VW track athletes advance to regionals

The Van Wert High School boys’ and girls’ track and field teams qualified several athletes for the Division II Regional Track Meet at Lexington this Thursday and Friday. The boys finished 11th overall out of 19 teams in their meet, with 37 points, while the Cougar girls were fourth out of 12 teams with 62 points.

Van Wert boys who qualified include Jacob Myers, who finished fourth in the high jump at 6 feet even; Jared Fleming, who was second in the 1600-meter run in a time of 4:30.95, and in the 3200-meter run in a time of 10:13.0, and also was part of the 4×400-meter relay team that finished first in the district meet at Bucyrus in a time of 3:28.12. Other relay team members were Seth Kopp, Taylor Robenalt and Chadd Phillips.

Zach Keirns also scored points for the Cougar boys, finishing eight in the shotput with a throw of 43 feet, 6 inches.

Van Wert girls who qualified for the regional meet include Sydney Riethman, who was first in the long jump with a lead of 18 feet, 1 inch; Amanda Clay, who finished fourth in the 100-meter dash in 13.18 seconds; the 4×200-meter relay team (Rachel Scheidt, Ashley Mohr, Clay and Riethman), which finished first in a time of 1:46.40; the 4×100-meter relay team (Mohr, Riethman, Scheidt and Clay), which also won the event in a time of 51.63 seconds; Mohr also was third in the 300-meter hurdles in a time of 47.60 seconds; and Riethman finished fourth in the 200-meter dash in a time of 26.61 seconds.

Other girls who scored for the Lady Cougars include Katie Bono, who was fifth in the 1600-meter run; Scheidt, who was fifth in the long jump at 16 feet, 3¼ inches; and Clay, who finished fifth in the 200-meter dash in a time of 27.04 seconds.