Girls Track & Field: Worthington Christian Warriors earn two trips to state podium

The Worthington Christian girls track and field team got the results it was looking for on the final day of the Division III state meet June 3 and 4 at Ohio State.

There were 13 athletes at state for the Warriors after they scored 67 points to edge Fairbanks (66) for their first regional championship since 1994 on May 27 at Lexington.

The only running event in which Worthington Christian qualified for the state finals, though, was the 800-meter relay, which featured seniors Grace Hall and Audrey Mousa, junior Maria Klausman and sophomore Jamie Custer.

Senior Brooke Holloway, the first athlete in program history to compete in the pole vault, also represented the school in a state final June 4.

The Warriors landed on the upper half of the podium in both events, with the 800 relay finishing third (1 minute, 44.57 seconds) and Holloway placing fourth in the pole vault (11 feet, 8 inches).

Heading into the final of the 800 relay, Worthington Christian was seeded seventh.

“It was a good surprise,” Hall said. “We got our school record at the regional and (in the state preliminary) our time wasn’t as good. We needed to fix a few handoff things, but I think we fixed it (during the final). We re-broke our school record (in the state final), so I’m really pleased with how it came out.”

Hall, Klausman and Mousa also ran on the 800 relay that was eighth at state last season.

Hall added a 15th-place finish in the 100 (12.75) and ran on the 16th-place 400 relay (52.0) with junior Jane Bechtel and sophomores Rachel Fife and Natalie Woodfin.

Mousa was 14th in the 200 (26.26) and Custer was 11th in the 400 (1:00.34). Custer joined senior Sydney Diedrich, junior Ellie Cain and freshman Natalie Ryan on the 11th-place 1,600 relay (4:10.21).

Mousa will compete for Biola University in La Mirada, California.

“It was really stressful, but I knew our team this year would be really good and had full confidence that we could achieve what we just did (during the state final),” she said.

Holloway previously competed for Westerville South before enrolling at Worthington Christian for her senior season. She’s planning to compete for Mount Vernon Nazarene.

“I sprained my ankle at the regional last year and didn’t get to finish jumping,” she said. “I probably would have made it to state (last year), so I’m happy to be (at state this season) in general. My freshman year I totally had a brain fart and it all went wrong and I ended up no-heighting at the regional. (This year’s state meet) was a good day.”

The Warriors opened state June 3 by having its 3,200 relay of Diedrich, juniors Ellie Cain and Zoe Ward and freshman Natalie Ryan finish 14th in 10:01.2.

Ward also was a state qualifier in cross country last fall.

“It’s so fun,” she said. “I’ve been looking around at all the other teams and ours is big. We have so many people that made it to state, which is so cool.”

Diedrich, who joined Cain, Custer and Klausman on the 1,600 relay that was 15th last season, plans to attend Cedarville, where she is considering being a part of the track program.

“We have a lot of fun running together,” Diedrich said. “We made a lot of progress from last year.”

Also competing at the regional were Diedrich in the 800, Hall in the long jump, Klausman in the 200, Ryan in the 400, Ward in the 3,200 and seniors Lily Bauman and Morgan Lawrence in the discus.

Others eligible to return include junior Sylvia Fulks (middle distance) and sophomores Emily Barron (discus, shot put) and Annie White (distance).

"The regional was outstanding,” coach Mark Mousa said. “The girls performed as well as anyone could have hoped. Getting all four relays to state was one of the goals and we knew our (800 relay) was going to be the strength of our team. The seniors have left an awesome legacy.”

•Leila Boussedra couldn’t help but be upset with her performance at the Division I state meet June 4.

The Thomas senior finished 11th in the 3,200 (11:18.49), coming off her personal best of 10:55.42 to finish second in the regional meet May 27 at Pickerington North.

“She called as soon as she was done racing and apologized,” coach Andy Cox said. “I said, ‘There’s nothing for you to feel sorry for. You’re at the state meet. You’re one of the top 18 runners and you have one of the best times we’ve had at Thomas Worthington running a 10:55 at regional. Nobody can ever take that away.’ ”

Boussedra capped a whirlwind school year in which she competed in both field hockey and cross country in the fall in an effort to earn a college scholarship.

In the state indoor meet in March, she finished fifth in the 3,200 (11:01.05) and teamed with sophomores Meghan Kemp and Caroline Murphy and senior Hadley Kulina to place 20th in the 3,200 relay (10:16.9).

In the spring, she dropped almost 45 seconds off her 3,200 time after winning Pickerington North’s Stingel Invitational in 11:39.72 in her second meet of the season. She also posted wins in the Newark Invitational (11:36.4), Thomas’ Gary Smith Invitational (11:12.22) and the OCC-Cardinal Division meet (11:28.63).

And, she earned a scholarship to run cross country and track at Ohio University.

“She’s going to do awesome things at OU next year,” Cox said. “She ran four races for cross country and she was offered a scholarship. Then, she just continued to improve all track season. They’re getting a good one coming down to Athens.”

Boussedra, Kulina and freshmen Alaina Smullen and Molly McClellan won a league title in the 3,200 relay (9:48.89).

“Last year, our numbers were way down from what we traditionally have at Thomas Worthington,” Cox said. “We had 40 sophomores and freshmen come out (this year) that had never run before. That energy and that excitement was pretty clear. We tried to harness that throughout the season.

“The culture has definitely returned to normalcy. ... (It was) very competitive and (we) gained lots of experience. I think this was a stepping block for the upcoming seasons. I think we’re going to be good the next couple of years.”

–Michael Rich

sports@thisweeknews.com 

@ThisWeekSports

THOMAS

•OCC-Cardinal standings: Olentangy (116.5), Dublin Jerome (97), Marysville (93), Hilliard Darby (84), Olentangy Berlin (69.5), Thomas (63)

•Seniors lost: Leila Boussedra, Riley Chase, Elise Coles, Ella Fledderjohann, Hadley Kulina, Kennedy Macerollo, Trinity Murphy, Autumn Novak, Pearl Richardson and Summer Rogers

•Key returnees: Habiba Bundu, Julianne Conroy, Chaneya Garner, Jillian Jenkins, Zoe Limbach, Piper Lowe, Molly McClellan, Alaina Smullen, Rosalie Smullen and Andrea Tubbs

•Postseason: 10th (35) at district behind Westerville Central (103), tied for 20th (11) at regional behind Gahanna (73), did not score at state

WORTHINGTON CHRISTIAN 

•MSL-Ohio standings: Bexley (142.5), Columbus School for Girls (115), Worthington Christian (96), Columbus Academy (90), Buckeye Valley (80.5), Grandview (77), Wellington (32), Whitehall (20) 

•Seniors lost: Lily Bauman, Sydney Diedrich, Grace Hall, Brooke Holloway, Morgan Lawrence and Audrey Mousa  

•Key returnees: Emily Barron, Jane Bechtel, Ellie Cain, Jamie Custer, Rachel Fife, Maria Klausman, Natalie Ryan, Zoe Ward and Natalie Woodfin 

•Postseason: Second (127) at district behind Fairbanks (183), first (67) at regional, tied for 16th (11) at state behind champion North Robinson Colonel Crawford (44)

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Girls Track & Field: Worthington Christian earns two trips to podium