x4 relays, the Trojans group of Kobe Feltner, Nagata, Timmy Farrier and Jacobs placed 12^th overall.

Luke Robinson placed 12^th in the high jump (6’), while in the pole vault, Joey Dippold was 13^th overall with his best leap being 13’. Travis Hall finished seventh in the shot put (50’3”), while in the discus he threw 137’2” placing him 14^th.