O'NEILL – The Wayne girls slipped past Boone Central/Newman Grove and Crofton to win their second Mid State Conference track and field championship in three years on Monday at O'Neill High School.
The 1,600-meter relay team of Tarah Stegemann, Kiara Hochstein, Gabi Meyer and Kelsey Boyer came into the final event needing enough points to overtake Boone Central/Newman Grove, and they got the job done with a second-place finish in 4:21.91, allowing Wayne (91) to edge out the Cardinals and Crofton (84 each) to regain the conference title they won in 2014.
"We knew going in to the last event we were down one to Boone and they were out of people, and we needed to place ahead of them," coach Dale Hochstein said. "As long as we placed higher than sixth we'd be fine, and we ended up second with a different team."
Hochstein said some moves were made in the regular lineups, including taking Kylie Hammer out of the 1,600 relay and putting her in four individual events. She came through with conference titles in the long jump (joined by Stegemann for a 1-2 finish) and the triple jump, finished second in the 100 and third in the 200.
"I know she wasn't happy with her 200 time, but picking up those points for us was big," Hochstein said. "We put people in the right place today and they did really well."
A couple of key surprises helped the Wayne cause. Stegemann was seeded third in the 400, but won the race in a time of 12:50.04. Distance runner Andrea Torres knocked more than 20 seconds off her best time and snuck in for fifth in the 3,200-meter run.
"We knew it was going to come down to some little things, and we had a number of people who really stepped up and competed hard," Hochstein said.
Wayne also did well in the throws. Trenhaile just missed a conference title, settling for runner-up honors, while Danica Schaefer had one of her better days outdoors in the shot put to finish third.
On the boys' side, Wayne finished sixth and had one conference champion in Nolan Reynolds, who won the 800-meter run after a disappointing effort in the pole vault.
"He had a bad day in the pole vault, but came back and won the 800 and medaled in three events," Hochstein said.
Grayson McBride was runner-up in the high jump and added a fifth in the long jump and a sixth in the triple jump to also post a three-medal effort for the Blue Devils.
"There was just one miss between Grayson and the kid who won it, so he jumped really well in the high jump and for him to place in all three events was great," Hochstein said.
Jack Evetovich also placed in the high jump, finishing fifth. Cristian Rogers was fourth in the 100, the 400-meter relay team finished third and the 1,600-meter relay team took sixth.
Girls Team Standings
Wayne 91, Boone Central/Newman Grove 84, Crofton 84, Pierce 67.5, Battle Creek 60, Guardian Angels CC 48, Norfolk Catholic 45, O'Neill 38, Hartington CC 9.5.
Wayne Medalists
High jump: 4. (tie) Tarah Stegemann, 5-0.
Long jump: 1. Kylie Hammer, 17-1; 2. Stegemann, 16-5 1/4.
Discus: 2. Jenna Trenhaile, 113-11.
3,200 relay: 3. Wayne (Kelsey Boyer, Molly Hoskins, Kiara Hochstein, Gabi Meyer), 10:19.74.
Triple jump: 1. Hammer, 36-2 1/4.
Shot put: 2. Danica Schaefer, 38-8.
400: 1. Stegemann, 1:01.56.
3,200: 5. Andrea Torres, 12:50.04.
100: 2. Hammer, 13.47.
800: 4. Meyer, 2:31.65.
200: 3. Hammer, 27.71.
400 relay: 6. Wayne (Kate Schultz, Kelsey Boyer, Jenna Trenhaile, Danica Schaefer), 55.99.
1,600 relay: 2. Wayne (Tarah Stegemann, Kiara Hochstein, Gabi Meyer, Kelsey Boyer), 4:21.91.
Boys Team Standings
Pierce 108, O'Neill 102, Battle Creek 86, Boone Central/Newman Grove 78, Norfolk Catholic 67, Wayne 34, Hartington CC 23, Guardian Angels CC 19, Crofton 10.
Wayne Medalists
Long jump: 5. Grayson McBride, 18-9 1/4.
High jump: 2. McBride, 6-2; 5. Jack Evetovich, 6-0.
Triple jump: 6. McBride, 39-1 1/2.
100: 4. Christian Rogers, 11.91.
800: 1. Nolan Reynolds, 2:07.63.
400 relay: 3. Wayne (Owen Frideres, Tyler Pecena, Nolan Reynolds, Christian Rogers), 46.24.
1,600 relay: 6. Wayne (Beau Bowers, R.J. Liska, Tyler Pecena, Nolan Reynolds), 3:43.19.
