COLUMBUS — East Liverpool senior Julius Jones’ run at a state title came to a crashing end Saturday.

Jones and St. Clairsville senior Brady Blacker were clipped by another runner and suffered hard falls at the Division II 800-meter state finals at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.

“It’s disappointing and a disappointing end to a stellar track career,” East Liverpool boys coach Andy Miller said. “Julius is a great kid and does all the right things and works hard. For something like that to happen in the last race of his career is a tough pill to swallow. He’s heartbroken. All the time and miles he put into workouts, he had aspirations of being the state champion. It feels like it was taken away from him.”

Jones couldn’t believe it as the top eight finishers stood on the podium.

“That was my race,” he said. “That should be me.”

Woodridge senior Kendall Mc Allister also fell in the mishap and finished 14th. He ran on Woodridge’s state championship 3200-meter relay team on Friday.

There were some discussions with Division II referee Terri Tutt after the 800. She told coaches it was a no call and they couldn’t say who caused the collision.

They were told their only action was to file an appeal, which officials later said would be rejected. A Woodridge coach was ordered to leave the track and was told he would be ejected from the stadium if he returned without an appeals form.

“He let the officials know what he thought,” Miller said. “By the time I got over there, they didn’t really want to hear it.”

He was still searching for answers with Jones at his side.

“You’re robbing these kids,” Miller told the referee. Why are you not rerunning this?”

Jones was left with scrapes on his back and legs and Blacker on his shoulder.

The collision happened just after completing the first lap.

“I was in lane 2,” Jones said. “I was trying to stay in line and didn’t want to get boxed in. Someone came in from the left and took me out. I blinked and got knocked out. I would say I’m not disappointed because I had no control of it.”

“The hard part is why is there is not a video review in that situation,” Miller said. “I don’t know if that is an OHSAA rule. If people are watching it at home, why is it not at their disposal. The 800 is the race you need it. With times improving, it’s going to get more crowded. He got stuck in a bad situation.”

Last year, Jones led for the first 700 meters before finishing sixth.

On Saturday, the field was bunched up after the first lap with most in the 55-second range. Blacker was in 11th and Jones 13th.

“This is what I trained for all year,” Jones said. “It opened my eyes last year. Being a state champ was all I thought about the day after that race. Or the day of the race.

“I was feeling good. So much happened in that second.”

Bluffton senior Marek Donaldson ended up being the state champion in a school-record 1:52.41 after being ninth with one lap to go. He only started track three months ago after focusing most of his career on basketball.

The top two finishers last year were not close to repeating.

Carroll senior Andrew Janson, the defending state champion, was 16th (2:13.88).

Otsego senior Nathan Strahm, last year’s state runner-up, was eighth (1:55.05).

Mc Allister got up and finished 14th (2:05.98).

All Jones could do was watch.

State notes

¯ “Outside of hurdles, I’ve not seen a race rerun,” Miller said. “But we had to say our piece and let them know where we stood.”

¯ At the 2005 state meet, there was contact between the top two teams on the final leg of the boys 3200-meter relay that Salem finished third.

Originally, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary was disqualified for the contact with Mogadore Field and Salem took its place at second on the podium. The teams were taken off the podium and later Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary was put back in first place.