L-B girls, Columbus Grove boys prevail again at Pat Wagner Memorial meet

There were some photo finishes on the track but not in the final standings at the Liberty-Benton/Pat Wagner Memorial track meet held on Saturday.Liberty-Benton and Columbus Grove took home the championship trophies, and both schools had them well in hand before the final few events were even run.Liberty-Benton piled up 146.5 points in the girls standings, almost twice the total of runner-up Ottawa-Glandorf's 78.17. Columbus Grove (68) nipped Putnam County League neighbor Kalida (67) by a point for third, followed by Lima Bath (53.17), Carey (49.17), Waynesfield-Goshen (42.17), Van Buren (28.5), Vanlue (28), Old Fort (27), Bluffton (23), Arcadia (20), Pandora-Gilboa (17), Hardin Northern (12.17), Arlington (3) and McComb (0.17).Columbus Grove's boys team was well out in front as well with 144.5 points. Liberty-Benton was second with 108.5, followed by Bluffton (68), Pandora-Gilboa (61.5), Van Buren (54.5), Arlington (48), Ottawa-Glandorf (31), Lima Bath (30), Waynesfield-Goshen (29), McComb (26), Carey (14), Vanlue (12), Hardin Northern (12), Kalida (10), Old Fort (9) and Arcadia (5).It was the second straight Pat Wagner Memorial championship for Liberty-Benton's girls and Columbus Grove's boys, who both would have going for a three-peat had the COVID-19 pandemic not canceled last year's event.Liberty-Benton's girls won seven events, and Alexis Rickenbacher, a multi-sport talent headed to the University of Alabama on a track scholarship, figured in three of them.Rickenbacher broke the only meet record on a breezy afternoon, clearing 12 feet, 2 inches in the pole vault to better her own meet record by one inch. Rickenbacher was on two first-place relays as well, joining Brooke Deeter, Taylor Ward and Izzy Granger on the winning 800 relay (1:52.10), and Cassie Warner, Ward and Kylie Recker on the top 1,600 relay (4:17.37).L-B added a third relay title when Recker, Lauren Smith, Ward and Hailey Hochstettler captured the 3,200 in 10:00.53.Warner won the 200 (26.59) in a photo finish with Vanlue's Emma Franks (26.62) and was second (12.85) to Kalida's Hannah Berheide (12.75) in the 100.Granger won the discus (125-5) and Deeter was first in the 300 hurdles (48.37) in a tight race with Columbus Grove's Brynn Fortman (48.75) and Kalida's Brenna Smith (48.82). Hochstettler was runner-up in the 3,200 (12:25.84).Ottawa-Glandorf sophomore Alexa Fortman, who has already set school records in the 400, 800 and 1,600 this season, spearheaded the Titans' runner-up showing. Fortman won the 400, running a time of 58.97 to edge Vanlue's Franks (1:00.44) and Carey's Alaina Tiell (1:00.83) in that event, and posted a time of 2:24.92 in the 800 to finish ahead of Ward (2:29.70) and Van Buren's Ella Webster (2:33.33), who was also runner-up in the 1,600 (5:33.19).Fortman was also on two second-place relays, joining Olivia Fenbert, Lily Haselman and Myka Aldrich for the 1,600 relay (4:19.96), and Fenbert, Haselman and Madelyn Hovest for the 3,200 relay (10:17.07).Pandora-Gilboa's girls got a first from Regan Russel in the long jump (15-11), Hardin Northern's Renee Newton captured the high jump (5-2), and Columbus Grove's Kennedy Flores won the shot put (38-21/2).Columbus Grove hurdler Jon Banal highlighted the Bulldogs bid for the boys title.Banal ran a time of 15.66 to edged P-G's Samuel Burkholder (15.79) and L-B's Cason Doolittle (15.99) in the 110 high hurdles, and was first in the 300 intermediate hurdles (41.23) in a down to the wire battle with L-B's Brycen Abbott (41.30).Grove's Caleb Stechschulte (4:43.21) edged Bluffton's Eden Antrim (4:43.59) in the 1,600, and Carson Closson captured the 800 (2:05.94).In the throws, Grove sandwiched a first from Ethan Halker (168-2) and a third from Lawson Maag (162-1) around a runner-up mark of 166-3 by Arlington's Jack Bateson in the discus. In the shot, A.J. Schafer's throw of 47-3 edged McComb's Dylan Swisher by half an inch.In a thrilling finish to the longest race of the meet, Liberty-Benton's Tyler Knestrick posted a time of 10:19.04 and edged Bluffton's Eric Nygaard (10:19.49) by 45 hundredths of a second in the 3,200 run.Liberty-Benton also got a first from its 1,600 relay team of Abbott, Nate Garcia, Bryan Haas and Toby Collert (3:36.18).Pandora-Gilboa got an outstanding four-win effort from Bryce Basinger.Basinger won the 100 with a time of 10.97, edging McComb's Kavon Bailey (11.27) and Arlington's Elijah Evans (11.29) in that event, and was first in the 200 (22.89) in another close race ahead of L-B's Garcia (23.20) and O- G's Trevor Cantrell (23.36). Garcia was runner-up in the 400 as well (52.74).Basinger also won the long jump, soaring 21-9 1/2 to edge Bailey (21-01/2) on a day with five jumpers bettered 20 feet.Basinger also anchored P-G's winning 400 relay team (45.03) that included Will Huffman, Samuel Burkholder and Gavin Biery.Arlington sprinters Evans, Connor Foust, Noah Thibaut and Jacob Branan earned the Red Devils a first in the 800 relay (1:34.42) and a second in the 400 relay (45.56).Bluffton got firsts from Jonathan Schriner in the 400 (52.65) and its 3,200 relay team of Simon Derstine, Eden Antrim, Nygaard and Landon Armstrong (8:15.35).Wesley Newton accounted for 10 of Hardin Northern's 12 points in one event, winning the pole vault with a leap of 13-feet. L-B's Connor Clagg and P-G freshman Andrew Suter cleared 12-0 to tie for second. Jones, Masterson double up for champion Chieftains BASCOM — Sherron Jones and Trey Masterson each ran to two individual titles and Hopewell-Loudon claimed four other victories Saturday on the way to capturing the boys crown at its own Dick Schultz Invitational.The Chieftains roared past Delta 189 1/2-141 1/2 for the team title, followed by Gibsonburg (101), New Riegel (89), Bucyrus (86), Buckeye Central (61) and Calvert (47).Jones doubled up in the 100 (11.89) and 200 (24.52) for H-L and Masterson took the 1,600 (4:49.32) and 800 (2:09.55).George Beucler added a win in the 400 (54.9), Ryan Cook claimed the discus (144-3) and H-L ran to victory in both the 4x200 (1:37.83) and 4x400 (3:50.84). Names of relay members were not provided.Runner-up finishes went to Nico Garcia in the 100 (12.37), Cook in the shot (43-11) and the 4x800 team (9:15.66).Evan Kreais topped the list of H-L boys gaining third, doing so in the 110 hurdles (18.45) and triple jump (34-8).Other thirds came from Lucas Nutter in the 400 (58.73), Israel Kreais in the 300 hurdles (47.52), shot putter Brandon Boes (43-0), discus thrower Erik Hossler (132-6), the 4x1,600 team (23:55.63) and the 4x100 team (48.9).Evan Kreais also tied for third in the high jump (5-4), and finished fourth in the 300 hurdles (47.85).Also taking fourth were Caden Crawford in the 800 (2:18.95) and long jumper Owen Suter (16-10 3/4).Zachary Zoeller keyed New Riegel by winning the 3,200 (11:15.28), while the Blue Jackets also claimed the 4x1,600 (20:42.69) and 4x800 (9:11.92).Jacob Clouse ran second in the 1,600 (5:01.99) and 800 (2:14.18), and Hayden Hohman did likewise in the 400 (57.26).Zachary Williams added a third in the 3,200 (11:22.07), with fourths coming from Aaron Hohman in the 1,600 (5:19.76) and triple jumper Gavin Nye (34-6). Depth propels H-L girls to crownBASCOM — Hopewell-Loudon's girls won just five events, but the Chieftains had plenty of strength in their depth Saturday en route to a championship at their own Dick Shultz Invitational.The Chieftains overpowered Gibsonburg 178-158 for the team title, followed by Delta (121), Calvert (76), Buckeye Central (58), Bucyrus (54) and New Riegel (47).Individual victories for H-L went to Alivia Roerdink in the 800 (2:33.81) and pole vaulter Taylor Leiter (9-6).The Chieftains also captured the 4x1, 1,600 (26:43.49), 4x800 (10:55.22) and 4x400 (4:29.11). Names of relay members were not provided.Hope Kreais added runner-up finishes in the 100 hurdles (17.87) and 300 hurdles (53.24), and the 4x200 team (1:58.7) also ran second.Thirds went to Izabella Frankart in the 400 (1:07.53), Leiter in the 800 (2:44.52), Taylor Sours in the 200 (29.73), high jumper Megan Kreais (4-8) and Roerdink in the long jump (14-5).Macy Breidenbach added fourths in the pole vault (7-0) and triple jump (26-5 1/4).Other fourths went to Hazel Stone in the 400 (1:10.63), Emma Hintze in the 3,200 (14:35.71) and discus thrower Anna Daniel (83-11), along with the 4x100 team (57.65).Alexandrea Jackson (4-4) and Hope Kreais (4-4) also tied for fourth in the high jump.Katelyn Arbogast paced New Riegel by winning the 300 hurdles (50.77), taking third in the triple jump (27-5 1/4) and finishing fourth in the long jump (14-0 1/2).Other thirds for the Blue Jackets came from Joleen Ziegman-Nye in the 100 hurdles (19.12) and the 4x1,600 team (29:07.54).