Wooster track and field athletes eye state berths

Whether it’s sprints, hurdles, jumps or throws, the Wooster boys and girls track and field teams have many possibilities to get multiple qualifiers to the OHSAA State Track and Field Championships in Columbus June 6-7.

Individual regional qualifiers for the girls are freshman Teagan Hafner (100-meter hurdles, long jump, high jump), senior Abi Strand-Fox (400), junior Landrey Russell (300 hurdles) and senior Emery Stahl (high jump), along with junior Kaj Meier (400, long jump) and sophomore Wylie Fuqua (shot put, discus) for the boys. They will represent the Generals at the Division II North Royalton Regional May 27 and 29.

Wooster’s 4x200 relay of Lily Robinson, Taeyona Scott, Russell and Strand-Fox also qualified for the regional.

The top five finishers in each event at North Royalton and three at-large performers will qualify for the state meet.

Hafner headlines the Generals’ regional qualifiers. She has set school records in the 100 meters (12.56, Orrville Invite) and 100 hurdles (14.70, OCC Meet) while tying the program best in the long jump (17-6½).

“Teagan is an amazing athlete who’s the real deal,” Wooster girls track coach Chris Mascotti-Rasor said. “She’s like Marquise Blair (when he was at Wooster). She’s been working extremely hard. She started doing gymnastics as a little girl, and that just made her so strong. Her mom and dad are both coaches and smart, and they’ve been helpful. She is just a great athlete, and she’s had great training.”

Mascotti-Rasor said her husband, Wooster sprints coach Marlin Rasor, also has been instrumental in working with Hafner.

“She ran a 14.70 in the 100 hurdles at the OCC Meet, and she’d been running 15s,” Mascotti-Rasor said. “That’s a huge drop. She set the meet record and was second all-time in Wayne County. We haven’t set an OCC sprint record since Betsy Allen in the early 2000s.”

Hafner’s 100 record broke the mark of 12.64 shared by Angie Norris (1977) and Barb Davis (1981) while Kelly Patton (2003) had her hurdles time of 15.70 bettered. Hafner tied the long jump of Stephanie Walton (2014).

Hafner has let her performances do the talking, as she’s short on words when asked to talk about herself.

“Pretty good,” Hafner replied when asked how it feels to have three individual school records.

“Does it feel real?” Mascotti-Rasor said.

“Yeah,” Hafner said.

Asked what she attributes her success to, Hafner said, “I feel like it’s just the training that my parents put me through since grade school. It just all added up so that I could do all that. And my Wooster coaches help me through a bunch. I feel like I wouldn’t be able to break records without them.”

Parents Randall and Jessica (Miller) Hafner met when they were track and field athletes at Akron University. Randall was a football and track standout in high school at Woodridge while Jessica held the Wooster pole vault record for several years.

Teagan Hafner won the high jump (5-foot-2) and 100 hurdles (15.02) and was second in the long jump (17-6¼) at the Tallmadge District last week.

“My goal is to place top three at state in all my events,” Hafner said.

Stahl was second at the district in the high jump (5-0), Russell was fourth in the 300 hurdles (47.79) and Strand-Fox was sixth in the 400 (1:00.70). The 4x200 relay was third (1:47.2).

“I’m excited for Emery, Landrey and Abi in their events,” Mascotti-Rasor said. “They had all been doing a lot of events, so I’m looking for them to peak in the better weather that’s coming.”

Fuqua and Meier are the last of the Wooster boys competing after continuing their outstanding seasons at districts.

Fuqua won district titles in the shot put (50-1) and discus (career-best 156-10) while Meier was second in the 400 in a career-best time of 50.1 and fourth in the long jump (21-8 1/2).

At the OCC Meet, Meier placed second in the 400 and third in the long jump (career-best 21-11).

Fuqua won a middle school state title in the discus as an eighth-grader. He has continued to keep getting better in high school under the watchful eye of throws coach Drew Gerber and 28th-year head coach Doug Bennett.

“You see a lot more consistent throwers in high school,” said Fuqua, who took third in both throw events at the OCC Meet. “There are a lot of newer learners in middle school.”

Fuqua said he would accomplish a dream goal and get a lot of weight off his shoulders if he can qualify for state.

The 6-foot-3, 280-pound athlete has dropped around 50 pounds in the last two years as he continues to push himself through strength training and following a good diet to be at his best for track and football.

Meier said it would mean everything if he advances to state.

“All the work I’ve put in during the offseason, coming back from (a broken collarbone suffered during football) would be great,” Meier said. “It feels great just to know that the coaches’ plan worked out. Last year I ran the 100 but didn’t get real far. I love the 400 because it’s all mental. You get past that first 200 meters, and it’s just a fight from there.”

Fuqua and Meier are both remarkable athletes, Bennett said.

“We just have to do the best we can do in the moment that we have, and I think Wylie has shown that he can do that,” Bennett said. “Kaj is a great example for the athletes on his team — just the slow and steady sum of many small efforts turning him and evolving him into a 400-meter runner and a long jumper who’s got a great shot at getting to state.”