Minster girls relay wins state title
COLUMBUS — Day one of the state track and field meet saw a few area athletes reach the pinnacle.
The Minster girls 4x800 meter relay team kicked off the action with Maggie Hemmelgarn, Cameo Cedarleaf, Chaney Cedarleaf and Taylor Roth winning the Division III state championship with a time of 9:28.67.
Hemmelgarn and Chaney Cedarleaf are sophomores, while Cameo Ceadaleaf and Roth are juniors.
Following the Lady Wildcats across the line were Fort Loramie in second (Mylee Shatto, Colleen Borchers, Lauren Moore, and Claire Rethman) in 9:34.31 and Coldwater third (Ava Giere, Carlee Goodwin, Kiersten Keller and Haley Alig) in 9:43.31.
New Bremen’s tandem of junior Caroline Whitlach, freshman Mia Hirschfeld, junior Molly Dues and sophomore Chloe Homan finished in ninth place with a time of 9:58.19.
In the boys 4x800 final, it was the Redskins with a winning time of 7:53.18. Colin Gasson, Frank Rethman, Trey Ranly and Colten Gasson were the runners. Rethman is a junior, and the others are seniors.
Also competing in the event were Minster, Marion Local and Botkins. Minster finished 10th with Alex Westerheide, Jack Grieshop,, Ryan Halpin and Alex
Albers going in 8:15.59.
The Flyers were 11th as Aaron Broering, Noah Budde, Andrew Pohlman and Troy Stucke had a time of 8:20.15
For the Trojans, Xavier Monnin, Parker Schnippel, Keaton Schnippel and Carter Pleiman ran in 8:20.96 to finish 14th.
Semifinals were held in most of the other track events, with the exceptions being the 800, 1600 and 3200m runs.
Individually for the Wildcats on the track, senior Joseph Slonkosky qualified for the final in the 300 meter hurdles. He ran the event in 41 seconds flat, which was seventh of the nine finalists.
In the 110m hurdles, Slonkosky had a time of 15.81 seconds, which was 12th.
Senior Jack Kohne finished in 15th place with a time of 23.14 in the 200m dash.
In the relay events, Minster had teams in the 4x200 and 4x400 for both boys and girls.
The boys 4x200 (Nathan Webb, Lucas Thiebeau, Slonkosky and Kohne) finished 17th (1:33.17), while the girls (Ava Grieshop, Kylie Williams, Roth, Cameo Cedarleaf) took 10th place (1:46.85).
In the 4x400, the girls combo of Cameo Cedarleaf, Lilly Barhorst, Keri Heckman and Roth ran in 4:05.68. They had the fourth-best time and
–––––––––––––––
will run in today’s final.
The boys 4x400 of Slonkosky, Thibeau, Westerheide, and Albers finished in 15th place (3:33.59).
Albers, another senior, will compete today in the 800m and 1600m runs. The 1600 will be held around 10 a.m., with the 800 about an hour later.
For the girls, Hemmelgarn will run in the 1600 and junior Taylor Roth will go in the 800. ———
The other highlight involving area athletes came in the girls’ discus with a pair of seniors capping off their careers.
Aleah Johson of Botkins moved a step up on the podium from last year, as she claimed the state title with a throw of 137 feet, 5 inches. That came on her nextto-last attempt.
“I’m happy with how I finished,” Johnson said. She added that “The atmosphere is a lot different this year, in a good way. It helped hype me up more.”
Also improving from last year was Avery Henschen of New Knoxville. He second effort of 129 feet, 7 inches proved to be her best and gave her fourth place on the podium. She had placed fifth as a junior.
Henschen said “I always want to throw farther, but I did improve. It was a good season overall.” Henschen was taking part in her third state tournament of the school year, having been a member of the state champion volleyball and state runner-up basketball teams for the Lady Rangers.
In the shot put, Marion Local senior Molly Winner saved the best for last, with a winning throw of 43 feet. Barhorst of Minster, a sophomore, finished sixth (39-7 3/4) and Botkins’ Johnson had a toss of 36 feet, 8 1/4 inches to take 14th place.
In the girls’ pole vault, Minster freshman Josi Boate did not clear the opening height of nine feet.
Senior Russell Heid finished 11th in the boys’ pole vault, clearing 13 feet. Nate Buscher of Marion Local was fifth (14-4).
————— In Division II, St. Marys had two competitors in action. Senior Brandon Bowers qualified for the final in the 110 meter hurdles. He had a semifinal time of 15.03 seconds, which was eighth of the nine finalists.
In the girls’ 200 meter dash, sophomore Syerra Greber ran a personal best of time of 26.33 seconds. She finished 13th.
Oakwood won the girls 4x800 meter relay (9:14.83), while Marlington took first in the boys’ version (7:49.66).
Field event finals were held in the girls discus and high jump, and the boys long jump, shot put and pole vault. The rest of the events will be held today.
Those winning state titles were:
Girls discus -- Morgan Hallett, Norton 156 feet, 4 inches
Girls high jump -Jenna Young, Brooklyn 5 feet, 7 inches
Boys long jump -Ryne Shackelford, Keystone 24 feet, 1 1/2 inches
Boys shot put -- Josiah Cox, Manchester 60 feet, 1 1/2 inches
Boys pole vault -- David Adams, Indian Vallley 16 feet, 2 inches.