Two Cougar relay teams medal at state

VW independent sports

COLUMBUS — Van Wert’s 4×200 meter relay team faced some heavy hitters in the OHSAA Division II finals at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

Kendra Deehring, Macy Johnson, Danesha Branson and Sofi Houg went up against the likes of Toledo Central Catholic, Gilmour Academy, Akron Butchel and Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary’s, and logged a new school record time of 1:44.20 and a sixth place finish. The previous records were set by the same group in Friday’s preliminaries and the previous week’s regionals. Toledo Central Catholic won in 1:41.04, followed by Gilmour (1:41.95).

The 4×400 meter team of Trey Laudick, Nate Phillips, Nate Jackson and Connor Pratt finished seventh overall with a season-best time of 3:22.86.

In addition, Mia Rager placed 13th in the long jump (16-01.50).

During Friday’s portion of the competition, the boys 4×200 team (Pratt, Phillips, Jackson, Laudick) ended the season by finishing sixth (1:30.38). In addition, the 4×800 team finished 11th (Gage Wannemacher, Rylan Miller, Laudick, Hunter Sherer, 8:13.20), and Deehring finished ninth in the 100 meter preliminaries with a personal record time of 12.66.