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Coldwater's Izzy Zahn lands after an attempt in the long jump at the state track and field championships on Friday in Columbus. Zahn won her second straight long jump title with a top effort of 18-8 1/2.
Compiled By Gary R. Rasberry
Izzy Zahn's first jump gave her the championship. Her final jump put the icing on the cake.
The Coldwater senior easily won her second straight Division III long jump title to complete a robust day of running at the 2025 state track and field championships at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus.
In her first jump as part of the second flight of competitors, the University of Iowa-bound Zahn leaped 18 feet, 7 1/2 inches. That jump was better by 17 inches over the second-best effort of Adalynn Hines of Tri-Village and gave her a spot in the nine-jumper finals. Zahn then went 17-1 1/2 in her second qualifying try and skipped her third.
In the finals, Zahn fouled on her first two attempts, but no one could better her mark or Hines' mark. On her final try of the day, Zahn went for 18-8 1/2, adding an inch to her championship mark.
St. Henry's Morgan Baumer finished 12th, posting a best effort of 16-4, five inches shy of the ninth spot that advances.
St. Henry's Ellie Fullenkamp goes over the bar in the Division III girls high jump
The Redskins had a better showing later in the day in the high jump as Ellie Fullenkamp made her first five heights in one attempt before needing two to clear 5-5. Both Fullenkamp and Troy Christian's Elisabeth Waltz cleared 5-6 on the first trip and each needed three chances to clear 5-7 before neither could get over 5-8.
The one miss at 5-5 proved to be the difference as Waltz needed just one attempt, giving her the title via tiebreaker for fewer attempts needed as Fullenkamp took second.
Fort Loramie's Janelle Siegel and New Knoxville's Addi Albers each cleared 5-5, joining Waltz and Fullenkamp as the only ones to clear the height, but both missed at 5-6. Siegel took home third place via fewer attempts as Albers placed fourth for the Rangers.
Marion Local's Ava Ranly finished 12th after clearing 5-0 but missing all three shots at 5-2.
In the girls pole vault, Coldwater's Ava Schmitmeyer passed until the bar reached 10-6, making it on the second try and then doing the same at 11-0. After clearing 11-4 on the first try, Schmitmeyer needed her final of three attempts to clear 11-8 before being unable to get over 12-0, giving her a share of fifth place with Houston's Emilee Earl. Gibsonburg's McKenzie Montgomery took fourth as she cleared 11-8 on her first attempt.
Marion Local's Cale Nagel finished 13th in the long jump, posting a top effort of 20-3 3/4 in his final qualifying attempt.
New Bremen's Trevor Topp goes up for an attempt in the pole vault.
New Bremen's Trevor Topp finished 14th in the pole vault after clearing the entry height of 13-0 but missing on all three tries at 13-6.
Delphos St. John's Drew Boggs won the high jump after clearing 6-10 on his final attempt and seeing Miami Valley School's Thomas Cook miss on all three tries. Boggs then attempted to tie the Division III state record of 7- 3/4 set in 2011 by Brant Reardon, but missed all three attempts.
Minster's Joanna Topp (right) takes the baton from Annie Hemmelgarn during the 4x800-meter relay at the state track and field championships in Columbus.
In the lone running final of the day, the Minster girls won the 4x800-meter relay for the third time in four seasons. Sophia Dirksen, Annie Hemmelgarn, Joanna Topp and Claire Bohman took control in the final 800 meters to win the race in 9:17.56, nearly 13 seconds ahead of runner-up Rittman.
Coldwater's quartet of Lana Kaiser, Ava Lefeld, Channing Lefeld and Audrey Alig finished fifth in 9:38.39.
Minster's Will Knapke competes in the 4x800-meter relay at the state track and field meet.
In the boys's 4x800, Minster, whose longtime coach Larry Topp will retire after this season, just missed reaching the podium as the team of Will Knapke, Nick Prenger, Carter Dirksen and Tyler Bergman finished ninth in 8:09.69, nearly a second behind eighth-place Ridgedale. The New Bremen quartet of Sam Bernhold, Jacob Kelly, Simon Shroyer and Jett Jellison placed 16th overall in 8:17.20
The anticipated matchups between Zahn and Fort Recovery's Anna Roessner will come to fruition as both qualified in their head-to-head events in fine fashion.
Zahn, the state record holder in the 400, won her heat of the event in 54.56 seconds, breaking the Division III state meet record of 55 seconds flat set in 2023 by Wayne Trace's Sydnee Sinn.
Roessner won the other heat in 55.94 seconds, giving the pair the top two times and will be in lanes 4 and 5 in the finals today. Parkway's Naomi Knapke placed 15th overall with a time of 60.43 seconds.
Then in the 200, Zahn ran the first heat and won with a time of 23.72 seconds, taking 0.01 seconds off her own overall state record and breaking her state meet record of 24.06 set last season. Roessner ran the second heat and finished in 24.02 seconds, which would have broken the state record.
Coldwater's Claire Bertke finished fifth in qualifying to advance to the finals with a time of 25.72 seconds.
Roessner and Bertke will square off in the 100. Roessner was the fastest qualifier with her time of 11.83 seconds with Bertke qualifying fourth in 12.47 seconds.
Zahn will run her final high school race as part of the 4x400 relay as she, Audrey Alig, Lana Kaiser and Kiersten Keller posted the fastest qualfiying time in 3:58.33. Minster qualified third in 4:01.70. St. Henry just missed taking the ninth and final qualifying spot, placing 10th in 4:05.43.
Marion Local's Grace Moeller qualified in both hurdles events, qualifying third in the 100 hurdles in 14.73 seconds with Minster's Molly Brame qualifying fourth. In the 300 hurdles, Moeller was fourth in 45.50 seconds with St. Henry's Karlee Buschur qualifying for the final in sixth.
St. Henry's quartet of Morgan Baumer, Evie Gast, Sam Lauber and Ellie Fullenkamp will run in the finals of the 4x200 after qualifying seventh in 1:46.22. Coldwater's group of Bertke, Keller, Kaiser and Brookelyn Sudhoff finished 10th, missing qualifying by 0.11 seconds. Baumer, Buschur, Lauber and Fullenkamp qualified St. Henry's 4x100 unit fourth in 50.10 seconds. Coldwater's 4x100 team, with Ava Smith running in place of Kaiser, qualified in seventh.
On the boys side, St. Henry's Cole Kaiser will be busy today as he qualified for two individual events and helped St. Henry move on in both sprint relays.
Kaiser qualified third in the 100 dash in 10.83 seconds with Marion Local's Victor Hoelscher qualifying ninth. Then in the 4x200, Kaiser, Carson Harrod, Zach Heath and Will Gerlach qualified eighth in 1:30.92 with Marion Local's quartet of Hoelscher, Mason Jones, Oliver Huelsman and Justin Knouff qualifying fifth in 1:30.07.
A few minutes later, Kenseth Hoying replaced Gerlach and the Redskins qualified fifth in 43.51 seconds. Finally in the 200 dash, Kaiser finished in 22.05 seconds to qualify third. Hoelscher, running in the other heat, was second in 22.02 seconds.
Harrod also earned an individual berth in the 110 hurdles, posting a time of 15.01 seconds to qualify fifth for the final.
Marion's 4x400 relay - Huelsman, Knouff, Hoelscher and Andrew Pohlman - qualified second overall in 3:24.58. New Bremen's quartet of Joel Lozier, Kelly, Pierce Whitlatch and Jellison, finished 10th and did not advance.
Parkway's Trevor Stearns was 17th in qualifying for the 400 dash, finishing in 50.97 seconds.
Celina's Jon Lutz will run in the Division I boys 110 hurdles finals after qualifying fourth overall. Lutz finished second in the first heat with a time of 14.11 seconds to earn the automatic berth that goes to the top two finishers in each heat with the remaining five spots going on the next fastest times.
Coldwater's Aidan Rose competes in the Division II 110-meter hurdles.
In the Division II boys 110 hurdles, Coldwater's Aidan Rose finished 15th in qualifying with a time of 14.93 seconds, ending his season.
The Division III running finals begin this morning at 9:30 a.m.
