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DHS girls claim a district crown

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By JASON STEIN

cnsports@crescent-news.com

LIMA -- Apparently a historical WBL title wasn't enough for the Defiance girls track team. One week after winning their first-ever league championship, the Lady Bulldogs again found themselves atop the standings ... this time at the district level.

"I was a little worried about having a little let-down after the league meet," began head coach Steve Wahl after his team was announced the Shawnee district champs, 18 points ahead of O-G in second and 425/6 ahead of Napoleon in third. "Last week the girls ran so well and competed so well, and I didn't know if they could do it two weeks in a row, and boy they proved me wrong. We broke a couple school records today, ran a lot of best times today ... they're working hard and seeing all their hard work pay off."

"It feels really good and now I hope we do well at regionals and we can go to state," said senior Audrey Gorman. "That would be good for the team and for my senior year. We made the first mark winning the WBL and winning districts is just awesome."

Lauren Fett added to the 3200 relay district title the Bulldogs won on Thursday by giving Defiance its only individual champion on Friday with a win in the 1600 meters. But like last week, it was an all-around team effort that led to the title, which included scoring points in every event and having multiple placers in eight of the 17 events.

One area that was particularly strong for DHS were the relays. All three teams that ran on Friday - the 3200 relay team won but on Wednesday - finished second, earning the newly crowned champs valuable points.

"I think hand-offs," began Gorman, a member of the 400 relay team and a fifth place finisher in the 100, on what was working so well for all the Bulldogs' relays. "I think hand-offs are key in every relay and I think that's something we really focused on this year and pulled through really well."

"You have to have the hand-offs," agreed Kelsey Zipfel, who also ran to a sixth place finish in the 400. "That's something we've choked on before and struggled with like last year at districts, but we knew what we needed to do this year. We ran our best and that's all we could do."

The 800 relay team of Brittany Bryant, Zipfel, Lena Herrett and Mikaela Tolbert broke their own record (1:47.69) in the event with a time of 1:46.78 while the 1600 relay team of Tolbert, Fett, Zipfel and Herrett broke a 23 year old record with a time of 4:01.93, slightly over a full second faster than the previous record of 4:02.94.

Bryant not only qualified for regionals on the two relays, but the senior also advanced in the long jump with her third place finish and narrowly missed going in a fourth event with a fifth place finish in the 200 meter dash, although the points still paid dividends for the team.

"Today has been an awesome day and I'm really proud of our team, we've really come together this year," remarked Bryant. "I'm just really excited for regionals next week. Three events, that's amazing for me. I'm really excited and we'll see what happens."

Fett also advanced in the 800 with a second place finish, Herrett advanced with a third place finish in the 300 hurdles, Megan Vogelsong moved up one spot at the end of the 1600 to finish in third, Tolbert finished second in the 400 and Brooke Lime moves on to Lexington with a fourth place finish in the 100 hurdles. Lime also ran in the 100 dash and the 300 hurdles, where she finished in eighth in both and Vogelsong also ran in the 3200, where she finished fifth.

Some of those who may not have qualified for regionals certainly helped Defiance win the district on Friday include: Anna Meyer (sixth in the 800), Sonya Yarnell (sixth in the pole vault), Katie Straley (seventh in the pole vault), Nikki Roehrig (fifth in the long jump), and Amy Spacht (sixth in the shot put).

"Being district champs feels amazing, you can't express in words what that means," concluded Zipfel. "That's something that no person will ever forget and to know that it's your senior year when you did it ... it's great to go out on a note like that and be remembered."

The district runner-up Ottawa-Glandorf Titans had a strong showing, which included five first place finishes and a handful of other qualifiers in many events.

"We've advanced in 12 events and that's the thing right now," began Titan head coach Vicki Doty. "It's not a team competition anymore and we want to get kids to move on, hopefully to get to state. All four relays have qualified and we've got a couple kids that qualified in four events. We won four of the last five events in the whole meet.

"It's just been a phenomenal performance and we've got a good mix of freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. The seniors have really led the younger ones around and showed them what it's like and talked to them about how fun it is to go to state and everything else. The younger kids kind of jumped on the bandwagon and said we want to do this too."

Seniors Chelsea Imm (pole vault), Allison Schroeder (300 hurdles) and Abbie Selhorst (3200) all won titles for the Titans as did freshman Hannah Kaufman (200). Ottawa-Glandorf's final title of the night came from the 1600 relay team of Jayme Bockrath, Dana Lanwehr, Emily Heitmeyer and Schroeder.

The Lady 'Cats of Napoleon also had a lot to be cheerful about after finishing in third place in the team competition as they advanced in seven events.

"We're running great, I couldn't be happier," praised Napoleon's mentor Kevin Milius. "We're performing well with a first place in a field event, two second place, a fourth place today and our getting out ... it's pretty much going how we'd hoped it would go."

Sophomore Kendall Homan led the way for Napoleon with first place finishes in the long jump and the 100 hurdles as well as running a leg for the third place 400 relay team.

"It feels awesome and it's so exciting to go to regionals," said Homan. "You just think about like how our 4-by-4 just missed out on regionals and it just makes you realize how much more exciting it is and how blessed you are to make it."

Division II regionals take place on Thursday and Saturday at Lexington.

At Shawnee

Girls Meet

Defiance 129, Ottawa-Glandorf 111, Napoleon 875/6, Shelby 80, Upper Sandusky 51, Lexington 451/3, Van Wert 42, Lima Shawnee 41, Pemberville 40, Coldwater 345/6, Toledo Libbey 1.

Field Events

Shot put - Phlipot (VW) 38-03/4; Hartman (N), Roth (S), Bockbrader (P). Long jump - Homan (N) 17-3; Daughenbaugh (US), Bryant (D), Bruns (O-G). Pole vault - Imm (O-G) 10-0; Mack (N), Griffith (P), Beck (N).

Running Events

100 hurdles - Homan (N) 15.07; Rolander (N), Fichter (S), Lime (D). 100 meters - Cooper (LS) 12.82; Kaufman (O-G), Wolfe (L), Dannemiller (S). 800 relay - Upper Sandusky 5:12.97; Defiance (Bryant, Zipfel, Herrett, Tolbert); Lima Shawnee, Ottawa-Glandorf (Laibe, Peck, Schroeder, Kaufman). 1600 meters - Fett (D) 5:12.97; Taylor (VW), Vogelsong (D), Robertson (S). 400 relay - Upper Sandusky 51.21; Defiance (Bryant, Gorman, Herrett, Lime); Napoleon (Schwab, Homan, Rolander, Majewski); Ottawa-Glandorf (Laibe, Peck, Borer, Kaufman). 400 meters - Hartings (S) 57.92; Tolbert (D), Heitmeyer (O-G), Ellerbrock (O-G). 300 hurdles - Schroeder (O-G) 45.07; Daughenbaugh (US), Herrett (D), Fichter (S). 800 meters - Kanney (C) 2:20.41; Fett (D), Glenn (LS), Lanwehr (O-G). 200 meters - Kaufman (O-G) 25.95; Cooper (LS), Hartings (S), Ankney (US). 3200 meters - Selhorst (O-G) 11:26.16; Taylor (VW), Kahlig (C), Huddle (N). 1600 relay - Ottawa-Glandorf (Bockrath, Lanwehr, Heitmeyer, Schroeder) 4:09.23; Upper Sandusky, Defiance (Tolbert, Fett, Zipfel, Herrett); Napoleon (Schwab, Brown, Funchion, Lauf).