• A bottle of chocolate milk, the official beverage of the state championships.
• And an All-Ohio certificate.
The Minster High School girls had so much to carry Friday after winning the first final of the two-day event at Ohio State’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, the Division III 4x800-meter relay, they left something important in the waiting area as they headed to the grassy area behind the podium for interviews.
“Girls, don’t forget your shoes,” a race official told them.
After collecting their shoes, they talked about their race. freshman Sophia Dirksen, junior Annie Hemmelgarn, freshman Joanna Topp and sophomore Claire Bohman won with a time of 9 minutes, 17.56 seconds. That was almost 13 seconds faster than the second-place team from Rittman.
A year earlier, a Minster team that included Margaret Hemmelgarn, Maria Niekamp, Annie Hemmelgarn and Chaney Cedarleaf finished third (9:20.93) in the same event behind Smithville (9:20.23) and Rittman (9:20.53).
“To me, it just shows how far we can grow,” Annie Hemmelgarn said after the race Friday. “Last year was hard. These freshmen weren’t here last year, but I told them this is the hardest race. You really have to push for each other.”
Two years ago, Minster’s team of Margaret Hemmelgarn, Annie Hemmelgarn, Niekamp and Taylor Roth won the championship in the event (9:19.85). Minster also won the race in 2022 and 2018.
Minster was the favorite entering the event this year, posting the best regional time (9:25.8) of the 18 state finalists.
In the same race, Fort Loramie’s team of Harley Eilerman, Mylee Shatto, Lauren Moore and Camille Borchers finished fourth (9:35.96), and Coldwater’s team of Lana Kaiser, Ava Lefeld, Channing Lefeld and Audrey Alig finished fifth (9:38.39).
In other D-III finals Friday afternoon:
• Girls high jump: Troy Christian sophomore Elisabeth Waltz won the state championship with a personal-best leap of 5-feet-7 inches.
Other placers in that event were: St. Henry senior Ellie Fullenkamp, second (5-7); Fort Loramie sophomore Janelle Siegel, third (5-5); and Russia sophomore Hazel Francis, fifth (5-4).
• Girls discus: Houston senior Emilee Earl placed second (134-feet-8), and Arcanum junior Faith Wooten placed fifth (131-7).
• Boys high jump: Miami Valley School senior Thomas Cook placed second (6-8), and Covington senior Preston King placed third (6-8).
• Girls long jump: Coldwater senior Isabella Zahn repeated as state champion (18-8½). She won last year (18-7¾) and finished sixth as a sophomore (17-5).
Also in the long jump, Tri-Village junior Adalynn Hines placed second (17-2½), and Ansonia junior Olivia Creager placed eighth (16-10¾).
• Boys shot put: Tri-Village sophomore Dominic Black placed eighth (53-7¼).
• Boys 4x800 relay: Cedarville’s team of Josh Duncan, Archer Holston, Will Mossing and Ryan Reed placed fifth (8:04.17).
• Girls pole vault: Ansonia sophomore London Reichert placed second (12-0), and Coldwater sophomore Ava Schmitmeyer tied for fifth (11-8) with Houston senior Emilee Earl.
• Boys pole vault: Ansonia sophomore Cade Shellhaas won the state championship (16-6). Northeastern senior Eli Thompson placed fifth (15-2).
In D-III preliminaries Friday:
• Coldwater senior Isabella Zahn turned in the top times in the 400 (54.5) and the 200 (23.72) and will race for state championships in both events Saturday. She won the 200 as a junior (24.48).
• Coldwater’s 4x400 relay team that included Zahn, Audrey Alig, Lana Kaiser and Kiersten Keller posted the best preliminary time (3:58.33).
• Fort Loramie’s 4x400 relay team of Dj Barhorst, Max Maurer, Landen Drees and Elijah Heitkamp had the best time (3:23.62).
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
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