Winner, Roth, relay claim state titles
COLUMBUS — The OHSAA Div. III State Track and Field Championships were held over the weekend at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus.
Colonel Crawford won the girls’ event with 44 points. Margaretta was second with 41 points and the Minster girls came in at third place with 30 overall points. Marion Local finished in a time for fourth with 24 points and Fort Loramie finished 10th overall scoring 18 points.
On the boys side, Norwayne won with 40 overall points; McDonald finished second with 38 points and Hopewell-Loudon was third with 31 points. Fort Loramie placed seventh with 24 points, Marion Local finished in 20th with 10 points and Minster finished tied for 28th place with eight points.
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 ju
nior, 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
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.
The boys 4x400 of Slonkosky, Thibeau, Westerheide, and Albers finished in 15th place (3:33.59).
On day two, Minster’s Taylor Roth won the 800 meter run with a time of 2:12.65.
Marion Local’s Molly Winner won the shot put outright with a throw of 43 feet even.
For the Minster boys, Alex Albers finished 11th overall in the 800 meter run with a time of 1:58.02. Kaleb Nastari of United set the Div. III record with a time of 1:49.56.
Albers claimed sixth in the 1,600 meter run with a time of 4:22.52.
Joseph Slonkosky finished fourth in the 300 meter hurdles finals with a time of 40.12.
Russell Heid finished 11th overall in the pole vault going 13 feet.
For the Minster girls, Margaret Hemmelgarn was eighth in the 1,600 meter run with a time of 5:08.12.
The relay team of Cameo Cedarleaf, Lilly Barhorst, Keri Heckman and Roth finished fourth in the 4x400 meter relay finals with a time of 4:01.02.
Lillian Barhorst finished fifth in the shot put with a best throw of 39 feet, 7.75 inches.
For the Marion Local boys, The 4x100 meter relay team finished sixth with a time of 44.10 seconds.
Nate Buscher placed fifth in the boys pole vault with a vault of 14 feet, 4 inches.
Sophomore Jack Knapke finished sixth in the discus finals with a throw of 168 feet.
For the girls, Sam Hoelscher was second in the 300 meter hurdles final with a time of 43.72 seconds. She finished sixth in the 100 meter hurdles finals with a time of 15.21.
The relay team finished sixth in the 4x200 meter relay finals with a time of 1:45.32.
The team finished ninth in the 4x400 meter relay finals with a time of 4:03.35.
For the Fort Loramie boys, Colin Gasson was eighth in the 800 meter run with a time of 1:57.41.
Colten Gasson finished 11th in the 1,600 meter run with a time of 4:29.21.
Ryan Hoelscher placed 17th in the high jump finals with a jump of 6 feet.
Gavin Kemper finished in second place in the pole vault with a vault of 15 feet, 8 inches. Mohawk’s Zaiden Fry won with a vault of 16 feet.
For the Fort Loramie girls, Claire Rethman took second place in the 1,600 meter run finals with a time of 4:58.35. Maplewood’s Carleigh Richards won with a time of 4:57.53.
Freshman Lauren Moore finished 17th in the 3,200 meter run with a time of 12:05.23.
Fort Loramie’s team of Mylee Shatto, Colleen Borchers, Lauren Moore, and Claire Rethman finished second in the 4x800 meter finals with a time of 9:34.31.
Riley Heitkamp was 13th in the high jump with a jump of 5 feet. She finished in 7th place in the pole vault going 11 feet even.