Streetsboro Rockets’ junior Ethan Laryea had already experienced heartbreak when he missed out on a state berth in the 100-meter dash in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II postseason. He did not let history repeat itself in the 200-meter dash, earning fifth place with a time of 22.11 seconds last Saturday at The Ohio State University’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
“I felt like I just had to come in and be strong and fast,” Laryea said. “I had to work hard. I feel like I came out and did my thing,”
Laryea becomes the second consecutive Streetsboro sprinter to become a state-placer in a short sprinting event, following in the footsteps of graduate Garrett Tiller, who placed second in the 200-meter dash in 2024.
On Saturday, Laryea had an early lead, but it evaporated as all nine runners came together on the turn for the final 100 meters.
According to Laryea, the turn was where he had excelled the most this season and although it was a tight pack, he finished strong in the final 100 meters to cross the finish line in fifth place.
“Always off of the curve, I feel that is the best part of my race,” Laryea added. “I just had to keep my form tight and not let up. There are a lot of people you can feel on your back, but you have to keep on running.”
Laryea’s final race of the 2025 season wrapped up a breakthrough junior season in which he had big shoes to fill by becoming Streetsboro’s primary sprinter.
Coach Robb Kidd said that Laryea not only filled those shoes but left his own mark in the Rockets’ program, with another year left in his high school career.
“He seized the moment,” the six-year coach noted. “It has been a long day for him. I think he was mentally locked in; he knew what he wanted to do. He had had a phenomenal season. We did not get to see it last year; he had some injuries, but he has really turned into a track guy.”
On Friday, the Rockets junior’s bid for All-Ohioan honors appeared to be hanging by a thread after he finished in sixth place in the first round of the preliminaries with a time of 22.018 seconds, only .03 seconds behind River View junior Parker Andrews.
Laryea ultimately finished in ninth place at the end of the second round to qualify for the finals and extend his season.
In addition to Laryea’s strong finish in the 200-meter dash, he also formed a new winning team in the Rocket boys’ 4×200 relay with senior Devon White and juniors Ryan Roscoe and Braden Hodge, taking fifth place by clocking 1:29.05 on Saturday.
After earning a finals’ bid by taking sixth in the preliminaries on Friday, the Rockets started in the front on Saturday thanks to a strong opening leg by White.
Hodge took over for the second 200 meters of the race and kept Streetsboro in the top pack.
“I knew that since this was the state finals there were going to be a lot of fast runners, so I just had to get out fast and carry my momentum through the rest of the race,” noted Hodge.
In a team already filled with newcomers, Roscoe was an entirely new face on the team, joining the squad right before the postseason after the relay team’s original third runner suffered a season-ending injury right before the Metro Athletic Conference.
As the pack merged together in the third 200-meter leg, Roscoe kept the Rockets in the thick of it before Laryea took over as the anchor.
“When you get the baton, you know that the second leg runner is giving it his all, so you have to take the baton and take his speed and push it into that last leg,” Roscoe said.
Laryea delivered a strong final 200 meters, creeping up in the final 100 meters to secure a fifth-place finish.
It was a gritty finish for a 4×200 squad that experienced a transformation from last year’s team, as the 2024 relay graduated three runners in Preston Hopperton, Kylan Rue and Tiller.
Although he was the only returnee, White welcomed the newcomers into the fold and instilled the same standards that was shown to him by his predecessors.
“As a whole I trusted these guys,” White said of his new relay partners. “I knew they would perform all season when we needed it, and I just trusted them the whole time and they did what they had to do.”
Now White will be the lone departing member of the 4×200 relay but after seeing how his new teammates delivered, he is leaving the relay in good hands.
“I think it is a credit to my assistant coaches,” Kidd said. “Every season we lose some of those kids to graduation. Those are huge holes to fill. We were very happy and a little scared coming into the season with huge holes to fill but those kids stepped up.”
