Redemption.

That was the feeling last Tuesday night for Matt Candrl’s Owensville Dutchgirl track and field team.

After being caught by Montgomery County in the last event of the Owensville Relays nearly two weeks ago, Candrl’s Dutchgirls got another shot at the Lady Wildcats last Tuesday in the Hermann Invitational at Bearcat Memorial Stadium.

Scoring points in all but five events, OHS topped 14 other teams including fourth-place Montgomery County (76) with 117 points.

Scoring a total of 36 points in her four events, sophomore Katie Candrl led the Dutchgirl track attack.

Sweeping both hurdle events, Katie captured the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdle races in winning times of 16.86 and 48.35 respectively.

She also placed second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 27.97 along with tying her school record in the pole vault clearing 10 feet, six inches to take second behind Pacific’s Casie Cullinane who cleared 11-0.

Senior Bailey Rasmussen also had a solid day for the Dutchgirls in the shot put and discus.

Posting a season-best mark of 116-09 in the discus, Rasmussen won the event along with taking third in the shot put launching a throw of 35-01.5

Also scoring in both the shot put and discus for the Dutchgirls was junior Mackenzie Rademacher. She placed fourth in the shot put with a mark of 34-05 and sixth in the discus with a toss of 101-06.

Distance races also beefed up Owensville’s point total in Hermann.

Sophia Ashner showed the way for the OHS winning 3200-meter run in a time of 12:09.54. Paige Heckelmann made it two Dutchgirls in the top five of the 3200m with a fifth-place time of 12:52.47.

Heckelmann (2nd, 5:50.21) and Mekayla Gibson (3rd, 5:51.07) netted 14 points in the 1600-meter run.

Kendra Hults added more points from distance events for the Dutchgirls with a fourth-place time of 2:36.39 in the 800-meter run. Abby Koepke also posted a 14th-place time of 2:48.77 behind Hults.

Elsewhere on the track, Alexis Branson posted a fourth-place time of 1:07.57 in the 400-meter dash for Owensville.

Leading the four Dutchgirl relay teams in Hermann was the team of Hults, Koepke, Ashner and Heckelmann with a second-place time of 10:43.18 in the 4x800-meter relay. 

Ending the meet with a sixth-place time of 4:40.76 in the 4x400-meter relay was the Dutchgirl foursome of Kyah Weirich, Paige Tayloe, Wenkel and Branson.

Two Dutchgirls also scored points in the javelin with the senior duo of Veronica Courtouise (5th, 88-07) and Liana Miller (8th, 86-07) netting five markers.

Emily McKinney also placed 14th in the triple jump with a leap of 27-07.5.

Finishing fourth or higher in seven events, Candrl’s Dutchmen placed sixth in the team standings with 54 points behind Centralia (148), St. James (94.5), Pacific (94), Sullivan (93) and Hermann (71).

Jacob Luther posted the best individual finish of the meet for Owensville at Hermann tying for second in the pole vault clearing 13-06. Boyde Nicks also cleared 11-0 to place seventh.

Austin Terry cleared 5-10 in the high jump to place third Reece Wehmeyer (6th, 105-04) and Jacob Hall (7th, 105-00) both scored team points in the boy’s discus at Hermann.

Placing third in the boy’s 4x800-meter relay was the Dutchmen quartet of Bam Wizeman, Jacob Breedlove, Treyden Williams and Terry. Wizeman also placed fourth in the 800-meter run in 2:10.51.

Ending the meet with a third-place time of 3:45.23 in the 4x400m relay was the Dutchmen foursome of TJ Whelan, Cason Gray, Williams and Terry.

Alan Kopp’s best finish in the hurdle events came during the 300m hurdles with a fourth-place time of 43.64. He also posted a seventh-place time of 17.18 in the 110m hurdles.

Zach Adams helped with a team point posting an eighth-place time of 45.71 in the 300m hurdles.

Jarett Payne just missed the top 10 in the shot put placing 11th with a throw of 37-02.