TROY — As soon as she launched into the air, New Bremen senior Macy Puthoff knew her long jump attempt was taking her far. And it did.
Puthoff’s leap landed her in Columbus.
Puthoff won her second straight Division III regional championship in the long jump going 17 feet, 6.5 inches Friday night at Troy High School. It was shy of her personal best 17-9, but good enough to stand atop the podium.
“You can definitely feel it when you hit the board,” Puthoff said. “You’re like, ‘Yes! I think this one is going to be long.’ It’s always exciting to have that feeling.
“It makes me pretty confident going into state but I know there are a lot of good jumpers. I’ll definitely have to step it up. … I jumped against some really good girls (on Friday) so to be able to win this year is exciting.”
Puthoff, who finished sixth at state last year, was one of nine regional championships won by area athletes on Friday. The count goes to 10 adding in the Fort Loramie boys’ team victory.
Fort Loramie entered the final event — the 1,600-meter relay — trailing front-running Newton by four points. Fort Loramie needed to finish fourth or better to win the team title. The Redskins all-senior team of Joe Ballas, Gavin Schulze, Jake Rethman and Carson Moore finished third.
“They knew what they needed to do. That was fantastic to see,” Fort Loramie coach Kevin Wrasman said following his team’s two-point victory.
Earlier in the day Ballas swept the 800 and 1,600 runs. He was also a member of the winning 3,200 relay team along with Rethman, Schulze and freshman Colten Gasson that won during Wednesday’s preliminaries and select finals.
“It was awesome. I’m just so happy it all worked out,” Ballas said. “Our coach had to make a lot of difficult decisions, including who to put in what events. Do you want to qualify as many people to state or do you want to try and win the meet? Sometimes those goals don’t align. People made sacrifices on our team. They really did and helped us.”
On the girls side, Redskins junior Kennedi Gephart won regional titles in the 100 and 200 dashes and was on a pair of relay teams that also qualified for state. In all the Redskins qualified 16 different athletes — 10 girls and six boys — in 13 different events to the state championships held Friday and Saturday at Ohio State University’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
“This group of boys and girls, they’re fantastic. Hard workers. Great work ethic,” Wrasman said. “Fabulous group of kids. Great team players. The group of assistant coaches I have is a fabulous group as well.”
Botkins senior Grace Homan booked her return to state with a winning throw of 128-01 in the discus. She also qualified in the shot on Thursday. Homan was regional runner-up in both events last season.
“It’s definitely a survive and advance thing. Top four and I’m happy,” said Homan, who finished fourth in the shot at state last year and just missed qualifying for the discus finals. “Now it’s on to state and I really want to win. You don’t feel the pressure because the more you go the less pressure you feel. It’s more of a will that you want to win. … (Winning regional) gives me a pretty big boost of confidence because there’s a lot of tough competition.”
Minster also grabbed a pair of regional championships. Senior Kaitlynn Albers, sophomore Ella Boate, junior Gwendolyn Meiring and senior Madeline Magoto stood atop the podium as the 3,200 relay champs on Wednesday. Magoto added the 800 run championship on Saturday.
Lehman Catholic had two individuals and a relay advance to state.
Lehman’s Rylie McIver advanced to state in the 300 hurdles in the most bizarre of fashions. The hurdles were set at the wrong height Wednesday and the heats were run over Friday.
She advanced by finishing third in 46.54.
“On Wednesday, I knew right away the hurdles weren’t right,” McIver said. “My friend (Lauren McFarland) runs the 100 hurdles and I always tell them to change them because I struggle to get over them. I had never fallen over a hurdle like I did Wednesday, so I knew something wasn’t right.
“I was really upset (with the 400 relay not making it). It was tough to come back after that race. I set a school record last week (in the 300 hurdles) and I PR’d again tonight. I am pretty excited about that.”
Lindsey Magoteaux advanced in the 100, finishing fourth in 12.84 and Magoteaux and McIver teamed with Ella and Olivia Monnin to finish third in 1:45.84.
“I had a tough race in the 100,” Magoteaux said. “I was hoping to make it (to state) in all four events (200 and 400 relay), but it will definitely be less stressful running in two events.”
Division II regional meet in Piqua
Anna and Versailles competed at the D-II regional championships Saturday in Piqua. The Rockets qualified for state in five events, highlighted by senior Anna Shoemaker’s three events. The Versailles girls advanced in four events, led by junior Lucy Prakel who qualified in three of them.
Division I regional meet at Wayne
Sidney senior Josiah Hudgins, who qualified in long jump at the Div. I regional meet Wednesday in Huber Heights, finished ninth in high jump on Friday and missed qualifying in that event. He’ll compete in the D-I state meet on Saturday.
Complete qualifiers online
A complete list of state qualifiers from the area can be found at ohsaa.org, selecting Track & Field under the Sports & Tournaments drop-down menu.
A complete list of qualifiers will also be printed late next week in the Sidney Daily News.
