Saturday, May 9th, 2015
Bulldogs earn sweep
Mercer County Knights of Columbus Track and Field Meet
By Colin Foster
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Celina's Bekah Carr broke her own meet and school record in the pole vault and added wins in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles to help the Celina girls cruise to the team title at the Mercer County Knights of Columbus Track and Field Meet in Coldwater.
COLDWATER - Bekah Carr already held the Celina High School and Mercer County Knights of Columbus Meet pole vault record.
The senior took them both a little higher on Friday night and the Bulldog teams left Cavalier Stadium with a meet sweep once again.
A night removed from breaking the Mercer County record in the 300-meter hurdles, Carr cleared 12-4 in the vault - breaking her previous best of 12-2 and shattering her old meet record of 11-6.
The Celina girls team scored a landslide victory, totaling 205 points compared with runner-up Coldwater's 113. The Bulldog boys won with a score of 170 1/2 and the host Cavaliers again second with 113 1/2.
"(Winning) will never get old. The tradition that lives in Celina means so much," Carr said. "We practice so hard. This is what we practice for. We're such a team. There are some flaws here and there. You may want to fall down sometimes, but your team catches you and they push you right back up."
"We just like to keep that tradition alive and we expect a lot out of the kids," Celina coach Eric Wagner said. "Looking at other programs (at the meet), they have a lot of good individuals, and I just think the size of our school helps out tremendously, just being able to have the depth."
The Marion Local girls placed third with 87, St. Henry fourth (73), Parkway fifth (31) and Fort Recovery sixth (14). St. Henry's boys finished third with 93, Marion Local fourth (70), Parkway fifth (64) and Fort Recovery sixth (12).
Coldwater's Sarah Kanney went a perfect 3-for-3 in distance events Friday night, winning the 1,600 (5:12.04), 800 (2:19.23) and 3,200 (11:40.36) titles, this coming a night after helping the 4x800 team capture gold. Kanney's time in the 800 was less than a second off her meet record of 2:18.48 which she set on May 10, 2014.
Marion Local's Allie Thobe also became a three-event winner as an individual. She captured the title in the long jump Thursday and then breezed to victory in the 100 Friday with a time of 13.19 and also the 200 (26.75), holding off Celina's Holli Brackman, who finished the event in 13.38. Thobe was also a member of the 4x400 team with Jessie Kramer, Rose Berning and Kylie Albers, who won with a time of 4:20.18.
All eyes were on Carr in the pole vault area to start the day. On her first attempt at 12-4, she nipped the bar and it looked like it would stay put before falling down. Carr had a clean attempt on her third try to establish a new school and meet high.
Carr encored 20 minutes later with a win in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.47. Teammate Alyssa Hoyng took second in a time of 16.62.
"Setting the vault record last year, that's just something I wanted to break, and I felt it today," she added.
Carr chased the meet record in the 300 hurdles Thursday and got it with a 45.61. Her time was slightly slower on Friday (46.61) but it was still good enough to hold off Coldwater freshman Savannah Seibert (46.91) for first place.
"The Coldwater girl really competed in that. Being a freshman, that's awesome," Carr said.
The Celina girls 4x200 team of Alayna Webb, Kelly Moeder, Alyssa Cisco and Holli Brackman - all underclassmen - were victorious in a time of 1:50.48. That group also narrowly missed the meet record in the 4x100 relay, combining for a 51.97 (the record by the 1983 Parkway team is 51.60).
"That's their best time of the season," Wagner said. "They've been running together all season. We haven't had much changes in the 4x1 or 4x2, and they both dropped seconds from their times. Their handoffs have been crisp. Their conditioning has been strong, and they're just doing all the right things."
Alyssa Hoyng won the high jump with a 4-10. Marion Local's Jessie Kramer took second.
Parkway freshman Sydney Crouch passed up a pair of Celina runners on her final steps to win the 400. Crouch's 1:03.22 bested Alyssa Hoyng (1:03.47) and Ashtyn Phlipot (1:03.67), who finished second and third, respectively.
Coldwater's Lauren Leugers took first in the shot put with a 40-5 1/4.
BOYS
The Celina relay teams couldn't be beat and neither could thrower Jacob Rasawehr, who won the discus a night after claiming gold in the shot put.
Marion Local senior Alex Grieshop had a big day, too.
The Bulldogs won the 4x200, 4x100 and 4x400 relays.
The 4x200 relay group of Cole Stephens, Nick Marks, Blake Germann and Grant Bader nearly broke the meet record. Celina posted a time of 1:33.35 compared with the 2009 Coldwater Cavalier team, whose mark still stands at 1:33.15.
The 4x100 team of Zack Marks, Cole Stephens, Blake Germann and Grant Bader won with a time of 45.85. Chad Downey, Marks, Aaron Crites and Stephens won the 4x400 with a time of 3:36.47.
"They ran really well," Wagner said. "Actually, we've had a couple fill-ins. We had Caleb Green come down with an injury this past week, so we had a couple guys filling in, stepping up. We're still running very similar times. Next man up, that's how we have to do it."
Rasawehr was well ahead of the opposition in the discus, tossing a 139-6 compared with runner-up Justin Rindler's (St. Henry) mark of 121-8.
Jacob is finally starting to figure out the footwork on spin technique for the shot put and in the discus, he's been pretty consistent all year with the footwork. It's not exactly the same but it kind of goes hand in hand.
"He's just been a great kid to take it in stride and learn how as he goes."
Marks was the meet champion in the long jump with a 19-3 3/4. Bader won the 200 title with a 23.27
Grieshop was a two-event winner, claiming titles in the 110 hurdles (16.17) and 300 hurdles (40.71).
Fort Recovery speedster Cole Hull, a first-year runner, proved he made a wise decision joining the team - claiming the title in the 100 with a time of 11.71.
Coldwater's Dan Seas captured the 1,600 with a time of 4:29.84, missing the meet record held by his brother and current University of Wyoming runner Mike Seas by around six seconds. Teammate Jon Wenning finished in second with a 4:32.51. Wenning picked up a win of his own later in the evening, capturing the 800 with a 2:02.94. St. Henry's Spencer Schulze held off Dan Seas to win the 3,200 with a time of 9:59.66.
Parkway's Kris Gangwer won the 400 title with a 52.58 and Celina's Nick Marks took second (52.63).
A couple junior high records fell, as well. Fort Recovery eighth grader Robby LeFevre broke Chase Tinnel's record of 16.32 in the 110 hurdles by posting a time of 16.18. LeFevre just missed the record in the 200 hurdles. His time was 27.21 compared with record-holder Adam Reichert's 27.16. Coldwater eighth grader Jennifer Seas set a new 800 record with 2:28.10, beating Karla Klosterman, whose 2:28.90 had stood since 1993.
The Coldwater junior high girls held off Marion Local and St. Henry for the team title. The Cavs tallied 121 points. Marion had 116 and St. Henry 110. Marion Local won the junior high boys team title convincingly with 151 1/2.
The county teams will look towards conference titles next week. Celina travels north to Defiance for the Western Buckeye League meet starting Wednesday. The rest of the county schools head to Memorial Field in Minster for the Midwest Athletic Conference meet starting Tuesday.
SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS - The local Knights of Columbus councils announced the winners of their annual book scholarships. One senior from each school receives a scholarship towards their continued education
Receiving scholarships were Celina's Mahaley Durbin, Coldwater's Bridget Dues, Fort Recovery's Sam Huelskamp, Marion Local's Alex Grieshop, Parkway's Seth Rollins and St. Henry's Spencer Schulze.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Marion Local's Allie Thobe added wins in the 100- and 200-meter dashes to her long jump title during Friday's running finals at the Mercer County K of C Meet.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Sarah Kanney wrapped up her home track career with wins in the 800-, 1,600-, and 3,200-meter runs at the Mercer County K of C Meet at Cavalier Stadium.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Celina's Blake Germann reaches back to grab the baton from teammate Nick Marks in the 4x200-meter relay at Friday's Mercer County Knights of Columbus Track and Field Meet in Coldwater.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Dan Seas captured the boys' 1,600-meter run at Friday's Mercer County Knights of Columbus Track and Field Meet.
