TIFFIN: May 30 – The road to the D-III State Finals ran through Tiffin, where the D-III Region 10 meet took place on May 28 and 30. With the first trial by fire of the Ayersville Districts behind them and the road to Columbus beckoning ahead, the athletes of six local schools convened for battle in Tiffin for the right to advance to the big dance in the capitol city.
It was here in Tiffin that the competition would be most fierce, and the axe of elimination fell hard on the area schools. Of those six vying for a qualifying spot, five schools…Stryker, Edon, Montpelier, Hilltop and Fayette, were completely eliminated. The lone school to have athletes break out of the Regional ranks was Pettisville, and they are sending postseason-tested punch to Columbus.
The Montpelier Locomotives’ 4×200 relay team failed to clear the preliminaries, but Dylan Snyder came within a shade of making it out in the long jump. Will McKinney ended his Hilltop career with an eighth place finish in the pole vault.
The Pettisville 4×400 relay team was eliminated, as was Dominic Frey in the 1600 and Austin Dykstra in the high jump. They will still be heading out though as one half of the 4×800 relay team that punched their ticket by winning the Regionals with a time of 8:10.38. A third member of the team, Kyle Lantz, will see double duty in Columbus as he placed third in the 1600 to qualify for state.
“We’re definitely excited for this,” said Dominic Frey who is making his second trip to Columbus with the track team. “It’s what we’ve been working for all year long. I think that we can cut off a lot more time than what we ran at the Regionals, so hopefully we can get even faster, and increase the school record by even more. It will be interesting to see what we can do with other top notch teams right beside us.”
The following boys’ finishes were posted by event…
10 – Pettisville – 20
28 – Montpelier – 7
42 – Hilltop – 0.50
Event 2 Boys 4×800 Meter Relay
1 – Pettisville – 8:10.38
* D-III State Finals Qualifier *
Event 4 Boys 110 Meter Hurdles
Preliminaries
4 – Dylan Snyder – Montpelier – 15.54Q
Finals
6 – Dylan Snyder – Montpelier – 15.58
Event 8 Boys 4×200 Meter Relay
Preliminaries
11 – Montpelier – 1:35.14
Event 10 Boys 1600 Meter Run
3 – Kyle Lantz – Pettisville – 4:27.49
* D-III State Finals Qualifier *
5 – Dominic Frey – Pettisville – 4:35.44
Event 24 Boys 4×400 Meter Relay
Preliminaries
14 – Pettisville – 3:37.28
Event 28 Boys High Jump
9 – Austin Dykstra – Pettisville – 6-00.00
Event 30 Boys Long Jump
5 – Dylan Snyder – Montpelier – 21-01.00
Event 34 Boys Pole Vault
8 – Will McKinney – Hilltop – 12-06.00
The five girls’ contending schools were reduced to a single representative to head for Columbus…Alexa Leppelmeier of Pettisville in the 1600.
Hannah Brehm-Gutting of Edon was edged out in the shot, and Kelsey Fruchey of Fayette had the same misfortune of being one position away from qualifying in the high jump. Brooke Waidelich and Jordyn Pursel of Pettisville failed to get out in the discus and the pole vault. Baylee Hageman of Montpelier was turned back in the shot, and the Stryker delegation of Brittany Brier in the long jump, Paige Speelman in the 100, and the 4×400 relayers all fell short of qualification for Columbus.
The following girls’ finishes were posted by event…
23 – Pettisville – 10.50
31 – Edon – 5
32 – Fayette – 4
38 – Montpelier – 2
Event 5 Girls 100 Meter Dash
Preliminaries
10 – Paige Speelman – Stryker – 13.45
Event 9 Girls 1600 Meter Run
3 – Alexa Leppelmeier – Pettisville – 5:25.42
* D-III State Finals Qualifier *
Event 17 Girls 800 Meter Run
13 – Alexa Leppelmeier – Pettisville – 2:39.22
Event 23 Girls 4×400 Meter Relay
Preliminaries
10 – Stryker – 4:20.29
Event 25 Girls Discus Throw
6 – Brooke Waidelich – Pettisville – 118-03
8 – Hannah Brehm-Gutting – Edon – 115-10
Event 27 Girls High Jump
5 – Kelsey Fruchey – Fayette – 4-10.00
Event 29 Girls Long Jump
14 – Brittany Breier – Stryker – 15-02.75
Event 31 Girls Shot Put
5 – Hannah Brehm-Gutting – Edon – 36-05.25
7 – Baylee Hageman – Montpelier – 35-06.00
Event 33 Girls Pole Vault
7 – Jordyn Pursel – Pettisville – J9-04.00