Tipp girls track sending athletes to Columbus

Like the boys last week, the Tipp girls track squad will be represented at the state track meet this weekend in Columbus. While the boys compete in Division Two, the ladies will be in the Division Three state tournament based on the number of students in the last OHSAA count. 

The Red Devils competed in the Regionals at Piqua, which concluded on Saturday, and saw some athletes qualify for the top five in their respective events to advance to the state meet, held at Ohio State University on Friday and Sunday.

First of all, on Thursday, it was the 4x8 relay team that did not have a prelim, just a final run that saw the top five qualify for state. The Red Devils placed fourth overall, 9:35.99, which gave them nearly 2.5 seconds quicker than the sixth-place team, which failed to qualify. Running for Tipp were Maryn Perrault, Isabelle Mahl, Lucia Ranly and Blakely Barton. 

Also on Thursday, Delaney Stout finished 11th in the 3200 run with a time of 11:51.37, and the freshman will look to build on that heading into next season.

On Saturday, more of Tipp’s athletes looked to qualify for the state meet.

Megan Strong just missed qualifying for the state in the 100 meter dash, as she placed sixth overall in the finals with a time of 12.72. She missed state by .05 seconds.

In the girls 4x2 relay, the Tipp team of Sawyer Ridge, Kenie Curry, Perrault and Strong ran 1:43.64 to land fifth and qualify as a relay team to the state meet this weekend. 

Stout came back in the 1600 meter run and she finished tenth overall with a time of 5:20.49, falling short of qualifying. The final qualifying time was 5:09.63. 

Running the 800 meter run was Perrault, and the freshman finished the race in 2:15.39 which was good enough for third overall, and a trip to the state meet. 

Strong returned to the track to run the 200 meter dash, where she placed fifth overall and landed a spot in the state meet. She ran 25.49 which was .17 seconds better than the sixth place runner from Hamilton Badin. 

Strong looked to qualify in one more event as she competed in the long jump. She leaped 17’ 4.5” and that landed her sixth overall, one spot from advancing to state in that event.

In all, Tipp placed 11th as a team in the regionals with 26 points, with Oakwood winning the regional title with 77 points.