Wildcats set record, earn runner-up trophy

COLUMBUS - Saturday had already been a superb day for the Minster girls leading up to the final event at the Division III state track and field meet.

They saved the best for last.

Maggie Meiring, Julia Slonkosky, Cassie Francis, all underclassmen, and senior Cassie Jutte combined for the fastest 4x400-meter relay time in state history with a 3:55.16 to win the state championship in the event at Jesse Owens Stadium in Columbus.

The victory was a nice consolation prize and a perfect ending to a dominating season for the Wildcats, who finished as team runner-up behind St. Thomas Aquinas despite scoring 58 points - the third highest total by a second-place team in state meet history.

"This is the best we could have asked for," Jutte said. "I mean, it would have been great to have a state (team) championship, but getting first in the 4x400 is always something you dream of. Last year we came within a couple tenths of a second, so it was awesome this year to do that in the last race of my high school career."

"We didn't come home with a state (title) trophy but we did come home with a state record, which I think is pretty good," Meiring added.

Prior to the final race, Meiring had earned bronze in the 300 hurdles and then Francis and Slonkosky followed with second-and-third-place finishes in the 800.

"They really exceeded our expectations," Minster girls' coach Jesse Magoto said. "We knew Aquinas was just crazy tough, and we just wanted them to go out and perform. Most importantly, I didn't want them to be afraid, just compete. You know, with Maggie placing third in the 300 hurdles, followed by our two 800 girls going two and three, that really gave them all kinds of confidence.

"Of course we wanted to end with a win in the 4x400. We wanted to get our school record, I just didn't even look at the state record. The fact that they did that is just amazing. Just absolutely amazing."

The 69 points scored by Aquinas was the highest girls' team total in Division III since Gates Mills Gilmour Academy's 73 in 2009. Minster's output would have resulted in a championship eight of the last 10 seasons.

St. Thomas picked up wins in the 4x100 (50.20) and 4x200 (1:44.19) before finally clinching the title with Athena Welsh's second-place finish in the 3,200.   

Minster landed on the podium in all three relays, with the 4x100 team (Maria Heckman, Mya Francis, Paige Thobe, Katie Wuebker) placing fourth (50.80) and 4x200 (Jutte, Heckman, Wuebker, Gabrielle Barga) finishing third (1:45.69).

"This season, I never knew how this 4x200 would go," explained Barga, also a member of the state runner-up, school-record-breaking 4x800 relay team. "We had decent times, so (we thought) maybe we'd make it to state. Getting third is really awesome."

Meiring, a junior, came through with her best race on the state's biggest stage, finishing with a personal best time of 45.44 to place third in the 300 hurdles. Rittman's Maddy McDermott (44.55) and Botkins' Whitney Bornhorst (45.21) went 1-2 in the event.

"To be able to get a half-second PR, I was really happy with that," she said. "Starting with districts, I ran a 47 and then at regional I took off a second and today I took off half a second. I'm just so happy. I'm happy for myself. I'm happy for my team. I'm happy for Julia and Cassie. I'm just so happy for everyone."

Cassie Francis and Julia Slonkosky stayed right with St. Thomas sophomore Kaylee Soehlen until she got a little breathing room down the stretch for the win. Soehlen finished with a time of 2:16.07 compared with Cassie Francis' 2:16.82 and Slonkosky's 2:17.69.

Cassie Francis, a freshman, entered the day with the best overall time, and Slonkosky was slightly under the radar after placing fourth at the regional meet.

"I knew I had faster splits from the 4x800, but I didn't look at the results. I didn't want to get that into my head," Slonkosky said. "Having Cassie was great support. I just followed her lead."

"After finishing this race, we both just looked at each other and said 'That was awesome. I want to run that again,' " Cassie said.

Odds are, they both will. And if each qualify next year, they'll likely have to face Soehlen again.

Minster's Morgan Pohl reached the podium with an eighth-place finish in the 3,200 with a time of 11:49.06.

The only other local girl qualifiers left standing on Saturday were the 4x200 team from New Bremen (Paige Jones, Makenna Brackman, Shelby Paul, Steph Brandt), who came up short of making the podium in ninth (1:48.77).

On the boys side, Minster's 4x400 team (Jonathan Fausey, Joe Trzaska, Eli Wolf, Jack Poeppelman) entered the day with hopes of winning a state title but fell short in fourth with a time of 3:25.86.

Columbus Academy was the winning team with a 3:21.53, Troy regional champion Anna was second (3:23.24) and Columbus Grove third (3:24.13).

While the Wildcat group admitted they were disappointed with the result, they agreed that fourth place at state was something to be proud of.

Wolf, a state qualifier for three straight seasons, placed fifth in the 200-meter dash with a time of (22.42). Warren John F. Kennedy's Jacob Coates won with a time of 21.71. Wolf also held a spot on the 4x200 team with Jacob Stechschulte, Poepppelman and Jacob Dues, which placed seventh spot in a time of 1:32.18. Bluffton won the race in a time of 1:30.76.

Like the Minster 4x400 team, St. Henry's Spencer Schulze went into Saturday's 3,200 final hoping to compete for a title but didn't produce his best result. The regional champion - the first Redskin to win one since 2007 - placed 16th with a time of 9:55.50.

Warren JFK won the boys' team title with 48 points, Maplewood finished runner-up (37), Columbus Academy third (28) and Anna fourth (27).