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Monday, June 4th, 2018

Minster wins state team title

2018 State Track and Field Championships

By Colin Foster

Photo by Colin Foster/The Daily Standard

Minster athletes pose with the Division III state girls' track and field championship trophy after having won the program's 13th title, the school's 34th state title and the Midwest Athletic Conference's 128th state title on Saturday at Jesse Owens Stadium.

COLUMBUS - Minster added another state championship to the collection on Saturday.

Junior Emma Watcke repeated as 1,600-meter champion and also won silver in the 3,200 as Minster totaled 57 points to win the Division III state track and field title at Jesse Owens Stadium.

It is the fourth state championship for Minster dating back to last June, when the baseball program captured the Division IV crown. Since then, the Wildcats have won titles in girls' cross country, football and girls' basketball. Saturday was the 34th state title all-time for the Wildcats.

This one, however, had been long awaited.

The track and field gold hadn't been won by the Minster girls since 2004, and the Wildcats were coming off three straight runner-up finishes at the meet.

But this season's hard work amounted to more hardware for Minster.

"It's just so great to see all that hard work that we put into over the season pay off when it matters the most," Watcke said.

Minster had All-Ohio finishes in the 4x800 relay, 4x100 relay, 4x400 relay, 1,600, 3,200, pole vault, long jump and two in the 800

It is Minster's 13th title in the sport. Covington totaled 32 points to earn its first-ever runner-up spot at the meet.

"I really have no clue when this will sink in," Minster coach Jessie Magoto said. "These two days are very long, and I kept telling the girls 'Don't count points. Do your best. One race at a time. Get to the finals and when you get there, get as many points as you can. Just keep fighting. At the end, we'll see where we're at.'

"But they started doing well and getting momentum," the coach added. "Emma won the mile and the 4x1, that was good icing on the cake. We went three and four in the 800. They just felt that confidence from each other and it's good. Scoring more than we thought, that's always the goal. I want to see them perform now. The pressure is on. Go get it."

Watcke posted a winning mark of 5:00.15 in the mile. Lima Central Catholic's Emily Sreenan was second (5:04.92) and Minster's Kaitlynn Albers placed 11th (5:15.00).

"I just tried to go into it relaxed and just tried to think about getting us as many ponts as possible for my team," Watcke said.

Watcke had finished 13th in the two-mile last year. On Saturday, she dropped more than 20 seconds from that time to place runner-up to Peeples junior and former Coldwater standout Jenny Seas. Seas won with a time of 11:04.93 compared with Watcke's 11:13.45. Minster's Gwen Meiring was 10th (11:34.12).

"It's definitely challenging, but I've been getting a lot better at the two-mile this year, so I was pretty confident to do a good double today," Watcke said.

Madeline Magoto took bronze in the 800 for a third straight season in a time of 2:15.70. Her teammate, Francis, finished right behind in fourth (2:16.07). Francis improved from a ninth-place finish in 2017. Mohawk's Destini Oler (2:15.10) and Northwood's Trinity Fowler (2:15.64) went one and two.

"I'm just happy Cassie was with me, getting these points for the team," Madeline Magoto said. "It was just great to have her come up to me after the race and say 'Third and fourth. Great job.' "

"We were just trying to fight for every point," Francis said. "Just fight. We practice finishing together a lot and they're always really good. At the end of the race, we were just trying to pull each other through one last time. You've got to give everything you've got. You always have one more gear. That's what we always say."

Ivy Wolf, Jessica Falk, Lillian Hirschfeld and Paige Thobe had the seventh-best prelim time in the 4x100 relay. The quartet followed with their best run of the season in the finals, completing the race with a mark of 50.56 seconds for a fourth-place finish. Their previous best had been a mark of 50.80 seconds.

"Nothing is ever for sure," Hirschfeld said. "Just because you run a time at prelims, that doesn't mean anything in the finals. We just went out and raced. It was just another day."

"We train all season for this moment," Falk said. "Our coaches do a phenomenal job. It's just repetition after repetition. We were just beyond prepared and I couldn't be more proud to finish off the season strong with this group of girls."

"We just approach every day the same," added Wolf, a starter on the state champion basketball team. "We can't get our nerves too high because then it could change the aspect of the whole race. We just stayed calm and did what we practiced every day."

Minster's final All-Ohio finish came in the 4x400 relay as Francis, Janae Hoying, Madeline Magoto and Hirschfeld placed fourth with a mark of 4:00.52.

On Friday, Francis, Albers, Watcke and Madeline Magoto won the 4x800, Thobe had a fifth-place finish in the long jump and Grace Butler took fifth in the pole vault.

"These girls make sacrifices," coach Magoto said. "They bust butt. They make sacrifices. They do whatever we ask them. They put in so much time and time and time. I thank them all. I thank them for trusting us. I thank them for making sacrifices. It's great when you see it pay off like this."
DIVISION III

Robby LeFevre was on the podium three times on Saturday.

The Fort Recovery junior placed fifth in the 100, fourth in the 200 and teamed with Riley Pearson, Jacob Acheson, Brayden Schoen for eighth in the 4x100 relay.

A year after having missed a state qualification in the 100, LeFevre received All-Ohio honors with a time of 11.0 seconds.

"That was a pretty good run," LeFevre said. "That was the second best all time. Eleven flat, that's a very good time for me. I had been going back and forth with (Waynesfield-Goshen's) Tyler Eller. I edged him out by like three-thousandths of a second or something. That was a good fifth for me."

LeFevre capped his season with a fourth-place finish in the 200, completing the sprint in 22.05 seconds.

"I was disappointed (in the 200)," LeFevre said. "I ran eight events over the course of 24 hours. My legs were very dead. I just couldn't finish it off. That's what it was. I was out in front, but I just couldn't finish it off.

"I have to put in a lot of work this offseason," he later added. "I need to do my best to get stronger. Hopefully I grow a lot. I just need to find a little way to get 10 meters faster."

Fort Recovery expected higher finishes in the 4x100 and 4x200 relays, but had a tough go. The 4x200 team of Pearson, Jared Timmerman, Schoen and LeFevre was disqualified after a botched handoff. The 4x100 team returned to the track later and took eighth in a time of 44.04 seconds.

Parkway's Sydney Crouch lived by a saying all season long.

"I have this little saying 'F. R. O. G.' " Crouch explained. "It stands for 'Fully Rely on God.' It's kind of been my thing this year. I have it on my T-shirt. It's written on my spikes, too."

She had never been on the podium as an individual before, but Crouch leapt up there like a frog on Saturday. The Panther senior was a sixth-place finisher in the 400 with a time of 58.15 seconds.

"I'm thankful to end up on the podium as a senior," Crouch said. "As an individual, I've never done that even though I've competed here multiple times. It's just an amazing experience.

"I give all the credit to God," she added. "And for the coaches who pushed me to become better, I'm glad he gave them to me."

John Tangeman was congratulated by several Marion Local supporters after having earned a state qualification in the 400.

"The community has been really helpful and encouraging," Tangeman said. "Whenever they heard I had qualified for state, at church, a bunch of people came up to me to say congrats."

More congrats are in order after Saturday.

Tangeman, a junior, joined the All-Ohioan club with an eighth-place finish in the 400. The first-time state competitor completed the journey around the track in 51.10 seconds.

"It was an awesome experience just being here," Tangeman said. "I know Marion Local is mostly know nfor football, basketball and other sports. Track gets overlooked a lot of times, so it's just good to be able to represent our team on a stage where most people don't get to see it."

New Bremen's 4x400 relay team of Julia Goettemoeller, Rachel Kremer, Macy Puthoff and Paige Jones landed on the podium with an eighth-place finish. The team ran a time of 4:01.98.

Goettemoeller had started the day with a ninth place in the 300 hurdles with a time of 47.10 seconds. It was the first individual qualification for the senior.

Minster's 4x200 team of Thobe, Falk, Hirschfeld and Wolf also missed out on All-Ohio status with a ninth-place finish in a time of 1:47.24.
DIVISIONS I & II

Lauren Jackson and Tyler Ross racked up the accolades while with the Celina track and field program.

Each added All-Ohioan to their resume on Saturday.

Jackson and Ross both reached the podium in their first trip to the state meet.

Jackson placed fourth in the Division II 800-meter run and Ross finished seventh in the Division I discus at Jesse Owens Stadium in Columbus.

"It was a great experience," Jackson said. "I'm really proud to say that I made it. It felt good to know I made my coaches and the people who helped me make it here proud."

"It's amazing - I don't know how to explain it really," Ross said. "Getting to state is the best way to end the season in any sport. Getting on the podium made it even better."

Jackson - a three-time Western Buckeye League champion in the 800 - had a frustrating fifth-place finish at regional as a junior. She rebounded to win the regional as a senior.

The future Bowling Green State University runner finished the 800 at state in a time of 2:16.51. Chagrin Fall's Catherine Coffey won with a time of 2:13.63.

"It was really exciting," Jackson said. "There's a ton of people here and the competition was really fast, so it was a lot of fun.

"I knew it was going to be a really close battle, and I was just hoping for a podium place and trying to get my best time."

Ross established new Celina school records in throwing events this postseason. He placed fifth at regional in the shot put but advanced in the discus with a record throw of 168-6 at regional, breaking Aaron Shreffler's 1991 mark of 166-8.

Ross took seventh at state with a throw of 167-10. Glen Oak's Andrew White won with a top mark of 194-9.

"The record was all I thought about at (the regional) meet," Ross said. "I was trying to get the record because I knew if I got the record, then I'd be going to state. At state, I didn't pass my record, but I still had a great throw and I'm really happy with that.

"It was really cool," Ross added. "I honestly expected to go to state in the shot put, but I was happy to go in discus."

Coldwater's Thomas Schwieterman entered with the eighth-best discus throw in Division II. That's also where he finished on Saturday.

Schwieterman, a senior, threw a 149-1 to take eighth. The performance earned him a spot on the podium and also in the Coldwater 'Ring of Honor,' which recognizes All-Ohioans. Eastwood's Erik Fertig won with a 161-1.

"I'm happy with what I got," Schwieterman said. "Placing at the state tournament, you have to be happy with that. I didn't throw my PR, but that happens."

Katie Alig was one of four long jumpers to make state. She competed in Division II. The other three, Minster's Paige Thobe, New Bremen's Macy Puthoff and Marion Local's Aubrey Thobe, took part in the D-III competition on Friday.

Alig, a sophomore, just missed out on All-Ohio honors. She finished 10th with a top mark of 16-7. Van Wert's Megan Braun was the winner with a mark of 17-10 1/4.