Monday, November 7th, 2022
2022 State Cross Country Championships
Still on top
Minster girls win 15th state title
By Tom Haines
Photo by Tom Haines/The Daily Standard
Minster's Chaney Cedarleaf (3269) and Rachel Niekamp run in the pack at the Division III cross country state championship at Fortress Obetz on Saturday.
OBETZ - For the second straight year, Minster ran away with the Division III girls cross country state championship.
The Wildcats placed two runners in the top 20, five in the top 40, and all seven in the top 100 for a 56-point win over backyard rival Fort Loramie and their 15th state title at Fortress Obetz on Saturday.
"This group is definitely relentless," Minster coach Jessie Magoto said. "We were up and down. I think prior to our league meet, not that it matters whether or not you win in the regular season, but we only won one invite all year. So they just rolled with the punches, focused on themselves, not focused on anybody else, and just stick to the plan. And the plan is not winning, the plan is just doing the best you can do, and they embraced it."
Photo by Tom Haines/The Daily Standard
Maggie Hemmelgarn led the Minster girls cross country team to another championship trophy at the Division III state meet on Saturday at Fortress Obetz. The title extends the Wildcats' state record of 15 state championships.
Junior Maggie Hemmelgarn and senior Taylor Roth earned all-Ohio honors, running side by side over the second half of the race. Hemmelgarn, running just her fourth race of the season after suffering a stress fracture in the spring, struggled in the final stretch but gutted out a 17th-place finish and a time of 19:10.8.
"It's been a bit of a struggle, just getting back to racing at the end," she said. "But it feels good, and I'm just grateful to run it. So I'm excited for track."
"We had no idea, week to week, what would happen," Magoto said. "Racing her districts and regionals, we didn't know if that was smart, if that was dumb. There was a lot of uncertainty. But she was tough as nails."
Roth finished four seconds behind for 18th. It marked Hemmelgarn's third straight all-Ohio finish and Roth's fourth.
Roth, along with alternate Cameo Cedarleaf, have witnessed three state champions and a state runner-up team in their time at Minster.
"I honestly don't know how I'm going to do it next year without them," Hemmelgarn said. "Our seniors mean so much. It's kind of hard to think about not having them next year, but it's incredible watching how much they've done over the years and how hard they've worked for all the state championships."
Chaney Cedarleaf came in 23rd and Maria Niekamp placed 27th, each picking up seven spots down the stretch. Freshman Annie Hemmelgarn finished 39th, Morgan Ketner came in 60th and Ava Stammen rounded out the Wildcats in 87th.
Photo by Tom Haines/The Daily Standard
Fort Recovery's Ellie Will comes down the home stretch in the Division III state cross country championship at Fortress Obetz on Saturday.
Fort Recovery, appearing in its third straight state meet, came in 13th, one spot below its finish in 2021. Junior Natalie Brunswick, in her first year of cross country, paced the team with a time of 19:46.6, followed by Ellie Will in 72nd and Jenna Hart in 91st.
Fort Recovery also had one runner, Trevor Heitkamp, in the boys race, and he improved 41 spots from 2021 with a 35th-place finish. Minster's Jack Grieshop came in 84th.
Photo by Tom Haines/The Daily Standard
Marion Local's Trey Goettemoeller (3080) runs in front of teammate Dalton Pohlmann at the Division III state cross country championship at Fortress Obetz on Saturday.
The Marion Local boys, making their first team appearance at state since 1989, came in 12th in the team standings, topping their 13th-place finish from 33 years ago.
"This is the hardest race, as far as competition, everybody running right on top of each other," Marion coach Elle Sutter said. "A lot of the guys aren't used to that. Most of the season, they've been running kind of alone or with a few other people, so it's a whole other beast coming to state, but they did really well. I'm thrilled, for how young our team is, how well they did."
Senior Troy Stucke picked up all-Ohio honors, holding off Northmor's Ryan Lehman and Mapleton's Isaik Schoch for a 29th-place finish. Classmate Noah Budde made a late charge and passed four runners in the home stretch, including Heitkamp, to finish 34th.
"All of them did really well coming down the hill and then finishing strong," Sutter said. "We were kind of worried about that, because we knew they would have to go out fast, so it was all going to be a matter of how well they could actually get through that third mile."
Photo by Tom Haines/The Daily Standard
Celina's Kaylie Dameron runs just before the two-mile mark of the Division II state cross country championship at Fortress Obetz on Saturday.
Celina's Kaylie Dameron earned all-Ohio honors in Division II for the third straight year, overcoming a slow start with a strong second mile and finishing 16th. Sister Jennalee Dameron, a freshman, came in 51st.
Colin Buening represented the Bulldog boys, finishing 110th. St. Marys' Tyler Birt picked up 21 spots after the two-mile mark to come in 43rd, while teammate Calvin Morris ran 97th.
