Five ‘Cats qualify for state meet

Woodmore senior Ava Beam never gave up on keeping in shape when her track season was canceled her junior year.

“I trained for track until I heard there was not going to be a track season and then the next day when we found out that track was canceled I began training for cross country,” Beam said.

Beam has qualified for the Division III state meet with the 4x800 relay team and in the 3200 run. 

She won the 3200 regional championship in Tiffin, finishing in 11:05.58, nearly two seconds ahead of second place Carey junior Sarah Reinhart (11:07.08). Earlier this year, she was named Northern Buckeye Conference Athlete of the Year and also Athlete of the Meet after the league meet.

 “She had an amazing season and real good league meet. She really has had an amazing career and looking over the four years it has been amazing how much she improved,” Woodmore coach James McMahon said.

“She had a real good freshman year — she was on a relay team that was a state qualifier. Her times were good, but seeing where she is in her senior year, her times have improved immensely across several events. That comes with commitment, she is a three-sport athlete, she has gotten a lot better in cross country and made track improvement as well. It is nice to see her being a good freshman and taking that to being a great senior over her career. That was exciting to see.”

Beam has already committed to running track and cross country for NCAA Division II University of Findlay. She says Findlay is ideal for athletics, but also for academics, plus the proximity gives her parents a better opportunity to continue watching her compete.

“I knew I wanted to be a physical therapist, so when I started looking at schools, I was just looking to see what schools had physical therapy programs, and then I feel like I really just clicked with their coaching staff there — they can really push me to be my best,” Beam said.

McMahon added, “She is excited that is in Northwest Ohio and she can continue to have a connection with family and all that. Her parents are supportive, so I know she is excited about that, and I am sure her coaches will get a chance to see her at a meet as well.”

Joining her on the 4x800 relay team that qualified for state are sophomore Olivia Vogelpohl and freshmen Caydie Buchanan and Emma Hammer. The Wildcats crossed the regional finish line in 9:47.77, good enough for fourth place behind Liberty Center (9:37.28), Patrick Henry (9:45.04) and Wayne Trace (9:45.42).

Vogelpohl also qualified in the 800, crossing the line at the regional meet in 2:26.86 to place fourth behind Archbold senior Kylie Sauder (2:17), Hopewell-Loudon sophomore Alivia Roerdink (2:22.52) and Liberty Center freshman Grace Miller (2:22.79).

Behind those four athletes, the Woodmore girls scored 21 points at the regional to place 12th out of 29 teams scoring. Liberty Center won the championship with 64 points.

Woodmore senior Cameron Overmyer qualified for the boys state meet in the pole vault. Overmyer tied with Continental senior Isaac Gibbs at 13 feet, eight inches for the regional championship, but Gibbs got first place through a jump-off tiebreaker.

At the district meet hosted by Gibsonburg, Vogelpohl won the 800 in 2:22.84, beating Liberty Center junior Hope Oelkrug (2:23.41) by less than a second. Beam won the 3200, finishing in 11:43.83 to easily defeat second place Liberty Center senior Sydney Miller (12:01.37).

The Woodmore girls finished in third place as a team at the district, scoring 49½ points to trail Liberty Center (161) and Margaretta (101).

Overmyer won a district pole vault championship, clearing 12-6 to easily outdistance second place Hopewell-Loudon junior Lance Crawford (9-8).

Woodmore junior C.J. Buchanan won a district championship in the 3200, finishing in 10:11.43 to defeat second place Hopewell-Loudon senior Trey Masterson (10:16.68).