NEW HAVEN — Once the final athlete crossed the finish line last Friday at New Haven High School during the annual Four Rivers Conference (FRC) track meet, Matt Candrl’s Owensville High School (OHS) Dutchmen and Dutchgirl track athletes won eight varsity events good for FRC titles while earning All-FRC honors in numerous others with top-three finishes.

Owensville’s first set of gold medals came in the boys 4x800-meter relay where the team of Drake Dietrich, Grayson Lairmore, Steven Buddemeyer and Zach Holtmeyer captured a FRC title with a first-place time of 8:46.97.

It was not a long wait for Owensville’s second FRC title on the track.

Senior Emma-Lee Wehmeyer claimed individual FRC gold with a winning time of 16.31 in the varsity girls 100m hurdles.

Leah Hayes also picked up five team points with her fourth-place time of 18.17 in the varsity girls 100m hurdles.

Wehmeyer also earned All-FRC honors placing third in the varsity girls triple jump with a leap of 9.78m followed by OHS teammates Halle Engelbrecht (10th, 8.38m) and Baylee Sieckmann (12th, 7.20m).

Following the running of the 4x200m relay races, another FRC champion in orange and black was crown.

Hannah Gehlert won the varsity girls 1600m run in 5:36.72 edging Union’s Shelby Robinson by just under three seconds.

Sophomore Charlie Katsov joined the list of FRC Champions claiming gold in the varsity boys 300m hurdles with a winning time of 42.85.

Junior Evan Boyer also collected a Dutchmen team point with his eighth-place time of 47.96.

Gehlert added to her FRC title in the girls mile by winning the varsity girls 3200m run in a time of 12:18.47.

Adding to his winning leg of the varsity boys 4x800m relay, Holtmeyer captured individual gold edging out Hermann’s Nolan Kopp in the varsity boys 800m run with a first-place time of 2:02.67.

Drake Dietrich (5th, 2:11.55) and Lairmore (13th, 2:20.33) also took two laps around the track for the Dutchmen.

Owensville also captured a pair of FRC individual titles in field events with Andrew Budnik winning the varsity boys discus on a first-place throw of 40.09m and Ricky Marquez clearing 3.95m to win the varsity boys pole vault.

Zayden Garver (9th, 32.06m) and Ryder Wehmeyer (12th, 30.22m) also threw the discus for the varsity Dutchmen.

Dutchmen following Marquez in the boys pole vault included Landon Valley (2nd, 3.65m) and Coleton Connor (6th, 3.20m).

In a traditional meet, both Valley and Connor would have scored team points.

However, the FRC recently put in a rule that only a maximum of two athletes from each school could score points in one event.

Sprinting to All-FRC honors in the girls 4x100m relay for the Dutchgirls was the team of Violet Lavalle, Ariana Katsov, Lilly Sample and Abbey Quilacio in a third-place time of 52.50.

Claiming silver in the varsity boys 4x400m relay for Owensville was the team of Mason McDaniel, Charlie Katsov, Drake Dietrich and Steven Buddemeyer in a second-place time of 3:42.48.

Quilacio (2nd. 2.55m) and Arianna Baguio (3rd, 2.55m) also earned All-FRC honors for Owensville in the varsity girls pole vault.

Ariana Katsov added a pair of All-FRC performances in the varsity girls 100m and 200m dashes with third-place times of 13.07 and 27.28 respectively.

Adding to his FRC title in the boys 300m hurdles, Charlie Katsov also earned All-FRC honors in the boys 110m hurdles with a second-place time of 17.18. Boyer also posted a fifth-place time of 19.59 in the event.

Budnik also claimed All-FRC honors placing second in the varsity boys shot put with a throw of 13.24m.

He was followed in the event by Dutchmen teammates Wyatt Bone (9th, 11.16m) and George Wnuk (13th, 10.41m).

Bone posted his best finish of the meet with a fourth-place throw of 39.26m in the varsity boys javelin.

Garver (9th, 35.46m) and Tyler Menz (11th, 31.49m) also competed for the Dutchmen in the varsity boys javelin.

Connor (6th, 1.55m), Kylen Menz (6th, 1.55m) and Braden Perkins (8th, 1.55m) all placed in the top eight of the varsity boys high jump for Owensville.

Adding to his FRC title in the boys pole vault, Marquez placed seventh in the varsity boys long jump with a leap of 5.83m followed by OHS teammates Bentley Luecke (9th, 5.53m) and Gianluca Brucculeri (13th, 5.25m).

Placing at or near the top 10 of the varsity boys triple jump for Owensville were Bo Buddemeyer (9th, 10.75m), Kylen Menz (10th, 10.49m) and Valley (10.32m).

Sprinting down the track for the Dutchmen in the varsity boys 100m dash were Charlie Katsov (5th, 11.83), Connor Wellman (9th, 12.12) and Liam Rasmussen (16th, 12.59).

Steven Buddemeyer (11th, 57.33), Cris Reyes (14th, 59.49) and Bo Buddemeyer (15th, 1:00.49) finished in the top 15 for Owensville in the varsity boys 400m dash.

Holtmeyer (3rd, 9:56.26), Reyes (6th, 10:59.14) and Dylan Dietrich (8th, 11:25.16) finished in the top eight of the varsity boys 3200m run for OHS.

Sprinting to fourth place in the varsity boys 4x100m relay was the Dutchmen foursome of McDaniel, Wellman, Rasmussen and Marquez in 46.49.

Also taking fourth for OHS in the varsity boys 4x200m relay at New Haven in a time of 1:36.81 was the orange and black foursome of Valley, Wellman, McDaniel and Rasmussen.

Jordan Duncan earned a varsity Dutchgirl team point in the varsity girls 400m dash with a time of 1:10.49.

Running two laps for OHS in the varsity girls 800m run were Gehlert (5th, 2:41.42), Ella Davidson (12th, 3:00.98) and Morgen Schmidt (14th, 3:27.46).

Placing fourth in the varsity girls 4x800m relay for Owensville in a time of 12:43.23 was the OHS foursome of Reed, Schmidt, Davidson and Gehlert.

Taking sixth for OHS in the varsity girls 4x200m relay in a time of 2:00.60 was the quartet of Engelbrecht, LaValle, Hays and Duncan.

Also posting a sixth-place time of 4:47.05 in the girls 4x400m relay was the Owensville team of Quilacio, Duncan, Sample and Engelbrecht.

Rylee Dare (15th, 7.87m), Lexis Manning (16th, 7.69m) and Kinley Troncin (20th, 6.38m) competed for the Dutchgirls in the varsity girls shot put.

Manning scored a team point for OHS in the varsity girls discus with an eighth-place throw of 25.47m.

Dare (11th, 24.54m), Sample (15th, 20.66) and Troncin (16th, 20.65m) also competed for Owensville in the varsity girls javelin.

Sample led three Dutchgirls in the high jump clearing 1.40m to place fifth while Engelbrecht cleared 1.35m to place eighth and Sieckmann took 10th place clearing 1.30m.

OHS Track will now turn their attention to this Saturday’s upcoming Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 3, District 3 Track Meet at Dutchmen Field.

A complete recap of OHS junior varsity track and field at the FRC meet will be in next week’s Republican.