The Aurora Greenmen boys’ 4×100 relay ended its journey at the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division I state meet on a high. The quartet of senior Ishaan Shaik, juniors Quincy John and Luke Geyer and sophomore Luke McGovern earned fifth place by clocking 41.72 seconds last Saturday at The Ohio State University’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus.
“It feels great to put in so much work in our hand-offs at every practice,” McGovern said. “This was our ultimate goal to get here and make it to the state finals.”
McGovern propelled the relay to a fast start in the first 100 meters of the race and John soared to the front of the pack in the second leg of the relay.
“It takes a team for all of us to really be good,” John noted. “All four of us in the offseason were just getting better together with team chemistry and just practicing our hand-offs and getting all of the little things down and separating us from a lot of the other teams.”
Shaaik stayed with the pack in the third 100 meters of the race as all of the racers jockeyed for position to set up the anchor for a strong finish.
Geyer made a strong turn on the curve and accelerated late in the final 100 meters, crossing the finish line in fifth place to cap off a historic season for the relay squad.
“I feel like it is all a team effort,” Geyer said. “We are all hurting here and we had to keep each other up the whole time and I just pushed that last 100 meters.”
For the 4×100 relay, the journey to the OHSAA Division I state meet started last year as the team came together for the first time. In just their first season of being a relay squad, the Aurora foursome consistently set new school records and a path to the state meet materialized.
“They are amazing,” said Coach Chris Radtke. “They are good friends. You have a little bit off everything. Ishaan is the elder statesmen as the senior, you have a great sprinter in Luke McGovern and Luke Geyer, you have Quince who is about as tough as a competitor as you can hope to find.”
The relay team’s journey ended early at last year’s OHSAA Division I district meet when McGovern suffered a season-ending injury and could not compete in the 4×100 relay.
McGovern acknowledged what a tough feeling it was having his injury thwart the relay team’s state bid.
According to John, the 4×100 relay used that heartbreak as motivation to find redemption for the 2025 season.
“It really lit a fire under us to keep pushing through,” he added. “We are going to go through adversity, and we just need to keep pushing through as a team. We cannot let one season bring us down. We came back stronger and better than ever and we were able to accomplish a lot more this year.”
With all of the runners returning for one more season, the 4×100 continued raising the bar with each race, consistently setting more school records. The Greenmen’s ascent continued even in the 4×100 preliminaries on Friday, when team finished in sixth place but set a school record of 41.69 seconds, setting them up for one final race.
“It feels great honestly,” Shaik said. “We have done such a great job that is going to be there for years and years so it just feels good with this group of guys. We all like each other and we are all good friends.”
As far as the eight-year coach was concerned, the 4×100 relay demonstrated great maturity despite all being newcomers to the state level this year.
“I think the way things ended last season put them on a course for this season,” he noted. “They were not going to be denied this year so all morning at breakfast, they were looking at the film of the race on Friday. They were like ‘We could do this different or do that different or do this better.’ They were all in.”
The foursome will be breaking up as Shaik is graduating this summer but although one key member of the 4×100 is departing, the remaining three will be sure to help break in their new teammate quickly next season.
“I am really excited,” he noted. “I know that everybody is going to get better and will put in the work. I am excited to see what will happen. I will definitely be coming back for meets.”
