Saturday, May 10th, 2008
The Celina tracksters sweep Mercer County team titles
By Gary R. Rasberry
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Celina's Andrew Goodwin, front, leads the pack with St. Henry's Doug Ranly, left, and the Coldwater duo of Dusty Kuess and Alex Gray, far right, during the 1600-meter run at the Mercer County track meet on Friday.
COLDWATER - Talk about returning in fine style.
After a long sabbatical from the Mercer County Knights of Columbus track and field meet, Celina took home both team trophies as action concluded on Friday with running finals and the delayed pole vault finals at Cavalier Stadium.
The Runnin' Women dominated all day in cruising to a win with 185 points with host Coldwater placing second with 104.
The Bulldog boys also had a strong day, with career days in their distance events in scoring 1881/2 points. St. Henry, looking to repeat at Midwest Athletic Conference champs in the upcoming MAC meet, took second with 1341/2 points.
"(Distance people) had career days. They all did. Melissa Roth had the best day of her career. Isaac Niekamp (who scored in both the 1,600 and 3,200) had his best day. Hurdle people had their best. Overall, everyone contributed," said Celina coach Dan Otten. "Pole vaulters did well. Yesterday, the boys' throwers in the rain came through."
In the junior high meet, Celina's girls captured the team title while the boys title went to the host Cavaliers.
Celina's girls took six of the eight contested individual running events to power toward the win. Julie Snyder, who had a win on Thursday, added two more in taking the 100-meter hurdles -setting a new record in the event with a time of 15 seconds flat - and the 300 hurdles.
Eryn Langenkamp, who took third in the hurdles, swept the two fast sprints in the 100 and 200.
Melissa Roth dueled with Coldwater's Ashley Kanney in the 1,600 and Cavalier Ashleigh Kahlig in the 3,200, but came away with the wins at the end.
Coldwater posted three wins as the 1,600 relay wrapped up the night with a victory. Maria Wermert defended her county pole vault title, vaulting 9-6 and winning the tie on fewer attempts against Abby Schmitmeyer of Marion Local.
St. Henry's Carmen Moorman picked up the 400-meter title while Parkway captured the 400 relay. Marion Local rounded out the winning in taking the 800 relay.
On the boys side, Celina was in control at distances from 400 to 3,200 meters. Sophomore standout Andrew Goodwin dueled with St. Henry distance ace Doug Ranly in the mile and two mile. Goodwin was nine seconds faster than Ranly in the 1,600, then was nearly 10 seconds faster in the 3,200.
Brad Smith faced off against a stellar 400 field to win in 53 seconds flat.
Spencer Foulkes dueled with St. Henry's Scott Weitzel, edging him by .36 seconds at the finish line to take the win in the 800 meter. Celina's 1,600 relay team also posted a win.
Parkway dominated in the sprints. Josh Fisher cruised to wins in the 100 and 200 and ran a leg of the Panthers' winning 400 relay.
St. Henry got a win in the 800 relay with Patrick Reichert taking home the win over Celina's Kelby Rosengarten in the 110 hurdles by .01 seconds.
Rosengarten would not leave without a medal, though, and in the process picked up a hat in setting the meet record in the 300 hurdles. Rosengarten's time of 40.15 seconds earned him a hat presented by the K of C to record breakers.
Fort Recovery's Matt Vagedes captured the other win on the day, winning the pole vault with a height of 13-6.
The key for the coaches was to get ready for their respective league meets week.
"That's the big thing," said Otten, referring to the fact that the K of C was a good prep for the Western Buckeye League meet next week. "It helps decide a few things. The league is going to be competitive with a few teams. Here there are good individuals. Parkway had their stud sprinter in boys (Fisher) and had a good girl (Marian Bevington). That was good for Julie. She needed to be nipped in one event (Bevington won the high jump against Snyder on Thursday). It's good for the kids to face good individuals at this meet."
"Great competition," said St. Henry coach Mike Eyink. "We were glad Celina's back. They need to be in this meet. Very competitive. We're very happy with what we saw. Good things happened and we're excited for next week."
Highlights in the junior high meet included Celina's Hannah Fleck, who won the 100 hurdles and the 800 run. Coldwater's Abbey Kunk captured the 200 hurdles and finished up the night's action with a win in the pole vault. Fort Recovery's Kylie Kahlig added to her shot put win on Thursday by taking the 200 dash.
On the junior high boys side, Fort Recovery's Aaron Vagedes captured the 200 and 400 runs to go with the high jump win on Thursday. Celina's Zach Cozadd swept the hurdle events.
Scholarship awards: The Knights of Columbus councils of Mercer County again awarded $100 book scholarships to one senior member of each school's track program during the awards presentation.
This year's winners are: Isaac Niekamp (Celina), Ashley Kanney (Coldwater), Matt Vagedes (Fort Recovery), Mark Prenger (Marion Local), Tim Schlemmer (Parkway) and Dan Rex (St. Henry).
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Celina's Kelsey Waterman, back, hands the baton to teammate Cayle Hellwarth during the 800-meter relay during the Mercer County meet on Friday in Coldwater. The Celina girls and boys each won team titles at the meet.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Britanie Niekamp goes over the bar during the pole vault competition at the Mercer County track meet on Friday. Niekamp finished fourth in the event helping the Lady Cavaliers to a second-place finish.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
St. Henry's Carmen Moorman, front, leads Marion Local's Rachel Hess during the 400-meter dash on Friday during Day 2 of the Mercer County track meet in Coldwater. Moorman won the event with Hess taking second.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Marion Local's Abby Schmitmeyer winces as she goes over the bar during the girls pole vault competition at the Mercer County track meet on Friday. Schmitmeyer finished second in the event. Celina swept the high school team standings.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Marion Local's Niles Keller, back, hands the baton to teammate Dillon Kremer during the 800-meter relay at the Mercer County track meet on Friday.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Celina's Kelby Rosengarten clears a hurdle on the way to a record-setting performance in the 300-meter hurdles.
