Clay’s Faith Ramirez-Johnson to high jump for Findlay

Even though they did not get to compete this spring, two Clay seniors, Faith Ramirez-Johnson and Madisen Gladieux, will begin running college track in the fall.
After reaching the Division I regional meet as a junior, Johnson signed to high jump for the University of Findlay. Gladieux, an individual state placer in gymnastics, will compete in hurdles and the mid-distance running events for Ohio Northern University.
Competing for Clay, coach Brent Combs was a state qualifier in the high jump, graduating in 1996, competing at the University of Findlay on a track scholarship, and he is now the head coach at his alma mater.
Because of that, Combs said Ramirez-Johnson became his “pet project” with hopes she can follow a similar path.
“Coach Combs is amazing. I definitely wouldn’t be anywhere near as close to what I achieved without him. He’s great. He’s definitely one of the main reasons I’ve gotten as far as I have,” Ramirez-Johnson said.
Combs said Johnson was contacted about Ramirez-Johnson by the University of Findlay — a strong program that sent five athletes to the 2020 NCAA Division II Indoor National Championships on March 13-14 in Birmingham, Alabama. That kind of success got Ramirez-Johnson’s attention.
“I think it was definitely the coaching. I went to visit there earlier in September — they were super awesome, and I talked to the girls, and their team is so close and such a family,” Ramirez-Johnson said.
“I communicated with the girls on social media and they did really well this year in indoor and it just made me start to think, maybe I do want to run track at the college level and I decided that I do. I think I made the right decision because of how much I felt they had achieved, and I know that my motivation and drive will help me to achieve the goals and things that I didn’t quite get to do this year as a senior, but as a freshman (in college) I’ll be able to do them much more.”
Ramirez-Johnson had a slow start to her high school career at Clay, however.
“She came to me as a sophomore and hadn’t run track before and wanted to try the high jump,” Combs said. “Right away you could tell that she had some ability. She struggled mentally her first year as a sophomore running track, but she put in some hard work and her junior year she just came out and PR’d (personal record) by seven inches and hit 5-foot-1, which got some people looking at her.”
Combs says he believes that the 5-foot-5 Ramirez-Johnson, in part because of her athletic ability, will do well at Findlay despite not getting to compete this spring.
“She played basketball and she’s good size with a good athletic build,” Combs said. “She’s determined, too. She’s very self-motivated and she ran indoor track this year for me, so at least we got a few meets under our belt. She didn’t do all that great, but it was just coming off basketball and indoor was new to her.”
For Ramirez-Johnson and Gladieux, there were no limits to what their success could have been their senior seasons at Clay, says Combs. Ramirez-Johnson had a good shot at reaching the state meet in the high jump.
“She was heartbroken with this season and so was I. We have a lot of athletes who are looking to advance — her especially,” Combs said. “It’s just a lot of uncertainties this season. It’s a shame. I’m just glad that I got a partial indoor season in just so some of these kids could run.”
Ramirez-Johnson agrees, saying, “It’s really upsetting, but I know that all good things have to come to an end. I guess this was the end, but with college and everything else ahead of me I know I’m going to have my new beginning, which will be really great.”
Ramirez-Johnson says she cannot really simulate the high jump at home, but she’s continuing to work out.
“Right now, I’m just doing at-home workouts. Actually, I work on that stuff every morning,” Ramirez-Johnson said. “I go through and I stretch really well and then I work out. Occasionally, I’ll go out and run every other day, but mostly I’ve been doing a lot of weight training and lifting and muscle building. Most of the time I’m working on my muscles to try and keep them in shape and everything else.”
For Combs, no 2020 spring track season brought to a halt temporarily the momentum he had achieved with the track program. He had 80 participants on his teams this year, including 16 seniors. In addition, football coach John Galyas and his assistants are encouraging their players to run track, which brings even more athletes to the program.
“We had a lot of football players come out for the first time this season. I’m personally familiar with coach Szegeti (Alex) — he coaches with me and he’s my assistant head coach and he does a good job getting some of those football players to run track,” Combs said.