2 area teams celebrate state championships
Minster girls track and field team and Fort Loramie baseball team have something in common: Both are high school state champions.
The Minster girls COLUMBUS — track and field team and the Fort Loramie baseball team have something in common: Both are high school state champions.
This was championship weekend for most spring sports, and Minster and Fort Loramie fulfilled those dreams on Saturday. Minster, a longtime Midwest Athletic Conference running power, won its 13th girls state track title, over Cross County Conference rep and Division III runner-up Covington, 57-32.
Fort Loramie, out of the Shelby County League, bunched eight runs in the fifth inning to defeat Hicksville 8-4 in the D-IV state baseball final at Huntington Park in Columbus.
The Redskins won the program’s third state championship in an emphatic and dramatic way, rallying to beat Hicksville 8-4 in the final. The Redskins (26-6) also won state championships in 2007 and ’10. Coldwater, also of the MAC, fell 3-2 to Canfield South Range in a D-III state baseball final. The Cavaliers ended their season 27-7. Chaminade Julienne (23-5) played top-ranked Wapakoneta (24-1) in the D-II state title game on Saturday night. The Greater Catholic League Co-Ed North Eagles were the D-II runner-up last season.
The Dunbar boys’ bid to repeat as a D-II state track champ came tantalizing close. Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy edged Dunbar 51-44 to win the team title. Dunbar didn’t win an event, but scored high in all seven of its events. “We want to send a tribute out to our school district and athletics and to our kids,” Dunbar coach Sidney Booker said. “We dedicate this runner-up trophy to them. They’re used to holding the gold trophy and I’m so very proud of them.”
Centerville junior Yariel Soto pulled off a spectacular — and rare — field double. He busted a personal-best leap of 24 feet, 2.75 inches to win the D-I state long jump on his final leap. After that, he finished off the pole vault field with a winning vault of 15-6.
The D-I running finals concluded the state meets on Saturday night.