Rammel’s put lands her sixth in the state

WESTERVILLE, Ohio — After her first three throws, Whitley Rammel entered the finals seeded seventh.

Her fourth toss secured a state medal.

Rammel, a Fort Recovery High School junior, finished sixth in shot put in the OHSAA Division III Track and Field State Championships on Saturday at Westerville North.

“It feels pretty good,” said Rammel, who becomes the first Indian female track state medalist since Holly Brunswick was seventh in high jump in 2011. “It wasn’t my best day, but sixth in the state is pretty impressive for me.”

FRHS throwing coach Holly Gann had a more positive outlook for the first time state qualifier and district champion.

“I think we just have to always look at the big picture,” said Gann, who was a state medalist herself with a seventh-place finish in the discus for FRHS in 2007. “It’s hard to come here and perform well. She’s going to be upset with her performance because it’s not her (personal record). Everyone wants to constantly PR.

“I think we just talk about checking those boxes. This was one of those boxes; get to state. So we want to check it. Next box is to get to finals at state. OK, check that box. Get on the podium. Check a box. So I look at today, three checks. Three-for-three is 100%. That’s what we’re going for.”

Fort Recovery freshman Mara Pearson made the finals in long jump, but was unable to reach the podium.

(The top nine make finals, and then the top eight earn state medals and All-Ohio accolades.)

As the No. 3 seed entering the meet with her school-record distance of 41 feet, 1.25 inches, Rammel wasn’t able to approach the 38-foot mark during her three preliminary throws.

Her first traveled 35 feet, 8.5 inches. Her second was her best of prelims and it went 37 feet, 3.75 inches. The third was 33 feet, 2.5 inches.

After the first flight, Rammel was in fifth place, and only two in the second flight surpassed her total as she qualified for the finals.

Rammel’s first toss of the finals proved to be her best of the day at a distance of 38 feet, 5.5 inches.

Other than Rammel, only top-seeded Trista Fintel of Patrick Henry, Yvonne Colson of Madeira and Mallory Winner of Marion Local were able to improve on their preliminary distances.

Leipsic’s Ella Rigel won the state title with a put of 41 feet, 0.5 inches, a distance she reached on her third throw of preliminaries after back-to-back fouls. She also fouled twice during finals.

Fintel, Colson and Winner were second through fourth, respectively.

“For Whit, she had a great year,” Gann said. “She PR’d. She got a school record; got to be at state; district champ. The list is endless of accomplishments … .

“Again, look at the big picture; she got to check three boxes today. As her coach, she’s working hard and next year is another year. She can take that drive, she gets to feel what it feels like, she gets to see what it feels like so now hopefully next year we can go and get it.”

Pearson, one of three freshman state qualifiers in the long jump, was seeded fifth entering the meet with a distance of 17 feet, 1 inch. The closest she got to that, however, was just 16 feet, 4.25 inches, a result she achieved on her first attempt of the morning.

She was sixth in her flight, and made the finals by a quarter inch over Trimble’s Laikyn Imler.

Given three more jumps though, Pearson was unable to eclipse 16 feet and placed ninth. Seven Hills junior Mackenzie Hartman was the state championship with a distance of 17 feet, 8.75 inches.

Rammel’s three team points put Fort Recovery in a seven-way tie for 48th place out of 63 scoring teams.

West Liberty-Salem successfully defended its 2019 championship with 52 points. Mount Gilead was runner-up with 42 points and Seven Hills scored 32 points for third place.

Minster’s boys claimed the first state championship in program history, scoring 41 points to edge McDonald by two points. It was the 141st overall state championship for the Midwest Athletic Conference.