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DAYTON — Cedarville sophomore Katie Bunker continued her dominance in the 800 meters at the Division III regional track and field meet on Saturday, May 31.

Bunker won the event for the second consecutive season with a time of 2:17 at Dayton Welcome Stadium.

"I'm pretty excited,"

Bunker said. "I was nervous all day thinking about the race. It turned out pretty good."

The top four individuals in each event qualified for the state track meet to be held next weekend at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus.

Field events will be held at 1 p.m. Friday, June 6, with running preliminaries beginning at 9:30 a.m. The running finals will be held at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, June 7.

Bunker is hoping to make a run at a state title, especially with a year of experience under her belt. She finished fourth last year.

"I didn't know what to expect (last year)," Bunker said. "Now I'm a little more experienced. I'd love to come home with a win."

A rivalry that's been taking place all season will continue at the Division III state meet.

Mechanicsburg's Keith Hurst finished second in the high jump with a leap of

6 feet, 5 inches, while Triad's Tyler Harper finished third at 6-3.

Harper jumps from the

left side and faced a strong headwind.

"It was tough," Harper said. "I wanted to go a little higher, but I'm happy about getting to state."

Hurst had "a lot of motivation" to qualify in the high jump after falling in the

110 hurdles preliminaries

on Tuesday. It was only the second time he'd beaten Harper all year.

"I had to try as hard as I could to get there," Hurst said.

Two Southeastern athletes — senior Cole Sesslar and freshman Marie Egbert — used strong kicks to advance to the state meet.

Sesslar finished fourth in the 300 hurdles (40.86), kicking hard at the end of the race to beat West Liberty-Salem junior Lance Kitchen (40.90) by a nose. He's relieved to finally get to state.

"Now I can worry about other things," Sesslar said. "I finally did it. It feels great."

Egbert was third in the 3,200 in 12:03.23. She kicked to pass several competitors over the last 100 meters.

"I'm shocked," Egbert said. "I've been practicing sprints the last couple days so I could get better (at the end of the race)."

Yellow Springs' Alexis Onfroy finished third in the 1,600 (4:26.73), while teammate Jacob Gunderkline

qualified fourth in the 3,200 (10:01.46).

Cedarville senior Katie

Gerhardt was third in the shot put (38-10). WLS's 1,600-relay team of Kitchen, Eric Salley, Brice Baumgardner and Joe Yoder was fourth in 3:29.47.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-036

5

or

mcooper

@coxohio.com.

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