PIQUA — Versailles boys and girls squads both finished in the top three in a Division II regional meet on Saturday at Alexander Stadium in Piqua and will be sending a load of athletes to next week’s state meet.
Joe Spitzer set a new meet record in the 3,200-meter run, finishing in 9:21.15. That beats the old mark of 9:21.16 by the narrowest of margins, set by Miami East’s Brad McLean in 1988.
That was just the icing on the cake for Spitzer, though, who also added a regional title in the 1,600 (4:19.64) earlier in the day. Teammate Brooks Blakely finished fifth in the 1,600 (4:31.32).
Spitzer will be one of several Tigers in the state meet, which is next Friday and Saturday at Jesse Owens Stadium in Columbus. The top four finishers in each event qualify for state.
Josh Steinbrunner qualified for the state meet in three events, finishing third in both the 110 hurdles (14.64 seconds) and 300 hurdles (39.54 seconds) and taking fourth in the high jump (6-4).
A.J. Ahrens also took second place in the shot put (52-1.5) behind Northwestern’s Adam Riedinger, who won with a throw of 58-1.25 on his second throw before he was rushed out of the stadium due to a medical emergency after that second throw.
All told, Versailles’ boys were the regional runners-up in the team standings with 64 points behind champion Dunbar’s 81.
Meanwhile, Versailles’ girls also had a strong showing, finishing third in the team standings with 43 points, one behind runner-up Van Wert’s 44 and 11 behind champion Bellefontaine’s 54.
The Tigers had a pair of individual runner-up finishes, as Lucy Prakel finished second in the pole vault (11-6) and Kenia McEldowney finished second in the 800 (2:18.88).
The 4×200 relay team of Liz Watren, Ava Moran, Ellen and Cassie Peters was also second (1:43.44), as was the 4×400 team of Watren, Lindsey Winner, McEldowney, Ellen Peters (4:00.07).
The 4×100 team of Prakel, Ellen Peters, Ali and Ava Moran finished third (49.74 seconds) as the Tigers qualified three of their four relay teams to the state meet — the 4×800 team finished 11th on Thursday.
Dana Rose also finished fifth in the 100 hurdles (15.95 seconds) and Ellen Peters finished eighth in the 300 hurdles (52.09 seconds).
Anna’s Shoemaker to return to Columbus
Anna junior Hannah Shoemaker helped lead the Rockets to a Division III state title last year. She’ll have the opportunity to get a few more medals this year.
Shoemaker qualified for the state meet in 100-meter hurdles and 300 hurdles. She was second in 100 hurdles in 15.82 and second in 300 hurdles in 45.31.
Shoemaker is the lone Anna athlete to qualify for the state meet.
Three other Anna athletes competed on Saturday. Austin Fogt was 12th in high jump (5-10) and sixth in 110 hurdles (15.47). Bart Bixler was eighth in the 400-meter dash (52.57). Jeffrey Richards was eighth in the 100-meter dash.