Monday, November 8th, 2021
Running away with the title
Minster girls capture 14th state championship
By Tom Haines
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Division III state cross country championship. Taylor Roth, left, and Maggie Hemmelgarn led Minster High School girls to their 14th state cross country championship on Saturday. Hemmelgarn finished third and Roth finished ninth.
OBETZ - Led by top-10 finishers Maggie Hemmelgarn and Taylor Roth, the Minster girls cross country team ran away with its 14th state title in the Division III state championship at Fortress Obetz on Saturday.
The Wildcats had a score of 66 points after the first mile and didn't concede a single one, beating second-place Liberty Center by 42 points.
"They just pushed and pushed and ran amazing, worked together," Minster girls coach Jessie Magoto said. "It's pretty stinking awesome, then, when you can come out on top. Doesn't always work that way, but today it did."
St. Henry finished 10th and Fort Recovery placed 12th, while in the Division III boys race, Minster came in 11th after a 10th-place finish in 2020.
Hemmelgarn and Roth ran with the leaders the whole way, running two seconds behind Maplewood's Caleigh Richards at the first mile before the pack thinned further. As Richards separated from the pack, Hemmelgarn held her ground a few seconds back.
Richards finished in 18:16.2 to defend her individual state title and Hemmelgarn crossed the line seven seconds later for a time of 18:23.1, just over a second behind West Liberty-Salem's Megan Adams.
"Just got to rely on your team, rely on God, rely on anything you can to push through," Hemmelgarn said.
Roth turned in a time of 18:42.1, five seconds ahead of Rittman's Pyper Gibson, to earn ninth place. Chaney Cedarleaf came in 30 seconds later, placing 21st and joining Roth and Hemmelgarn as all-Ohio honorees.
"It was really cold, and I think for most teams that's intimidating," Roth said. "But I know our team, we woke up excited for the cold, and we came out here and performed the way we would've hoped."
The Minster girls had won four straight state championships before a runner-up finish behind West Liberty-Salem in 2020.
St. Henry's Rileigh Baumer also earned all-Ohio honors, coming in 23rd in her first time at state. Back in 42nd after the first mile, she moved up to 30th after the second and secured the top-25 finish with a late run.
Ally Heath followed her with a time of 20:10.1 as the Redskins earned 10th place in the team standings with a score of 313, jumping six spots from 2020. Heath and Baumer both earned PRs to lead St. Henry.
"Their finishes were extremely strong," St. Henry coach Angela Wendel said. "They made up a lot of places, even in the last K."
In its second consecutive trip to state, Fort Recovery was three points behind St. Henry for a 12th-place finish, tying the highest mark ever for the Indians girls. Ellie Will paced Fort Recovery with a time of 20:14.5, 13 seconds ahead of teammate Jenna Hart.
"I can't believe how well they pack-ran, which is so hard at state," Fort Recovery coach Christy Diller said. "One, for them even to find each other, and then it's so fast, but they ran so well as a pack today.
"It would've been nice to get a couple more spots to beat St. Henry, but that's okay. They did awesome."
Six Indians recorded season-best times, with Hart, Alexis Wendel and Joelle Kaup rewriting their lifetime PRs.
"Jenna probably gets the Gatorade award for this week," Diller said. "Her lifetime best was two seconds off of my lifetime best, so now she's higher up than me on the all-time list. She's pretty happy today."
Running as an individual, Coldwater's Haley Alig finished in just under 20 minutes, coming in 54th. Fort Loramie finished third in the team standings, led by senior Claire Rethman in 11th.
Alex Albers paced the Minster boys with a time of 15:59.2, followed by Jack Grieshop at 17:17.1, Ryan Halpin at 17:28.4 and Jim Trzaska at 17:41.2.
"They came out here and knew what they had to do," Minster boys coach Larry Topp said. "Albers knew what he had to do. He had been injured, but he wanted to make sure he was in the top 10, and he ran the race exactly like he wanted to run it, so it was an awesome race for him. The No 2, 3, 4, 5 guys all came through today. It won't show up on the board, but we went through a lot of stuff this year, and it was fun to watch them conquer it."
Perry's Braden Yingst won the boys race, taking the lead in the second mile and steadily pulling away. Yingst was all alone entering the stadium, turning a four-second lead after two miles into a 15-second win.
Albers started out behind the leaders, running about 18th after the first mile before moving up. He moved into the top 10 by the end of the second mile and continued to gain ground, finishing sixth.
"He ran pretty close to pace, about five seconds ahead of his mile pace at the mile marker, which he knew would put him back around 20 or 25," Topp said. "He just stayed on that, and by the time he came through the two-mile he was 10th and he finished sixth. It was a good strategy and he did a nice job."
Marion Local's Noah Budde, running as an individual, held 22nd place after the first mile and came in 46th with a time of 16:52.1. Fellow Flyer Troy Stucke finished in 17:06.2, two seconds ahead of New Bremen's Zach Wiedeman.
Fort Recovery's Trevor Heitkamp came in a second behind Wiedeman, running a 17:09.6 in his first trip to state.
"First time at state, as a sophomore, it's a learning experience," Diller said. "He did great. Got pushed around a lot, but it's a physical race, and this is the first time he's run in a big championship-style race. So it's an excellent learning experience for him, and now he's got goals."
In the Division II girls race, Celina's Kaylie Dameron came in 18th to earn all-Ohio honors for the second straight year. Sister Joscelyn Dameron finished 39th.
"I went out at my usual pace, but I knew the competition would be a lot harder," Kaylie Dameron said. "I'm used to running as a top runner instead of a middle-pack runner, so that was a difference, getting adjusted to that."
Both Dameron sisters started slowly, running near the back of the pack in the first 450 meters before working their way up. Kaylie Dameron , who finished 23rd in 2020, broke into the top 30 in the second mile and continued to make up ground down the stretch.
"Last year I didn't have a good finish, so my goal this year was to be able to finish strong," Kaylie Dameron said. "I kind of went out with that mentality just to have a stronger race… I learned to really go in with a battle plan to do what I want to do in the race."
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Minster's Maggie Hemmelgarn (131) and Taylor Roth (134) run during the early part of Saturday's Division III girls state cross country race at Fortress Obetz. Both runners earned All-Ohio honors in helping the Wildcats win the state tile for the fifth time in six years.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Minster's Alex Albers runs during the Division III boys' state cross country race.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Marion Local's Noah Budde runs in the Division III boys state cross country race.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Fort Recovery's Joelle Kaup (173), Megan Diller (171) and Anna Roessner (174) run in the Division III girls state cross country on Saturday.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Celina's Joscelyn Dameron (465) and sister Kaylie Dameron run in the girls Division II state cross country race at Fortress Obetz.
