Knights, VW athletes earn state berths

Van Wert independent sports

It was a good weekend for local athletes, with Crestview earning its third trip to State in four years with a 7-2 victory over Fremont St. Joseph during the Division IV regional final at Findlay on Saturday.

Maddie Preston went the distance for the Lady Knights, giving up two earned runs on six hits, while striking out six and walking just one batter in seven innings.

Danica Hicks led the Crestview offense with a home run and a single, while the Knights’ other Maddie — Etzler — also had a home run, and Taylor Springer and Preston doubled.

Crestview will play its state semifinal game Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Firestone Stadium in Akron against Columbiana (click here to order Final Four t-shirts).

Also Saturday, Van Wert’s Sydney Riethman and Jared Fleming earned berths in the Division II State Track Meet during regional competition in Lexington.

Riethman won the regional championship in the long jump with a leap of 17 feet, 4 1/2 inches, while Fleming took second place in the 1600-meter run in a time of 4:16.46.

The Cougar girls were 12th overall out of 42 teams, while the boys finished in 16th place out of 43 teams.

Both Riethman and Fleming will compete on Saturday at Jesse Owens Stadium on the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus.