L-B's Rickenbacher claims pole vault title in Lexington

LEXINGTON — Displaying not only the talent to score well, but the depth to score well in a number of events, Liberty-Benton's girls team finished second and Ottawa-Glandorf third on Saturday in Division II regional track and field meets at Lexington and Piqua.Alabama-bound senior Alexis Rickenbacher won a regional title in the pole vault, Cassie Warner qualified for state in two events and Liberty-Benton scored points but came up just short of advancing two relays during Saturday's Division II finals at Lexington.Rickenbacher cleared 12-0 even to win her title in the pole vault. Warner raced to a second-place finish in the 200-meter dash (26.46) and was fourth in the 100 (13.16).L-B's Izzy Granger added a third-place finish in the discus with a throw of 127-1. The top four finishers in each race and top four teams in each relay qualified for the state meets to be held June 4-5 at three sites around Columbus: Division I at Hilliard Darby High School, Division II at Pickerington North and Division III at Westerville North.Warner and Rickenbacher, along with Brooke Deeter and Granger, also qualified for state in the 400 relay. L-B was fifth (50.78) in that event at the regional meet but earned one of the at-large bids to state based on the fastest times from regional meets across the state. A fifth-place leap of 5-3 in the high jump also earned L-B's Karis Willow a trip top state.L-B, which had already qualified its 3,200 relay for state during Thursday's opening competition at Lexington, finished with 47 points to claim second place behind Gates Mills Gilmour Academy (71) in the 38-school field.Upper Sandusky was ninth (23.5), Liberty-Benton 16th (14) and Elmwood 25th (8) in the boys standings at Lexington.Troy Mawer, who was a member of Upper Sandusky's regional championship 3,200 relay team on Thursday and state-qualifying 1,600 relay team on Saturday, punched another ticket to the state meet on Saturday when he finished second in the 800 (1:57.35). Elmwood's Barett Coleman also qualified for state with a fourth-place finish in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles (39.76).Ottawa-Glandorf's girls finished third (43 points) behind Oakwood (88) and Versailles (47) in the Division II meet at Piqua.Alexa Fortman and Lily Haselman, who helped O-G's 3,200 relay team earn a state-qualifying bid on Thursday, figured in a couple of more top-four finishes on Saturday.Fortman won a regional title in the 400 (58.77) and was third in the 800 (2:22.39), and Haselman was regional runner-up in the pole vault (11-0). Both teamed with Olivia Fenbert and Myka Aldrich on the fourth-place 1,600 relay team (4:08.36). Aldrich also qualified for state with a third-pace effort in the high jump (4-11).O-G's boys were 15th in the standings with 13 points, the bulk of that total coming on Gavin Hedrick's regional championship in the 110 high hurdles (15.40).In track events postponed to Sunday due to last week's harsh weather, Findlay High's Bri Nichols competed in the discus at the Division I meet at Amherst Steele and qualified for state with a third-pace throw of 129-1. Also Sunday, Findlay's Elaine Hohman was fifth in the pole vault (11-0) and Zach Doepker was 11th in the boys high jump (5-10). STATE QUALIFIERSDIVISION IFINDLAY BOYS 100 -- Micah Gremling, 11.02. 200 -- Ben Ireland, 23.22. 400 -- Ireland, 48.41. 800 RELAY -- Findlay (Gremling, Alex Theis, Elijah Baxter, Ireland) 1:31.08. LJ -- Gremling, 21-5-3/4.FINDLAY GIRLSDISCUS -- Bri Nichols 129-1DIVISION II GIRLS100 -- Cassie Warner (L-B) 13.16; 200 -- Warner (L-B) 26.46. 3,200 RELAY -- Liberty-Benton (Hailey Hochstettler, Lauren Smith, Kylie Recker, Riley Irwin) 9:45.02; Ottawa-Glandorf (Olivia Fenbert, Madelyn Hovest, Lily Haselman, Alexa Fortman) 9:37.86. PV -- Alexis Rickenbacher, (L-B) 12-0. DISCUS -- Izzy Granger (L-B) 127-1. 1,600 RELAY -- Ottawa-Glandorf (Olivia Fenbert, Myka Aldrich, Lily Haselman, Alexa Fortman) 4:08.36. 400 -- Fortman (O-G) 58.77; 800 -- Fortman (O-G) 2:22.39. HJ -- Aldrich (O-G) 4-11. PV -- Haselman (O-G) 11-0. 400 REELAY — Liberty-Benton (Brooke Deeter, Warner, Rickenbacher, Granger) 50.78.D-II BOYS 800 -- Troy Mawer (US) 1:57.35. 300 IH -- Barett Coleman (Elm) 39.76. 3,200 RELAY -- Upper Sandusky (Emery Pahl, Benjamin Patchett, Owen Mawer, T. Mawer) 8:06.09. 110 HH -- Gavin Hedrick (O-G) 15.40. 1,600 RELAY — Upper Sandusky.DIVISION III GIRLS400 -- Alaina Tiell (Car) 58.45; Emma Franks (Van) 59.74; Peyton Heitmeyer (Leip) 59.85. 800 -- Alivia Roerdink (H-L) 2:22.52. 1,600 -- 1, Sarah Reinhart (Car) 5:09.34. 3,200 -- Reinhart (Car) 11:07.08. 800 RELAY -- Carey (Lexi Plott, Ellison Roark, Tiell, Macy Wentling) 1:47.98. HJ -- Paige Massie (Arc) 5-3. LJ -- Peyton Heitmeyer (Leip) 16-8-1/2. SHOT -- Ella Rigel (Leip) 40-0; Sara Cupp (Leip) 39-4. DISCUS -- Rigel (Leip) 133-5.DIVISION III BOYS100 -- Elijah Evans (Arl) 11.43; Gavin Biery (P-G) 11.58. 200 -- Sherron Jones (H-L) 23.26; Evans (Arl)23.68; 3, Connor Foust (Arl) 23.72. 400 -- Jonathan Schriner (Blu) 51.63. 800 -- Simon Derstine (Blu) 1:57.19; Carson Closson (CG)1:58.16; Landon Armstrong (Blu) 2:01.29. 1,600 -- Trey Masterson (H-L) 4:28.64; Eden Antrim (Blu) 4:29.29. 3200 -- Masterson (H-L) 9:55.39. 110 HH -- Jon Banal (CG) 15.79; Samuel Burkholder (P-G) 15.99. 300 IH -- Banal (CG) 40.25; Brayden Courtney (Riv) 42.81. 400 RELAY — Hopewell-Loudon (George Beucler, Nico Garcia, Justin Holland, Jones) 44.20; Arlington (Jacob Branan, Evans, Foust, Noah Thibaut) 44.22; Columbus Grove (Banal, Gabe Clement, Zeke Halker, Jacksen Schroeder) 44.64. 800 RELAY -- Columbus Grove (Jaden Daniels, Trenton Daniels, Landon Myers, Josh Smith) 1:32.51; Arlington (Evans, Foust, Jacob Price, Thibaut) 1:32.86; Van Buren (Gannon Bahn, Luke Brown, Ethan Greathouse, Andrew Parsell) 1:33.95. 1,600 RELAY -- Columbus Grove (Clement, Carson Closson, Landon Myers, Caleb Stechschulte) 3:26.56; Bluffton (Antrim, Ethan Bogart, Josh Mehaffie, Schriner) 3:31.48. 3,200 RELAY -- Bluffton (Eric Nygaard, Landon Novak, Landon Armstrong, Antrim) 8:05.17; Columbus Grove (Stechschulte, Caleb Morman, Trent Koch, Closson) 8:12.30. HJ -- Zeke Halker (CG) 6-2. PV -- Andrew Suter (P-G) 13-0; Clement (CG) 13-0; Wesley Newton (HN) 13-0. LJ -- Ka'Von Bailey (McC) 22-1/2. SHOT -- A.J. Schafer (CG) 48-6-3/4; Ryan Cook (H-l) 47-8 3/4. DISCUS -- Ethan Halker (CG)162-9; Lawson Maag (CG)160-10; Jack Bateson (Arl) 155-3; Evan Cohee (Arc) 146-10. SATURDAY'S RESULTS OHSAA SOFTBALL TOURNAMENTREGIONAL FINALSDIVISION IAnthony Wayne 15, North Ridgeville 4Pataskala Watkins Memorial 13, Pickerington Central 3West Chester Lakota West 5, Beavercreek 3Massillon Perry 10, New Philadelphia 0DIVISION IIHebron Lakewood 21, Greenville 20New Concord John Glenn 4, Heath 3Wooster Triway 8, Beloit West Branch 0LaGrange Keystone 12, Mansfield Madison 2DIVISION IIIFairview 11, Cardington Lincoln 1Wheelersburg 9, Ironton 1Johnston 2, Williamsburg 1DIVISION IVNew Riegel 8, Hilltop 3Newark Catholic 13, Peebles 3Bradford 1, Mechanicsburg 0Cuyahoga Heights 4, Vienna Mathews 2OHSAA BASEBALL TOURNAMENTDISTRICT FINALSDIVISION IToledo St. John's 10, Perrysburg 1Bowling Green 3, Findlay 2, 8 inningsDIVISION IIToledo Central Catholic 8, Defiance 5Tiffin Columbian 9, Lima Shawnee 1Vermilion 5, Bellevue 1DIVISION IIIArchbold 6, Otsego 1Edison 6, Colonel Crawford 5Eastwood 2, Minster 1DIVISION IVLeipsic 5, Kalida 1Tiffin Calvert 4, Fremont St. Joe 1Lincolnview 1, St. Henry 0, 11 inningsAntwerp 5, Montpelier 1Mohawk 12, Arlington 2