Streetsboro Rockets’ senior Garrett Tiller’s senior season will be a season to remember. Tiller ended his high school career by finishing as the runner-up at the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II state 200-meter dash with a time of 22.20 seconds last Saturday at the University of Dayton’s Welcome Stadium.
“It feels great,” Tiller said. “I worked for this. I came into the season with some goals but it was not as grand as this one.”
It is the highest that a Streetsboro male sprinter has placed since former track standout Dakari Carter, was a Division II state champion in the 100-meter dash for three consecutive seasons.
According to Tiller, having his name be up there with likes of Carter’s was not something he took lightly.
“Every day we would get ready to on the bus for a meet but go over the by record boards and see if I could end up on there one week or another,” he added. “It did not happen for me but he has been a huge inspiration for me.”
On Friday, the Rockets’ senior earned an automatic bid into the finals when he won the third head with a time of 21.90 seconds, guaranteeing him at least a spot on the podium.
On Saturday, Tiller returned for one final race and applied his usual strategy to wait until the final 100 meters of the race to hammer it home. He said that when he rounded the corner, he could see Brookville junior Coy Hyre make his move and knew that it was time to go.
“I saw Coy coming past me,” he noted. “He was kicking now so I guess I’ll kick now and this is probably the time to do it, right out of that curve. That is usually when I do it but it gave me an extra view because he was the leader and I needed to catch up to him.”
Hyre continued pulling away in the final 100 meters while a pack of sprinters was bunched together competing for second place, but Tiller stayed ahead of the field to finish his final high school race as the state runner-up.
“It is just incredible,” said Coach Robb Kidd. “Just to see this kid come on and work so hard and just achieve runner-up in Division II is just phenomenal. He came in with some lofty goals and the state meet was one of them, but to get second place on the podium is just memorable and something he will never forget and take with him forever.”
Tiller entered the Division II state meet as a three-event qualifier, competing in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and as the anchor of the 4×200 relay team.
On Friday, Tiller got off to a difficult start when he failed to advance out of the preliminaries, finishing in fourth place in his heat with a time of 11.29 seconds.
Although his bid to become a state-placer in the 100-meter dash ended, Tiller said that inspired him to dig deeper in the 4×200 relay and the 200-meter dash.
“In the 100-meter dash I felt like I left a little bit out there,” he noted. “I could have tightened up around the 60-meter mark but I could not really open up. I liked the 100-meter dash because it got me warmed up for the 4×200 because that was a really important event to me.”
Tiller helped propel the 4×200 relay into the finals and they ultimately finished in fifth place, but he left his mark in the 200-meter dash with a finish that will etch his name into the Streetsboro record books.
After missing his first two seasons of high school track due to ACL tears in his freshman and sophomore seasons, Tiller never wavered in his aspirations to have a successful track season. It did not happen in his junior year because he needed to build his body back into track shape but knew as long as he stayed healthy in his senior season he could achieve those goals.
The five-year coach added that Tiller’s track journey would be a story told to future Streetsboro athletes for many years.
“We have had a few in our time but him coming out here and making that jump from last year to this year and being so successful through hard work and dedication definitely serves as a template for other kids to know and see that it is definitely possible,” Kidd said.
