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Celina's Alison Hemmelgarn swept the hurdle events and set a new league record in the 100-meter hurdles on Friday.
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
A strong effort on Friday gave Celina a pair of top-three finishes as the Western Buckeye League Track and Field Championships wrapped up at Robinson Field in Kenton.
The Celina girls rebounded from last year's eighth-place finish in taking runner-up. The battle for the title was a two-team race between Celina and Ottawa-Glandorf. In the end, the Titans won their 10th title and fifth straight in scoring 135 points. The Bulldogs were the only other team to reach the century mark with 121 points. Defiance and Van Wert tied for third with 51 points. St. Marys placed seventh with 28 ½ points.
On the boys side, Shawnee won the title with 110 ½ points with O-G second with 96 ½. Celina was third with 77 points while St. Marys place 10th with 12 ½ points.
Alison Hemmelgarn had a record-breaking day as the Celina freshman opened her day with a big win in the 100-meter hurdles. Hemmelgarn's time of 14.66 seconds not only was 0.86 seconds ahead of runner-up Paige Olberding of Wapakoneta, but broke the meet record set by Celina great Julie Snyder, who clocked in at 14.72 seconds in the 2008 meet.
Hemmelgarn was not done, coming back later in the evening to win the 300 hurdles, crossing in 45.76 seconds. Hemmelgarn also placed fourth in the 200 dash.
Celina's Gracyn Harris won the WBL pole vault championship on Friday in Kenton.
Fellow freshman Garcyn Harris was close behind Hemmelgarn in the hurdles, earning fourth-place finishes in both events, but Harris did take the top spot in the podium in the pole vault. Harris cleared 9-4 to start then made 10 feet and 10-4 on the first try as O-G's Kelsey Schmitz bowed out at 10-4 with three straight misses. Harris cleared 11-1 and 11-7 before trying to claim the league record of 12-0 set by Wapakoneta's Sidney Sutton in 2016 as the bar was set at 12-1. Harris could not clear the mark. but clinched the title.
Elle Miese added another win for the freshmen Bulldogs, capturing the 1,600 with a time of 5:07.60. Teammate Jennalee Dameron picked up a single point in finishing sixth. Miese also added a third-place finish in the 800 with teammate Sophie Gudorf taking sixth
Celina's Bernie Kramer was fifth with a top effort of 8-6 while St. Marys' Kaylee Horstman was sixth at 8-0.
Maddie Rammel added a pair of runner-up finishes in the 100 and 200 dashes. Brenna Korte and Rachel Rammel finished second and third, respectively, in the long jump. The Bulldogs also finished second in the 4x100 relay with St. Marys third and sixth in the 4x200.
The St. Marys girls' best finish came in taking second in the 4x200 relay. Piper Triplett placed fifth in the 100 dash with teammate Ally Ankerman placing sixth. Logan Henschen was sixth in the shot put.
Celina's Colin Buening added the 1,600-meter run WBL title to his 3,200 on Wednesday.
After winning the 3,200 on Wednesday, Celina's Colin Buening wrapped up his final WBL meet with a win in the 1,600. Buening finished just over half a second ahead of O-G's Cooper Fischer with a time of 4:27.73. Kaleb Dameron placed third.
Caleb Lehman, who placed third in the 3,200 on Wednesday, was runner-up in the 800 on Friday. Bridon Jeffries was fourth in the 300 hurdles and fifth in the 110 hurdles. Brayden Heindel was fourth in the 200 and the Celina 4x100 relay finished sixth.
St. Marys' Tyler Williams clears the bar during the high jump at the WBL track and field meet.
St. Marys had two athletes reach the podium on the boys' side. Tyler Williams was eighth in the high jump and Carter Verbryke took sixth in the shot put.
