Total team effort: Crawford girls score in many ways for a repeat regional crown

HEATH — She’s the only scorer back from last year’s state championship team, but Niyah Shipman is far from lonely.

In fact, as she and Hailey Slagle stood on the infield and made a cell phone video for social media, it had to be hard for them to squeeze all of their giddy teammates into that celebratory selfie after Colonel Crawford repeated as Division III regional track and field champions Friday night at Heath High School.

The Eagles outdistanced runner-up Fairbanks by a 72-44 margin, with sophomore Gabby Roston winning the pole vault, Shipman and Cece Chase each qualifying for state in two individual events and all four relays advancing to Columbus – a first for the program, boys or girls, in Preston Foy’s 15 years as coach.

“We put in a lot of work,” said Shipman, a 2022 state runner-up in the high jump. “Our (4x400 meter relay) made it to state last year and they worked for it again this year. Off-season, during the season, we worked for this, and I thought we could pull it off.”

The big question was how much could the Eagles pull off after Katie Ruffener’s departure? She won state championships last year in both hurdles races and accounted for 30 of the 44 points Crawford scored for the D-III team crown.

The Eagles answered that question Friday with an exclamation point.

“I think they had a chip on their shoulder about it,” Foy said. “Katie did so much for our program, but this is a tight-knit group and a hard-working group, and they are fun to coach. They put all of their trust in the coaches and it’s awesome when they are rewarded in the end.”

After running on Wedneday’s third-place 4x800 relay with her sister Izzy, Roston came back Friday to tie her PR in the vault by clearing 11-4. She finished the two-day meet by collaborating with the Ritzhaupt twins (Reagan and Rylie) and Mira Holt to win the 4x400 relay in 4:03.99.

“It’s been over a year since I got 11-4 for the first time (in the vault), so it was hard to get back to that (height),” Roston said. “I’m excited. Running is really important to me, too, because I like the team atmosphere in track. I like that we can celebrate together.”

This year’s victorious 4x4 crew is the same foursome that made it to state last year. Three-fourths of that quartet — the Ritzhaupts and Holt — joined Ayla McKibben to win the 4x2 (1:46.17), while the 4x1 team of McKibben, Reagan Ritzhaupt, Holt and Slagle took third (50.66).

A huge key in the relays is the return of Holt, who missed a large chunk of her sophomore season due to a foot injury. Proving she’s all the way back, she anchored the 4x4 and 4x2 and ran second leg on the 4x1.

“My first meet back was the (N10) meet,” she said. “I was on the 4x4 just for conditioning, but then I was able to come back even more for districts. The coaches have really done a nice job of getting us where we need to be.”

Holt had to give up the long jump, so the Eagles turned to Shipman about three weeks ago. She finished fourth at 17-1⅟₂ to add to her fourth in the high jump on Wednesday of 5-2.

“Niyah was eighth (in the seeding) coming into the long jump,” Foy said. “She didn’t really want to do it. But she got fourth.

“It’s a grind, but the most important thing to do well in track is peak at the right time, which is the regional finals. If you don’t do well here, you don’t get to advance.”

The twins, whose mother Kendra (Ketterman) Ritzhaupt, was part of Crawford’s state title reign from 1990-92, are the only seniors who figured in the scoring Friday for the Eagles.

Chase, a junior, was runner-up in the 1600 (5:06.46) and fourth in the 3200 (11:25.7). She also ran lead-off leg on Wednesday’s state-qualifying 4x8. Her time in the 1600 was her PR by four seconds.

“The strategy today was to go all-out in the (1600) and see what I have left in the (3200),” she said. “Honestly, I don’t like the (3200). I like the (1600). I only want to do the (1600), but my coaches wanted me to run the (3200) because they thought I could make it out and it helps us score points.”

Crawford also had a regional champ on the boys side in Trevor Vogt. He won the 300 hurdles in 39.5 and was also part of the state-bound and fourth place 4x2 relay (1:33.12), along with Lane Kozinski, Ethan Holt and Ryan McMichael.

Other Crawford County athletes who automatically qualified for state were Bucyrus’ Emma Tyrrell and Randy Banks. Tyrrell was fourth in the 400 (1:00.13) and Banks was fourth in the high jump (6-0).

The top four placers in every regional event earn a state berth and then there are at-large spots awarded to the next two best finishers across the state in each event.

Still in contention for at-large spots when the meet ended Friday were Slagle in the 100 and fellow fifth-place finishers Anthony Evans of Wynford in the 400 and the Bucyrus boys in the 4x2 relay.

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Colonel Crawford girls score in many ways for a repeat regional crown