Celina finishes second to Defiance

OTTAWA - As Celina track coach Dan Otten told his team after the conclusion of the Western Buckeye League Track Meet on Friday, his squad did everything they needed to do to win the league title.

Another set of Bulldogs, the Defiance Bulldogs, had just a little more ammo to work with.

The Defiance boys and girls edged out the Celina squads to sweep the league titles at Titan Stadium in Ottawa, but Celina didn't give up its hopes for the trophy without a fight.

The boys 1,600-meter relay proved to be the race needed for both teams. Defiance won and picked up 10 points. Celina was third to get six points, enough for Defiance to take the team title by a 114-111 margin.

The girls meet was just slightly more spread out, as Defiance scored 135 points with Celina second with 120.

It was one of the most successful days for both Celina programs at the WBL meet. The girls won five events on the day and broke several meet records. The Bulldog boys scored in nine of the 13 events contested on Friday and put two contestants on the same podium in four of those events.

"You can go through every event. There's nothing differently we could have done, I think," said Otten. "A lot of other teams could have melt down, maybe, but Defiance, give them credit, hit on every cylinder. They were an 8-cylinder and we were maybe a 7 1/2 -cylinder.

"We had great performances. It was great."

In the boys meet, Celina got one win as Kelby Rosengarten pulled away from O-G's Nolan Croy to take the 300 hurdles. Rosengarten also took second in the 110 hurdles and placed fifth in the 200 dash. Blake Moran brought home a third in the 110 hurdles and a fourth in the 300 hurdles.

Andrew Goodwin, facing stiff competition, took home fourth in the 1,600 and third in the 3,200. Shawnee ace Chase Violet captured both races and broke the league's 3,200 record, set in 1974 by Celina running great Bob McDougal, setting the new mark of 9:35.88. Peter Starnes helped out in the 3,200 with a sixth-place showing.

Aaron Snyder, the county champ in the discus last week, was the top thrower going into the finals, but was edged out by 12 inches by Wapak's Kyle McClintock in the finals, as Snyder settled for second place.

In the 800 run, Brad Smith was edged out at the line by Wapakoneta's Kevin Bittinger, with Smith posting a solid time of 2:01.09. Spencer Foulkes, who with Smith helped Celina open the WBL on Wednesday with a win in the 3,200 relay, took fourth.

"We had no room for error, and we didn't make many errors. I don't know if we made any," said Otten of the boys. "Our 4x4 relay ran four seconds better. Kelby did his thing. Everywhere we were supposed to, they came through. They're disappointed because they wanted it so bad. I told them, the eight other schools in the league didn't expect it. It was a great meet."

The girls were led by senior Julie Snyder, who added three more titles to the high jump she won on Wednesday. Snyder bested the meet record in the long jump by over a foot with an effort of 18-7, with Eryn Langenkamp taking second with a solid leap of 17-1.

Snyder also broke the league mark in the 100 hurdles and capped off her day by winning the 200 dash. Katie Hague added a third-place showing in the 100 hurdles and a fifth-place effort in the 300 hurdles.

Langenkamp came through with a win in the 100 dash, helped on the winning 400 relay and was second finish in the 300 hurdles.

Melissa Roth finished sixth in the 1,600 run, but picked up the pace and came in for a strong second-place showing in the 3,200, running it in 11:33.39.

Kelsey Waterman took sixth in the 400, as did LaRae Dorsten in the 800, while Cayla Hellwarth added a sixth-place showing in the pole vault.

"Mel ran her best 3,200 by 15 seconds. Julie had a world-record meet. Katie Hague had her best meet ever," said Otten. "Our four seniors (Hague, Langenkamp, Roth and Snyder) broke three school records, 3-4 meet records. Our senior girls did everything. Cayla pole vaulted her best. LeAnn (Ward) shot putted her best (firing a 33-2 1/2 effort, but finishing out of the points in seventh)."

St. Marys finished fifth in the girls meet and seventh in the boys meet. Kaysha Dietz took home second behind Langenkamp in the 100 dash, third in the 400 and fourth in the 200. Leslie Humphries place third in the pole vault with Mekayla Breland taking second in the shot put.

The Roughrider boys got a third-place effort from Scott Kinkley in the 400 dash and in the high jump, a third-place finish in the 800 relay and a fourth-place showing from Adam Knous in the discus.