The Daily Standard
Story Archive
Minster's Chaney Cedarleaf in the homestretch at the Division III state cross country tournament in Fortress Obetz on Saturday. Cedarleaf finished sixth. The Wildcats won their third straight state championship, their 16th overall.
OBETZ - Minster continued its unparalleled dominance of Division III girls cross country on Saturday.
The Wildcats took first place at the state meet at Fortress Obetz on Saturday by 61 points over Rittman, earning them their third straight state championship, their seventh in eight years, and their 16th overall.
"This is a really selfless group," Minster girls coach Jessie Magoto said. "They feed off of helping their teammates. If they can pull their teammates along in a practice or a meet, that gives them strength. That part is just awesome."
Seniors Chaney Cedarleaf and Margaret Hemmelgarn finished their careers in style with their fourth All-Ohio finishes. The two, along with sophomore Maria Niekamp, were running in the top 10 all tournament long, and on Saturday Cedarleaf and Hemmelgarn were up front from the start.
Minster's Chaney Cedarleaf (3120) and Margaret Hemmelgarn (3122) run in the Division III state cross country championships at Fortress Obetz on Saturday. Cedarleaf placed sixth and Hemmelgarn eighth to earn their fourth All-Ohio honors.
Hemmelgarn led Cedarleaf by four places at the one-mile mark, and the two were leading the second pack after two miles before Cedarleaf went in front in the final stretch, running a few steps ahead of Anna's Paige Steinke and Hemmelgarn to take sixth as Hemmelgarn came in eighth.
"It's been such an honor to run with Maggie these last four years, and I love that we were able to finish our last cross country race together," Cedarleaf said. "It was just a lot of fun."
Cedarleaf had never cracked the top 20 that make it on the podium, finishing 30th as a freshman, 21st as a sophomore, and 23rd as a junior.
She ran 10 seconds behind her regional time, but came in 1 1/2 seconds ahead of Steinke, last year's individual state champion, to secure sixth place.
"I feel like I've improved the most in keeping it in perspective," she said. "This is the last time I get to run with these girls, and keeping it in perspective of, I'm here to have fun, I'm here to enjoy it. It's not a burden to run, it's actually really fun."
Hemmelgarn, who ran 11th as a freshman, third as a sophomore and 17th as a junior, took 11 seconds off her regional time to earn her second top-10 finish.
"If I was here as an individual, I don't think I would have done as well," she said, a sentiment Cedarleaf seconded. "Having the team behind me and them there with me through the whole race, running it for them - it's really special."
With a slew of individual runners at the front, Cedarleaf and Hemmelgarn were two and three for team scoring purposes. Niekamp finished 21st, unable to overtake Rittman's Annabelle Snyder for 20th but still earning All-Ohio honors and taking 10th in team scoring.
Sophomore Annie Hemmelgarn and freshman Claire Bohman ran together down the stretch as well, with the younger Hemmelgarn a few steps ahead to claim 44th and Bohman behind Hanover River's Mara Beard in 46th. They earned 23 and 24 points, respectively, in the team scoring.
Niekamp, Annie Hemmelgarn and Bohman all finished strong. Niekamp overtook four runners in the last mile, as did Bohman, while Annie Hemmelgarn moved up seven spots.
"Back there," Magoto said, gesturing in the direction of the hill in Obetz's third mile, "they were just really determined and excited. They could feel that potential, and just were able to finish it off."
Senior Morgan Ketner finished 92nd and sophomore Riley Hagens came in 112th, both still within 3 1/2 minutes of individual winner Rebecca Geiss of Heartland Christian.
Fort Recovery's Natalie Brunswick ran 43rd, staving off Annie Hemmelgarn late, and the Indians took 10th place as a team by one point over both Fairbanks and Sandy Valley. It's the highest finish ever for the Fort Recovery girls.
Freshman Makenna Huelskamp ran 90th, overtaking Ketner and Maplewood's Mackenzie Edgar in the final stretch and falling 0.24 seconds short of Fort Loramie's Lauren Moore in 89th. Ellie Will came in 105th, Jenna Hart was 160th and Madison Heitkamp came in 165th to cap the scoring. Anna Roessner was 4 1/2 seconds behind Heitkamp in 167th.
Fort Recovery's Jenna Hart runs the final stretch behind Madeira's Keira O'Cull to help the girls team secure its first top-10 finish.
"We had some girls that had amazing finishes and were just passing people," Fort Recovery coach Christy Diller said. "Our No. 2 girl, our No. 5 girl, just mowed people down in those last 50 meters. As close as the margins were in that team race today, especially around where we were, that made the difference."
Hart and Heitkamp made the difference late, with Hart accounting for 74 points and Heitkamp for 110. Fairbanks' last two runners, Mara Vicari and Mollie Thrush, got 69 and 124 points, respectively, and Sandy Valley's Kalia Sarver and Mikayla Palmer got 93 and 126.
Hart, who started near the back, overtook 14 runners to get into the Indians' top five.
"Jenna Hart today just turned it on," Diller said. "She didn't have the best start, but that second and third mile, she just reeled people in and started passing people. I think she just had it in her head that she was going to score today, and dang, she did."
In his second state appearance, New Bremen senior Zach Wiedeman took 16th and earned All-Ohio honors, and the Cardinals finished sixth.
In the Division III boys race, New Bremen senior Zach Wiedeman capped his career with a 16th-place finish, coming in at 16:14 and 0.35 seconds ahead of Mount Gilead's Parker Bartlett.
Wiedeman, who ran 74th as a sophomore, got stuck in the pack early, running 74th after 450 meters before kicking into gear. He ran his first mile in just under five minutes and overtook 43 runners, then ran down 15 more in the next mile.
"I remember from sophomore year, the first 400 is really hard," he said. "I wanted to get out fast, but probably wasn't fast enough. I think I was really far back after the first 400, but I just moved up the whole entire race. Once I got to that second mile, it got really hard to move up, because everyone's so good at that point. My strategy was just to get one more person constantly."
His team was one place shy of tying the best finish in program history, beating Lincolnview by five points for sixth. Fellow senior Dominic Shroyer was second for the Cardinals in 52nd, followed by Jett Jellison (80th), Sam Bernhold (126), Caleb Wittenbrink (120), Simon Shroyer (167) and Tyler Schwartz (170).
Wiedeman was the only one who had made a trip to the state tournament before Saturday, as the Cardinals snapped a 13-year drought by making it out of regionals.
"They always had us at the bottom of the coaches' poll," Wiedeman said. "Up until last week, we weren't even close to anything. We were ranked 10th coming into state, we got sixth. Just crazy how much people underestimated what we can do.
"We're a program here at Bremen. As long as the coaches stay here, this program will be amazing for years to come. Happy I'm here at the start of this."
Fort Recovery's Trevor Heitkamp ran a 16:33 for 33rd, about seven seconds from an All-Ohio spot, and ran his third mile just 1:10 slower than his first. In his third state tournament appearance Heitkamp got his highest finish and fastest time. Minster's Ryan Halpin was 14 seconds behind him for 40th, and fellow Wildcat Jack Grieshop ran 56th.
Nick Prenger (71), Collin Cedarleaf (156), Carter Dicksen (175) and Connor Collins (182) rounded out the Wildcats, who placed 16th. Marion Local came in 20th, led by Ryan Stucke at 105. Wesley Schoen, the Flyers' second-highest finisher at 119, accelerated past two runners in the last 20 yards and missed catching another by 0.04 seconds.
Rittman's Luke Snyder won the individual Division III boys title with a time of 15:23.03. Columbus Grove won its first-ever state title.
In Division II, Celina sophomore Jennalee Dameron came in 34th, 2 1/2 seconds from an All-Ohio spot, but moved up 17 spots and dropped 37 seconds from her first appearance last year.
"She was super loose today," Celina coach Jason Andrew said. "She was really relaxed, and experience means a lot when you get to the state meet."
Woodridge's Reese Reaman won the individual championship in 17:52.71, and Minerva claimed the team title.
Celina's Colin Buening ran 34th to lead the Bulldog boys in their first trip to the state meet.
The Celina boys, in their first-ever appearance at the state tournament, finished 20th, one point behind Shelby.
Sophomore Colin Buening, who ran 120th as an individual last year, overcame a slow start and finished 34th, out of the last All-Ohio spot by 3.6 seconds. He was in 33rd after the first mile and in 31st after the second. Like Dameron, he ran 40 seconds faster than his freshman time.
"He was a beast," Andrew said. "Last year, it was his first year here as a freshman. Having that year of experience under his belt, he knew what to expect getting here this year. He raced the way he knows how to race, and it paid off today."
Kaleb Dameron was second on the team in 116th. Caleb Lehman ran down two runners in the final stretch to take 138th, Eli Spring came in 149th, Kaden Steed ran 162nd, Austin Welling finished 176th and Jackson Bange was 181st.
With four freshmen and two sophomores, the Bulldogs had by far the youngest team in the field. Cincinnati Hills Christian was the only other Division II team to run multiple freshman.
All seven are set to return for Celina in 2024.
"We want this to be the beginning of, basically, a cross country dynasty in Celina," Andrew said. "We want to build on it. We want to raise the bar, and we want other people to want to be a part of that. They know it takes hard work, and hopefully this summer they're going to put that work in again to get back here again next year, and the year after and the year after."
Coldwater's Mason Ayers came in 75th with a time of 16:59.60.
Marlington won the Division II boys title. Fairfield Union's Andrew Walton won the individual championship with a time of 15:00.17, breaking the Division II record by 15 1/2 seconds.
Lakota West's Evelyn Prodoehl won the Division I girls title with a time of 17:23.77, and Perrysburg won the team championship. Massillon Jackson won the Division I boys title, and Westerville North's Ben Gabelman won the individual title with a time of 14:51.66.
Olentangy Berlin's Grace Heitkamp finished 11th in the Division I girls race to earn All-Ohio honors. She is the daughter of Matt Heitkamp, who was part of Fort Recovery's 1996 Division III boys cross country state title team.
Peebles' Samantha Seas, whose mother Lorna (Eyink) Seas ran for Celina and whose father Rich Seas was superintendent at Coldwater, finished 42nd in the Division III girls race.
Joelle Kaup was omitted from Fort Recovery's girls cross country team that finished 10th at state. Kaup ran 124th and got 74 points in the team scoring as the Indians' fourth runner, while Jenna Hart (160th overall) was their fifth runner with 110 team scoring points. Madison Heitkamp (165) was sixth on the team and Anna Roessner (167) was seventh.
Also, Olentangy Berlin's Grace Heitkamp, the daughter of Fort Recovery's Matt Heitkamp, finished 16th in Division I, not 11th as reported.
