Celina girls win WBL track title

Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry

Eric Wagner knew his Celina girls track and field team going into the second day of the 2021 Western Buckeye League Track and Field Championships.

The Bulldog girls were in second place with 16 points, 10 behind first-day leader Ottawa-Glandorf.

Celina roared to life on Day Two, pulling away to win the program's 28th league title at Shawnee High School.

Celina tallied 87 points on Friday to finish with 103 points. The Titans finished second with 78 points. St. Marys took third with 68 points.

"It was amazing," said Celina coach Eric Wagner, who earns the Girls Track Coach of the Year award in the league in leading the team to the title. "We had so many people over-perform today. It's all stuff we knew they were capable of doing, but we just haven't had the great weather to do it. Someone improved two seconds in the 300 hurdles and eight seconds in the mile. Just so many things."

The field events started the run to the title. Amelia Lutz, who finished second in the discus on Wednesday, came back to take the shot put with a top effort of 37-6 3/4. The Bulldogs then added eight points in the long jump as Allison Schwieterman finished second and beat her career best by 18 inches. Nevaeh Huser gave Celina another eight points in the field events with her runner-up finish in the pole vault.

When the running finals began, the Bulldogs picked up points in bits and pieces. Natalie Dross was third in the 100 hurdles and Celina came in third in the 4x200 relay. A big battle came in the 1,600, as St. Marys' Ellen Schloemer won with the Celina sister tandem of Kaylie and Joscelyn Dameron taking second and third. The Bulldogs took third in the 4x100 relay and Emily Schwieterman was third and Dross sixth in the 300 hurdles to give Celina nine points.

The Bulldogs were unable to score in the 800 and 200, but sealed the title in the 3,200 with a 1-2 finish for the Damerons, as Kaylie took first and Joscelyn finished second.

"They're so gritty. They don't like it when they get beat," Wagner said of the Damerons. "Kaylie and Joscelyn ran very well today. Improved their (personal bests) by a lot. They ran so relaxed. they knew what they had to do."  

The title clinched, the Celina girls wrapped up the night with a fifth-place finish in the 4x400.

"They knew what they had at stake and knew they had to perform well," said Wagner. "Oh, wow! It was an amazing team effort. … It was a fun night."

In addition to Schloemer's win in the 1,600, St. Marys picked up a first-place effort in the 4x200.

The boys' league title chase was a two-team race as Shawnee and Van Wert were well ahead of the pack. Shawnee won the title with 153 points with Van Wert tallying 118. St. Marys was third with Celina taking seventh.

The lone Bulldogs win came from Isaac Rasawehr in the discus, who topped out at 135-1 to hold the St. Marys tandem of Hunter Fultz and Dylan Giesige in the finals.

"Overall, the speed was phenomenal tonight," said Wagner. "We dropped time in almost everything we did. … Brayden Shaw drops two seconds from what he did two years ago (in the 800) and gets the same place (third). Overall, it was super-competitive. We had a couple injuries happen (this week). We had other people step up."

Next up will be district meets. The Celina boys travel to Findlay for the Division I meet on Thursday while the Celina girls and the St. Marys boys and girls compete at the Division II Defiance district on Wednesday.