Wenning will compete in four events at state

Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry

The Celina, St. Marys and Coldwater girls track teams will be well represented at this week's state track and field championships after solid performances at Saturday's Division II regional meet at Lexington.

The Bulldogs finished as regional runners-up with a score of 53 1/3 points, just 11 2/3 points behind regional champ Liberty-Benton. Coldwater was in third place with 49 points while the Roughriders finished tied for 15th with 14 points.

Celina's standout junior Michaela Wenning, who already secured a spot at state in the high jump on Thursday, added three more qualifying efforts on Saturday. Wenning placed fourth in the 100-meter hurdles to earn the final qualifying spot in that event and then overcame a slip and rallied from being in eight place with just over 100 meters to go to take third in the 300 hurdles. Wenning then wrapped up her day by teaming with Gina Strable, Kendra Fennig and Bekah Carr to lead the Bulldogs to a second-place effort in the 1,600-meter relay.

Carr will also be multi-tasking this week in Columbus. Carr won the long jump with a top effort of 17-7 1/2, 8 1/4 inches better than the next best distance. For the third straight week, Carr had to battle Western Buckeye League rival Kelly Heitkamp of St. Marys in the pole vault. And for the third straight week, Heitkamp got the better of the matchup, winning the regional title and earning a state berth with a top effort of 10-8. Carr, Kenton's Terril Webb and Ottawa-Glandorf's Torie Allgire tied for second after topping out at 10-4.

Strable, who broke the school record in the 200 during prelims, took sixth in the 200, seventh in the long jump and teamed with Fennig, Megan Imwalle and Katie Sutter to take seventh in the 800 relay. Sutter finished 13th in the discus.

Joining Coldwater's dominant 3,200-meter relay team, which qualified for state on Thursday, will be Sarah Kanney, who will look to defend her 1,600 state title from last year after winning the event on Saturday. The sophomore also qualified for the state meet in the 800 after finishing second, getting edged by Defiance's Samantha Murray by 0.49 seconds at the finish line. Cavalier teammate Kiersten Siefring finished 10th in the 800.

Christina Seas, who just missed qualifying in the 1,600, won the 3,200 and will be joined by teammate Jill Kanney, who took the fourth.

Besides Heitkamp, no other Roughrider, boy or girl, was able to make it to state. Kristen Dammeyer finished sixth in the 3,200 while Amanda Dues took ninth in the 1,600.