Monday, June 6th, 2022
2022 State Track and Field Championships
Top spot on the podium
Schwieterman repeats in 300 Hurdles; Roth wins 800
By Gary R. Rasberry
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Tyler Schwieterman, center, crosses the finish line in the final of the Division III boys 300-meter hurdles at Saturday's State Track and Field Championship in Columbus. Schwieterman defended his state title in the event.
COLUMBUS - The only thing that Tyler Schwieterman was looking to do on Saturday was finally break the school record in the 300-meter hurdles.
The Coldwater senior did that, and then some.
Schwieterman defended his Division III 300 hurdles title, collecting one of two wins for area athletes as the 2022 State Track and Field Championships concluded at Jesse Owens Stadium in Columbus.
Schwieterman came within three-tenths of a second of breaking Tony Easterlin's 1999 mark of 39.3 seconds in Friday's preliminary, giving Schwieterman the second-fastest time among the qualifiers.
On Saturday, Schwieterman got out to the lead off the bat and battled New Middletown Springfield's Beau Brungard, who was the quarterback against Coldwater in the 2020 Division VI football championship game. In the end, Schwieterman crossed the line in 38.96, breaking Easterlin's 23-year old record with Brungard coming in at 39.09. Minster's Joseph Slonkosky also matched his 2021 finish in the 300 hurdles with a fourth-place showing for the Wildcats.
"It was a lot of pressure. Not going to lie," said Schwieterman. "I was really motivated because I wanted to get that school record. I gave it all I had. It's my last race, ever. (Brungard) had a fast time, too. I had to keep going as fast as I could and not let up."
Schwieterman also picked up three points at the start of the day on Saturday with a sixth-place finish in the 110 hurdles with a time of 15.26.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Minster's Taylor Roth, right, celebrates with Coldwater's Haley Alig at the finish of the girls' 800-meter run. Roth won the race with Alig finishing third.
The other local champ on the day came from the Minster girls as Taylor Roth won a duel in the 800 run. As Roth came down the stretch on the first lap of the race, she was just ahead of Zane Trace's Marie Souther. Roth picked up the pace, but Souther hung on right to the end. Roth, who was part of the Wildcats' state-winning 4x800 relay on Friday, crossed the line in 2:12.65, less than a second ahead of Souther.
"I knew we'd have a lot of competition today. It was insanely fast," said Roth. "I raced with Marie the whole time. She really pushed me on the backstretch. I'm not really used to having to be pushed on the backstretch. I was confident in my finish and used that to my advantage today."
Photo by Gary R. Rasberry/The Daily Standard
Minster's Taylor Roth receives the medal for winning the 800-meter run at the Division III State Track and Field Championships in Columbus on Saturday. Coldwater's Tyler Schwieterman won his second straight state title in the 300 hurdles.
Coldwater's Haley Alig, who has battled injuries and illness during her career, wrapped up her final individual race with a third-place finish.
"I've been racing with Taylor for three years now. She's a great competitor and pushes me to do my best," said Alig. "To end on this stage at Jesse Owens is really cool."
Roth and Alig each had one race remaining as both ran legs of the 4x400. Alig, Carlee Goodwin and Izzy Zahn kept the Cavaliers near the front before Ava Giere got the baton for the final lap. Giere got a solid hold on second as Wayne Trace was nearly three seconds ahead as the Cavaliers took second in 3:58.53. Minster, with Cameo Cedarleaf, Lillian Barhorst, Keri Heckman and Roth taking the laps, finished fourth in 4:01.02.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Marion Local's Sam Hoelscher, left finishes second in the 300-meter hurdles during the Division II State Track and Field Championships.
Marion Local's Sam Hoelscher had four events on Saturday and scored in three. Hoelscher kicked off her morning by taking sixth in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.24 seconds. A short time later, Hoelscher ran the anchor leg of the 4x200 as she, Lynn Schwieterman, Natalie Pohl and Maddie Keller added another sixth-place finish.
Hoelscher then stepped in to run the 300 hurdles. Colonel Crawford's Katie Ruffener, the champion in the 100 hurdles, came up big with a winning time of 43.06 to sweep the hurdles, but Hoelscher was close behind with a 43.72, placing second and taking over 1.5 seconds off the old record of 45.33 that Jane Moeller set in 1990.
"It feels great. It was hard at the end," said Hoelscher. "I pushed myself and had people to push me."
Hoelscher's strive to score in each of her events came short as she, Schwieterman, Keller and Jayden Huelsman finished ninth in the final and out of the points and podium finish in the 4x400.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Minster's Alex Albers heads towards the finish line in the 1,600-meter run.
Among the other finishes on the day at the Division III state meet, Minster's Margaret Hemmelgarn took eighth in the girls 1,600 run while Alex Albers picked up a sixth-place showing in the boys' 1,600. Albers also ran the 800, finishing out of the points in 11th.
Coldwater's quartet of Zahn, Shelby Linn, Kiersten Keller and Allison Hamberg earned a point with an eighth-place showing in the 4x100 relay while in the boys' 4x100, the Marion quartet of Brayden Pavelka, Kyle Otte, Peyton Moeller and Peyton Otte finished sixth.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Fort Recovery's Abbie Francis, right, heads to the finish line in the 200-meter dash at the Division III state Track and Field Championships.
Fort Recovery's Abbie Francis earned All-Ohio honors in finishing seventh in the 200 dash. Fellow Fort Recovery athlete Trevor Heitkamp finished his second season with a 13th-place showing in the 3,200.
In the final team scores in Division III. Colonel Crawford edged Margaretta 44-41 to capture the the program's fourth state title and first since 1992. Minster picked up third with 30 points with Marion Local tying with Lehman for fourth with 24 points. Coldwater was eighth with 21 points with Fort Recovery getting 26th with 10 points. New Knoxville had five points.
Norwayne edged McDonald 40-38 for the boys' state team title, the second straight season McDonald was edged out of the title by two points after Minster did so last season. Coldwater was the top area boys team with 15 points for 13th place. Marion Local was 23rd with 10 points with Minster finishing with eight points.
DIVISION II
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Celina's Amelia Lutz gets ready to fire the shot put at the Division II State Track and Field Championships.
A day after earning her first All-Ohio finish in placing fourth in the discus, Celina'a Amelia Lutz looked to return to the podium in the discus.
The Celina junior got a top put of 39-3 on her second throw of the preliminaries, easily snagging a spot in the finals. But in the final set of three throws, Lutz could only manage a top effort of 38-11 3/4 and finished seventh overall.
Another Celina junior, Nevaeh Huser, looked to earn points in the pole vault. Huser cleared 9-6 and 10 feet on the first attempt each time and needed a second try to get to 10-6. With the bar up to 11-0, Huser missed all three chances and finished with a 14th-place finish and out of the running for a podium spot.
St. Marys senior Brandon Bowers wrapped up his track career in the 110 hurdles. Bowers got the Roughriders two points in the team standings with a seventh-place finish, crossing the line at 14.86 seconds.
