Area athletes have strong day at invite

NEW BREMEN - The team titles at the Cardinal Invite belong to a pair of Shelby County League teams in Russia (girls) and Anna (boys).

The New Bremen girls took runner-up honors at their home meet. The boys from St. Marys were just behind Anna in second place.

And a group of local athletes - Parkway's Clista Hellwarth, Marion Local's Colin Homan, St. Henry's Collin Mescher and Britney Siefring, Coldwater's Savannah Seibert, St. Marys' Kelly Wilker and Dakota McVety and New Bremen's Logan Dicke - claimed individual championships in their respective events.
Girls

Russia had winners in four events - three by Lauren Heaton - and earned the team title with 98 points. New Bremen was second with 82 1/2 and Covington third with 75.

"I figured we'd do well," New Bremen coach Sue Burnell said. "I figured we'd have a shot at winning it."

Parkway placed fifth with 51, Marion Local was sixth (44 1/2), St. Marys eighth (42), St. Henry ninth (36 1/2), Coldwater 10th (33), New Bremen "B" 14th (seven) and New Knoxville 16th (one).

From an individual standpoint the day belonged to Hellwarth, who won the 100-meter hurdles (16.53 seconds) and high jump (4-8) and finished third in the 300 hurdles (49.70) - a race that featured three MAC runners in the top four, including the winner Seibert and Marion's Kylie Albers, who took fourth in a time of 49.72.

Seibert edged Botkins' Adriana Jutte in the 300 hurdles. Seibert's margin of victory was 48.80-48.82.

St. Marys' Wilker, a junior, also had herself a great day - winning the 1,600 and placing second in the 3,200. Wilker won the 1,600 with a time of 5:22.96, nearly eight seconds better than second-place finisher Molly Kearns of Russia. Wilker ran an 11:28.34 in the 2-mile to place second behind Botkins' Chloe Flora (11:00.59).

St. Henry's Siefring, a sophomore, leaped 15-8 3/4 for the victory in the long jump. Parkway's Sydney Crouch took runner-up with a 15-3.

New Bremen's Paige Jones, a state qualifier in the 400 as a freshman, finished runner-up to state champion Russia's Heaton in the event. Heaton ran it in a time of 58.74 seconds and Jones was a few steps behind in 1:00.39. Jones' teammate, Makenna Brackman, took bronze in the 800 with a time of 2:25.22.

Celeste Kuck, New Bremen's record-setting pole vaulter, placed second in the vault. Kuck had a 10-foot vault. Russia's Emily Bohman cleared 10-6 for the win.

St. Marys Ally Angstmann took second in the 100 hurdles (17.65 seconds).

Marion Local's 4x200 relay team of Carrie Fesenmyer, Kylie Albers, Jessie Kramer and Natalie Rethman placed second to Covington. The Flyers ran a 1:52.49 compared with the Buccs' 1:51.91.

The Flyer foursome of Fesenmyer, Haley Habodasz, Chloe Nagel and Michaela Tangeman finished second to Anna in the 4x100 relay. The Rockets ran the event in 53.62 seconds and Marion's time was 54.99.

The sixth-place team finish for Marion was quite an accomplishment. Many of its key scorers were taking part in the school musical "Bye Bye Birdie."

"We have so many girls out this meet that it's tough to gauge where we're at," Marion Local coach Matt Schmackers said. "Kylie Albers continues to run well. She placed fourth in the 300 hurdles and ran a big PR and it was a very competitive race. She finished (fifth) in the 200 as well. She definitely stands out."

New Bremen's 4x400 group (Rachel Kremer, Jane Homan, Brackman and Jones) was the highest MAC finisher in the 4x400 in third (4:15.95). Botkins won with a 4:10.94 and Russia was second (4:11.29).
Boys

It was a tight team race between Anna and St. Marys the whole way, but the Rockets escaped victorious with high finishes in the 3,200 and 4x400 relay. Anna totaled 79 points compared with St. Marys' 73 1/2. Spencerville was third with 66.

"Overall we were really happy with our boys and their efforts tonight as we try to get geared up for our league meet," St. Marys coach Rob Cisco said. "We stepped up in a big way and we're excited."

St. Henry placed seventh in the team standings with 49 points, Parkway was ninth (36), New Bremen 10th (33), Marion Local 12th (28) and Coldwater 14th (23).

St. Marys' McVety won the long jump with a 20-8 1/4 and placed second in the 100 (11.74 seconds). McVety also teamed with Eric Spicer, Zach Lemmerman and Logan Maze to win the 4x100 in a time of 45.18 seconds. He was also on the 4x200 relay team that finished third.

"Dakota McVety was our MVP of the meet tonight," Cisco added. "He finished first in the long jump with a personal best of (20-8 1/4). He took second in the 100 and our 4x100 boys team which he was on took first and our 4x200 team which he was on took third. Overall he had a great performance."

The Roughriders also received a third-place finish in the pole vault from Austin Smith, who topped out at 12-6.

Marion Local pole vaulter Colin Homan had only been beaten once this season entering Friday.

It stayed that way for Homan, who didn't have his best effort but still managed to defeat Covington's Jett Murphy in sudden death. Homan cleared 13 feet for the win.

"As far as the season so far, it's going pretty good," said Homan, who is still chasing sole possession of the school record. "I've just got to keep going after the 14-1. I've tried it like six times and I just can't get over it."

Homan, a state qualifier last year, already owns a piece of the school record at 14-0.

Collin Mescher gave St. Henry a victory in the 400, edging Fort Jennings' Drew Grone by a margin of 53.00-53.10. Mescher also finished second in the long jump (20-00 1/4. Coldwater's Andrew Gillum was third in the long jump (18-11) and Parkway's Caden May fourth (18-9 3/4).

New Bremen's Dicke owned the discus. His winning heave was 143-10 and gave the Cardinals 10 points. St. Henry's Cole Staugler was third in the event with a 136-00. He also placed third in the shot with a 45-10.

Two local runners were in the top three in the 1,600. St. Marys' Matthew Jutte was runner-up with a 4:41.82 and New Bremen's Cort Speckman placed third (4:48.19).