WL-Salem qualifies to Division III state meet in 10 events
TROY — The big moments are still bringing out the best in West Liberty-Salem’s girls track and field team.
The Tiger girls won the Division III regional title here Friday with 90 points, qualified to state in 10 events and claimed five individual regional titles.
“We definitely had some rough spots, but the girls powered through and were resilient,” said WL-Salem girls head coach Ann Vogel. “It was a good night against good competition. Our regional is tough, it really is. Everything pretty much happened the way we expected it to and we even got some at-large bids as well.”
Minster was a distant runner-up with 50.2 points, Lehman Catholic was third with 49 points, Anna took fourth with 47 points and Seven Hills rounded out the top five with 45 points.
The top four placers in each event advance to the Division III state meet next week at Westerville North High School.
After winning a state and regional championship in 2019 and not being able to compete last spring because of the coronavirus pandemic, achievements like the one Friday become a little more special to the WL-Salem girls.
“It feels amazing to get back to state,” said senior Madison Bahan. “It makes us that much more committed and grateful for what we achieve.”
Powering WL-Salem at the regional meet were its relay teams. The Tigers advanced all four relays to the state meet, which is only the second time ever after achieving the feat in 2019.
“We definitely wanted to get all of our relays out,” said Estes. “That was a goal we had. We felt we were sitting well and we’re confident in ourselves, so that helps us.”
“That is a hard feat to accomplish,” said Vogel. “We had to sweat it out in the 400 relay. We had a bad hand off, but Grace Estes got us back into it. We were in sixth and she moved us up and ran her heart out. We also won three of the four, so that says a lot about the girls and how they love to compete in the relay races. I was glad we could get all four out again.”
The 3,200 relay of Madison Bahan, Megan Adams, Katelyn Stapleton and Ashley Yoder won a regional title on Wednesday.
On Friday, the Tigers’ 400, 800 and 1,600 relays all qualified through with the 800 and 1,600 relays winning regional titles. The 800 relay of Kaylee LeVan, Grace Estes, Bahan and Emily Hollar won with a time of 1:45.62 and the 1,600 relay of Hollar, Bahan, Estes and Stapleton won with a time of 4:06.21. The 400 relay of LeVan, Stapleton, Lily Weaver and Estes placed fourth with a time of 51.70.
“I think (our relay success) is the fact that we trust the process,” said LeVan. “We have fun when we step on the track. We don’t focus on the outcome, but what we can do to get the outcome we want.”
Individually, Hollar gave an impressive performance by winning two regional titles. She won the 200 (26.35) and the 400 (58.42). She broke her own school record in the 200 prelims on Wednesday with a time of 25.85.
“We’ve definitely been focused on one meet at time with the end goal being state,” said Hollar. “We are staying in the present and staying focused one meet a time. That’s helped us prepare. The energy is definitely building (towards state).”
Megan Adams also doubled up in state berths by qualifying in the 1,600 and 3,200. She took second in the 1,600 with a time of 5:11.36 and was third in the 3,200 with a time of 11:24.05. Rounding out the Tigers state qualifiers was Stapleton, who placed fourth in the 800 with a time of 2:22.89.
“Megan had a good day,” said Vogel. “This was the first time she’s ran both those races all year. I was proud of how she came back in the two-mile and is always a gamer. Emily had a huge day for us anchoring the 800 and 400 relays, and winning the 400 and 200. She’s so consistent, shows up and gets the job done. Katelyn lost her cadence a little bit in the 800, but she hung in there.”
WL-Salem also had three athletes earn at-large bids after finishing in fifth place. Those went to Bahan in the 400 (1:00.44), Yoder in the 1,600 (5:16.97) and LeVan in the long jump (16-5 3/4).
The OHSAA grants at-large bids to the two best times, distances or heights in each event from any regional and allows them to compete at the state meet.
In other events for the Tigers, Addison McAuley placed seventh in the 3,200 (12:02.19) and Yoder finished 12th in the 800 (2:32.83).
Triad’s Cayla Eaton also competed in the 300 hurdle finals Friday. She placed sixth with a time of 49.33.
In the boys meet, Minster won the regional championship with 78.5 points, Cedarville was second with 65 points, Marion Local was third with 52 points, Williamsburg came in fourth with 44.5 points and Anna came in fifth with 39 points.
Look for a Division III state preview in next week’s Examiner.