WESTERVILLE — It was a stellar start to the Division III state track and field meet for West Liberty-Salem’s girls team here Friday at Westerville North High School.
The Tigers, who are looking to defend their state championship from 2019, delivered a nearly lights out performance on the meet’s opening day. WL-Salem’s girls 3,200 relay team grabbed a second-place finish to start the day and the Tigers would go on to advance to today’s finals in five other events.
“I think we definitely reached our expectations for the first day if not more,” said WL-Salem head coach Ann Vogel. “They really put themselves in a good position for the finals. The conditions here were not ideal with the facility, but they stayed resilient and focused on the task at hand.”
It’s a close team race after scoring three of 17 events. Mt. Gilead, Springfield Catholic Central and Madiera are all are tied for first with 10 points, while WL-Salem, Fairbanks and Botkins are tied in second with eight points.
The Division III state meet resumes today with field events at 10 a.m. and running finals at 2 p.m. The top eight finishers in each event place. The top two finishers in each of the three heats plus the next two fastest times from Friday’s prelim races moved on to today’s state finals.
It was a dramatic start to Friday’s meet as the 3,200 relay of seniors Katelyn Stapleton and Madison Bahan, junior Megan Adams and freshman Ashley Yoder nearly repeated as state champions. The quartet finished second with a time of 9:21.92 after winning the same event two years ago.
“I definitely think we all had the mindset that we wanted to defend the title,” said Adams. “We still got runner-up, which is amazing. We just have to remember God is good all the time. Even when things go our way and when they don’t, He is still good.”
Adams led off the relay and would have the Tigers in the top four. Yoder took the second leg and moved her team into second. Bahan was on the heels of the Minster runner in front of her to stay in second.
Stapleton took over the final leg for the Tigers. She moved into first place to start the final lap and looked to be in a strong position with 250 meters to go. Then, Mt. Gilead freshman standout Allison Johnson, who holds the nation’s third-fastest time in the 800, came surging past both Minster and WL-Salem from over a 100 meters behind.
Johnson would move Mt. Gilead into first and claim the state title with a first-place time of 9:19.54.
“I knew she was coming,” said Stapleton. “She’s a fantastic runner. I just had to kick as much as I could. I wasn’t sure how quickly she would catch me. I was just trying to finish and hold on.”
“I though they ran a great race,” said Vogel. “They ran a smart race and either ran a personal best or ran exactly what they had to.”
“We talked about the controllables and it’s hard to control a girl that can run a 2:05 split. I’m really proud of them. They hung in there and ran a competitive race.”
Even though they were unable to win another state title in the 3,200 relay, there were only smiles left on the faces of the Tiger girls after the race.
“It still feels amazing to be runner-up,” said Bahan. “We went out and gave it our best and ran for each other.”
“We felt some pressure, but I was really excited because I have a great team and love them all,” said Yoder. “We wanted to do well for each other.”
WL-Salem had plenty of other races to smile about as the day went on.
The remaining three relay teams all advanced to today’s state finals. The 800 relay of senior Grace Estes and Kaylee LeVan, junior Emily Hollar and Bahan and the 1,600 relay of Bahan, Estes, Hollar and Stapleton both have the fastest qualifying times entering the finals. The 800 relay ran a time of 1:44.50 and the 1,600 relay ran a time of 4:02.21.
The 400 relay of LeVan, Stapleton, Estes and freshman Lily Weaver took eighth and qualified with at time of 50.76.
“We’re excited for the relays,” said Vogel. “The 400 relay fought to get in and that was great. The 800 relay and 1,600 relay both set personal best times. Emily was pretty tired by the 1,600 relay, so it will be nice to see what she can do fresh in the finals.”
Hollar shined by herself and advanced in two events. She has the fastest qualifying time in the 200 (25.48) and the second-fastest qualifying time in the 400 (57.88).
“For her to come out and perform that well says a lot about her,” said Vogel. “She didn’t even realize she ran that well in the 200. She’s a competitor and does whatever she can for her team. We’re excited for her.”
Bahan was also slated to compete in the 400, but scratched from the event.
Also racing today are Adams in the 1,600 and 3,200, Yoder in the 1,600, Stapleton in the 800 and LeVan in the long jump.