Clermont Northeastern's Jenna Mummert placed second in the high jump at the district track meet, earning her a spot in the regional meet.

By Garth Shanklin
Sports Editor

Though rainy conditions tried to put a damper on things throughout the week, all 10 Clermont County schools were able to compete at their respective track and field district meets last week.

Amelia, Glen Este and Milford made the trip to Mason High School for their meet.

Milford’s Manny Fernandez became the first local to qualify by placing fourth in the boys’ 110-meter hurdles. Amelia’s Ally Brown also qualified for districts after she placed fourth in the 100-meter dash, posting a time of 12.91 seconds.

Another Lady Baron qualified in the 1600-meter run. Maddie Walker won the event, finishing with a time of 5:03.94 that placed her .03 seconds ahead of Mason’s Elizabeth Brush. Walker also qualified for the 3200-meter run, as she placed fourth in the event.

In the 4×100-meter relay event, the girls’ team from Milford placed third in their heat to qualify for the district meet. Sophomore Emma Netzel, freshman Andrea Armstrong and juniors Lindsey Lawsen and Lauryn Knarr combined to finish in 51.06 seconds, less than three seconds behind Withrow for first place.

Amelia’s Maria Cardarelli qualified for the girls’ 800-meter run by finishing fourth with a time of 2:21.29.

Glen Este’s first qualifier came in the boys’ discus, as senior Austin Snyder won the event by nearly seven feet over Western Brown’s Zach Stacy. Snyder also advanced to regionals in the shot put, finishing second to Stacy by less than four inches. David Lorenzo also made it to the regional meet for the Trojans by placing third in the high jump.

Mason swept both team titles, with the Amelia Lady Barons placing seventh. Milford’s girls team placed eighth. On the boy’s side, Glen Este finished in sixth place.

In Division II, several local schools competed at New Richmond High School in their district meets. Goshen, New Richmond, Batavia, Bethel-Tate and Clermont Northeastern all competed in Division II while Williamsburg and Felicity battled at the Division III level.

A New Richmond quartet of Caitie Beihle, Emily Belmont, Claire Burns and Shelbi Simpson qualified for the district meet in the 4×800-meter relay event. They placed third, finishing in 10:18.04.

They will be joined by the boys’ 4×800 meter relay team from New Richmond, which placed fourth in their race. Austin Ruhstaller, Luke Glenn, Mason Hance and Ryan Wolf crossed the line in 8:54.45, less than three-tenths of a second ahead of North College Hill.

Wolf, Jacob Branson, Ruhstaller and Austin Torrens posted a time of 3:42.49 to qualify for the 4×400-meter relay event. Goshen’s quartet of Michael Figgs, Jacob Meader, Mathew Hodge and Aaron Koch qualified for that event as well.

Koch qualified for two other events as an individual. The senior advanced to districts in the 110-meter hurdles, posting a time of 15.69 seconds to finish second. Teammate Jacob Hopkins just missed qualifying for regionals, finishing fifth by less than .4 seconds.

Koch also qualified for the 300 meter hurdles, as did Hopkins. The duo finished second and third, respectively, with Koch missing out on a first-place finish by .03 seconds.

Batavia’s Leona Burton Rojas placed third in the 100-meter dash, finishing in 12.99 seconds to advance. The senior also advanced to regionals in the 200-meter dash with a third-place finish in that event. Burton Rojas qualified for her third event at regionals by winning the long jump by a foot over Taylor’s Taylor Messmore.

Wolf placed second in the boys’ 800-meter run for New Richmond, finishing 2.27 seconds behind Mariemont’s Charlie Jordan.

Lady Lion Shelbi Simpson qualified for the district meet in the girls’ 1600 meter run by placing third, roughly 14 seconds behind Mariemont’s Corinne Fanta. Beihle also qualified for districts in the 3200 meter run thanks to a fourth-place finish.

Two local runners qualified for the boys’ 1600-meter run. Bethel-Tate sophomore Jackson Coates and Batavia junior Dylan Young placed fourth and third, respectively, in their races to advance. Coates and Batavia sophomore Nathan DeRose also qualified for the 3200-meter run.

Tigers’ sophomore Evan Iding placed second in the 400-meter dash, finishing in 51 seconds. Hughes senior Malik Johnson won the event with a time of 49.9 seconds.

In the field events, New Richmond sophomore Aubree Story won the high jump by two inches over CNE senior Jenna Mummert. Ryan Allen placed second in the pole vault for New Richmond, while Goshen’s Brandy Rahm placed fourth in the shot-put to advance to regional competition.

On the boys’ side, Goshen’s Jacob Meader won the high jump over Reading’s Trevor Fant. Meader’s teammate, Connor Thomas, advanced by placing fourth in the pole vault, clearing the 11 feet, 6 inch mark. New Richmond senior Erik Anderson won that event with freshman Josh Anderson placing second.

New Richmond sophomore Nick Sanchez placed second in the shot put with a throw of 43 feet, 7.25 inches. Goshen’s Andrew Arnold finished fourth, less than a foot behind Sanchez.

Arnold advanced in the discus as well with a throw of 134 feet, 7 inches. New Richmond’s P.J. Simmons threw the discus 117 feet to finish fourth.

Finally, Williamsburg and Felicity sent several athletes to regional competition. Hope Schaljo placed second in the girls’ 800-meter run, finishing just over two seconds behind Cincinnati Country Day junior Grace Pettengill.

Laura Cadwallader and Laurin Ellis both qualified for regionals in the 100-meter hurdles. Cadwallader placed first in the event, finishing in 18.02 seconds. Ellis was right behind her sophomore teammate, finishing with a time of 18.26 seconds. Cadwallader also placed fourth in the 300-meter hurdles to qualify for regionals in that event.

A quartet of Lady Wildcats placed fourth in the girls 4×800 meter relay event to advance to regional competition. Schaljo, Rachel List, Sami Tomlin and Rachel Ralston posted a time of 11:58.25 to finish fourth.

Williamsburg junior Christen Abrams placed fourth in the pole vault, clearing the 7-foot-6-inch mark. Felicity’s Madison Winter qualified for regionals in the long jump, leaping 14 feet, 3.5 inches.

Kiersten Guess won the shot put with a throw of 30 feet, 10.5 inches. Teammate Aubrey Siekbert placed third with a heave of 29 feet, 9 inches. Siekbart would win the discus event with a 98-foot-3-inch toss.

Felicity-Franklin freshman Austin Perry placed third in the 400-meter dash, earning a trip to regionals. Perry finished in 53.08 seconds, .68 seconds behind Oyler sophomore Ricky Thomas.

Williamsburg junior K.C. Jones won the boys’ 1600-meter run by less than one second over Summit Country Day junior Tullus Dean. Jones finished in 4:38.72, with Dean crossing the line in 4:39.58.

Jones also won the 3200-meter run, edging Cincinnati Christian’s David Higgens by .45 seconds. Felicity sophomore Jared Boeckmann placed third, 4.3 seconds behind Jones.

Boeckmann’s teammate, junior Nathan Stumpf, advanced to the regional meet by placing fourth in the 110-meter hurdles. Stumpf edged Wiliamsburg’s Wyatt Lefker by less than a second for fourth place. Stumpf also qualified for the 300-meter hurdles, though Lefker got a bit of revenge. Stumpf finished in fourth place, crossing the line in 45.37 seconds while Lefker earned a third-place finish by .02 seconds.

Lefker also won the pole vault, clearing 13 feet, 6 inches. Two of his Wildcat teammates, Bryson Vize and Kurt Meisberger, placed first and fourth, respectively, in the shot put to advance to the regional meet.

That same duo finished one-two in the discus, with Vize launching the discus 136 feet, 6 inches to win the event.

The teams now turn their attention to the regional meets this week. The Division I track championships are at Welcome Stadium in Dayton. Some of the events were held on May 25 with the remainder to be on May 27.

Division II will also be held at Welcome Stadium. Events are scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. on May 26 and at 11 a.m. on May 28.

The Division III regional began on May 25 and continues on May 27 at 5 p.m. at Troy High School.