The Cardinal Huskies’ track and field team’s ascent during the spring season was completed when junior Olivia Krebs placed fourth in the shot put and sophomore Mason Thistlethwaite captured seventh place in the 100-meter dash last week at the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division V state meet at The Ohio State University’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus.
Krebs took fourth place with a personal best throw of 41 feet, 3 inches, becoming the first Huskies girl to earn a top four finish at the state level since the 1995 state meet.
“It is a very huge accomplishment especially from the school that I come from,” Krebs said. “There are not that many state qualifiers, so it feels really good that I put the work in last year and got it done.”
On Thursday, Krebs rose to first place on her first throw, recording a distance of 39 feet, 7 inches and then achieved a personal best of 41 feet, 3 inches on her third throw.
“I just put in a lot of work the last couple of weeks,” the Cardinal junior noted. “I knew that I could do it, I believed in myself and let it rip.”
According to Coach Dakota Ward, Krebs demonstrated a sense of calm that he had never seen from the Huskies’ thrower.
“She showed up and she brought the game and I have never seen her as calm and collected as she was when we were out there,” the fourth-year coach added. “Usually, you would think that athletes have the nerves and jitters, but she was ready and knew what she came here to do.”
Krebs remained in first place until the final round, as Fairfield junior Meri Jackson, senior Nicole Nesby from Columbus Grove, and Danville junior Brookelynn Carter each unleashed their best throws of the day in the sixth round, pushing Krebs to fourth place.
Krebs was also a state qualifier in the discus throw but did not advance to the final flight, as she finished in 10th place with a distance of 115 feet, 5 inches.
She noted that she found redemption in her junior year of track and field, as her hopes to become a state qualifier last year were erased when she fell ill the week of the OHSAA Division III regional meet.
Having now become a state placer, Krebs said that her work is just beginning as she has one more year left to place in each of the throwing events.
The Huskies sophomore Thistlethwaite completed a breakout season by finishing in seventh place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.47 seconds.
“All of the preparation throughout the season has come down to this and I felt confident about it to do my best,” he said.
Having been ranked 15th entering the OHSAA Division V state meet, Thistlethwaite overcame the odds by taking fourth place in his preliminary race on Thursday, earning the eighth seed for the final race.
He acknowledged that having such a low ranking was unnerving but once he qualified for the final race, his confidence improved.
“I was scared going into it because I was ranked 15th but since I got eighth, I knew I had to try harder and I just had to beat one person,” he said.
On Friday, the Cardinal sophomore finished his spring season with a statement, placing seventh in the 100-meter dash.
According to him, he stayed relaxed and trusted the work he put in throughout the season to run his last race as a sophomore the right way.
“When he came in and made it to the final, it was exciting,” Ward said. “We said, ‘You just have to beat one to get to the podium’. That was the goal there and he ended up beating two, so it was exciting for him.”
Thistlethwaite attributed his strong sophomore campaign to the success he experienced during the indoor track season and used that confidence to fuel himself for a memorable sophomore outdoor track season.
He was also a member of a 4×100 relay team consisting of senior Tor Eastlake, junior Joshua Miller and sophomore Paul Komandt, that broke the school record twice this season but ultimately finished in 13th place in the preliminaries.
“My best friends ran it, so it made a lot more fun just to run,” Thistlethwaite said. “We really thought we were going do to all of this. It started with the school record getting shattered and then we came down here and broke it again and next year we just must be back and do better.”
