BYESVILLE - Justin Gillum is feeling as high as he pole vaults.

Gillum, the Ironton Fighting Tigers senior pole vaulter, is headed for the Division II state track meet after qualifying Wednesday at the Division II regional track meet.

"This feels great. It's hard to describe," Gillum said.

Gillum will head to the Division II state track meet next weekend at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the campus of Ohio State University.

"I'm really happy for Justin. He's worked really hard for four years and all that work has paid off," Ironton coach Greg Cronacher said.

The Lady Tigers Mandi Boykin had the fastest qualifying time in the 100 meter dash at 12.8 seconds as she earned a chance to run again in Friday's finals.

Ironton's Derique Bacon qualified for the finals in the 200 and 400 meter dash races.

At Lancaster, the Chesapeake Panthers also had a pole vaulter qualify for the state meet in Division III. Senior Scott Davidson cleared 12-6 to place third and advance.

Several Panthers advanced to Friday's finals after they advanced in Wednesday's preliminaries.

Tristin Clark ran an 11.5 to place fifth overall in the 100 meter dash preliminaries.

The Lady Panthers 4×200 relay team of Brittany Montgomery, Ashley Roach, Veronica Perko and Lisa Perry was second overall with a 1:50.8 time.

The boys 4×200 quartet was eighth as Cody Hunt, Chad Simmons, Caleb Robbins and Clark ran a 1:35.24 time.

Clark, Hunt, Simmons and Robbins were fouth in the 4×100 relay with a 45.1 clocking.

Lisay Perry's 27.43 time placed her seventh in the 200 meter dash and put her in Friday's finals.