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St. Henry's Ryan Wehrley (left) and Harrison Wendel and Marion Local's Nate Buschur approach the finish line in the 100. Wendel beat Buschur by .04 seconds, while Wehrley finished fourth.
MINSTER - The hometown Wildcats had plenty to like about Saturday's Minster Memorial.
The Minster girls took first by 36 1/2 points over Midwest Athletic Conference rival Versailles, while the boys exceeded expectations by taking third place behind West Liberty-Salem and champion Marion Local.
"Are we used to being where we are? No," Minster boys coach Larry Topp said. "But they're starting to make great strides in getting where we're at. I didn't think in any way, shape or form that we'd be anywhere in the top three today."
Girls coach Jessie Magoto highlighted senior Kylie Williams' win in the 100-meter dash, where she held off late charges by Spencerville's Claire Hoback and South Adams' Adrienne Mckean.
"It's been a long time since we've had a Minster girl win the 100 at the Memorial," Magoto said. "Maybe 20-plus years, going back to 2001 and Tara Slane possibly. Kylie Williams, she ran six races today with prelims, and for her to win the 100 and be on that 4x200 and get second in the 200, it was just great. She's just strong, and she's been consistent and just grew up."
Minster's Kylie Williams runs the 200 dash, where she placed second to go along with a win in the 100.
Williams also ran in the third-place 4x100 relay.
The Wildcat girls claimed first in the 4x200, 4x400 and 4x800, with Taylor Roth and Versailles' Alexis Magoto even in the final turn of the 4x400 before Roth pulled away.
Roth ran two other relays and cruised to a win in the 800, nine seconds ahead of runner-up Mylee Shatto from Fort Loramie.
"She's got some speed," Coach Magoto said. "She's been getting in some consistent training, just thankful for good weather and ready to go."
Margaret Hemmelgarn placed second in the 1,600, leading until Fort Loramie's Camille Borchers passed her in the final lap. Freshman Maria Niekamp was four seconds behind Hemmelgarn.
Chaney Cedarleaf was fifth in the final lap of the 3,200 and found another gear, passing two runners to cross the line third before collapsing into Magoto's arms.
Kayla Lamm took first in the long jump, making 5-2 on her last attempt to beat Ava Ranly of Marion and then clearing 5-3. Lamm also was fifth in the long jump.
All told, the Wildcats placed two in six individual track events - in the other two, they had two runners in the top nine. In five field events, they had a pair of point-getters in two events and two in the top nine in another, only missing out entirely in the throws.
"We like to see two people in each event try and be competitive, and I think they did," Magoto said. "As far as depth,I think we've got some people peppered in several areas."
The Minster boys didn't pick up a win, but racked up points down the board. Charlie Schmiesing led the way with a second-place finish in the discus, and the 4x800 and 4x400 relays also took second.
Minster's Jack Grieshop runs in the 800 Saturday. Grieshop finished third in the 800 and the 1,600.
Jack Grieshop placed third in the 800 and overtook three runners in the final lap - including Marion's Troy Stucke in the final steps - for third in the 1,600.
"He came in and ran a 52-something split in the 4x400 - for a distance guy, that's pretty good - and he's part of the 4x800," Topp said. "And in the mile, he made a big, hard, late push."
Ryan Halpin ran sixth in the 800 and the 3,200, and in the latter, Nick Prenger stayed at his hip the whole way to take seventh.
Sprinter John Keller came in .01 seconds ahead of Spencerville's Braxton McMichael for sixth in the 100 and .01 seconds ahead of Lehman's Kayden Franklin for fifth in the 200.
"Sprint-wise, John Keller was nowhere in the picture, and he placed in everything he was in," Topp said.
The victorious Flyer boys picked up five wins. Nate Buschur had two, starting with a win by a full foot in the pole vault before falling just short of the meet record of 15-1.
Buschur then came in a second behind St. Henry's Harrison Wendel in the 100 before winning the 200 at 22.95 - which Marion coach Kyle Grabowski said was the Flyers' first sub-23-second time in about a decade.
"He wanted to win that 100, but for St. Henry, Harrison Wendel has been their top sprinter for a couple years now," Grabowski said. "He comes with a maturity about him, while Nate is newer to being the sprint guy. We had Peyton Moeller and Peyton Otte before now, so it's a new thing for him. But he's going to get there, and I can't wait to see how it ends up at the end of the year, because I think Nate has a lot more to tap into yet."
Wendel also anchored the Redskins' 4x100 and 4x200 relays, clipping Marion each time. The Flyers placed fourth in the 4x800 but won the 4x400 to close out the meet.
Dan Bruns added a victory in the long jump. Owen Rindler followed a third-place finish in the 100 hurdles with a win in the 300 by outrunning Versailles' Colton Reese in a neck-and-neck sprint to the finish.
Marion Local's Owen Rindler clears a hurdle in the 300 hurdles, which he won by .04 seconds over Versailles' Colton Reese.
"In the MAC right now, it's two different leaders," Grabowski said of the hurdles. "Colton Reese, in the 110, he looks unbeatable. Nick Rhodes down at Versailles has an outstanding set of hurdlers, and Colton has set himself apart in the short race. But then in the 300 hurdles, Owen Rindler, I think, is the guy."
Marion's Grace Moeller won the girls 100 hurdles, while Amber Wendel took first in the shot put with a throw of 37-6.
St. Henry's Dustin Quinter beat Marion's Jack Knapke by 3 1/2 feet in the shot put and topped Schmiesing by three feet in the discus.
New Bremen got a third-place finish from Zach Wiedeman in the 3,200. Wiedeman ran fifth early, moved up to fourth in the fourth lap, and passed West Liberty-Salem's Owen Harrison in the sixth.
"He's an athlete," New Bremen coach Mark Sharp said. "No matter what we put him in, he would do very well at it. He's just a great kid and a great athlete."
New Bremen's Lily Rindler competes in the long jump, where she finished eighth.
Mary Rindler placed third and Lily Rindler finished eighth in the long jump for the Cardinals, who also got fourth in the girls 4x100, 4x400 and 4x800 and seventh in the 4x200. Elizabeth Garman came in seventh in the shot put.
All the athletes were confronted with odd weather for mid-April: temperatures around 80 degrees and bright sunshine.
"I don't think we were prepared for this," Sharp said. "Two weeks ago, it was 30 degrees and snowing, and even a week ago it was 50. Your body will not acclimate to heat, but you can prepare for it, and they've got to learn to prepare, drink more water - water, water, water."
Topp said his sprinters particularly relished the warm day Saturday, and the Wildcat runners set PRs across the board. On the other hand, Grabowski said that in a workout Thursday, the Flyers were dragging in 75-degree heat.
Grabowski wondered if the early heat wave would lead to long-term gains or prove a temporary bump, and speculated that athletes might face a drop-off as it cools down.
"It could be a negative fact for high schoolers' mental health, that the second week of April they had a lifetime PR and then all of a sudden that time doesn't become feasible to reach again until May as it cools off," he said. "We'll see, but it could potentially play a part. The more mature athlete is going to be able to weather the lack of storms and the fact that the temperature is going to play some mind games on people."
