That journey has become TrueRecord Sports

From Karen Lazarich

What started in 1985 changed my life in the ’90s.

Five years ago, I came home with no idea that searching for the history we had created would lead to something far bigger than me.

That journey has become TrueRecord Sports—built to honor the legacy created by all of us and preserve it in a way that will outlive us all.

Please help me tag all of Walt & Ruth Oberhommert Shreffler’s Track kids.

The one who started it all.

This is Walt Shreffler and me with the year end Track stats Legacy booklets he created—the history he worked so hard to preserve. His legacy and, in many ways, mine too.

When I moved back to Celina in 2021, Walt asked me if I would be a “lifer.”

He thought I would take over the program and help rebuild it into what it once was.

I gently gave him a no.

That wasn’t my mission in retirement. Truthfully, I wasn’t planning to stay in my hometown any longer than it took to get my youngest graduated. I had come home, but I didn’t really want to be here.

And yet, here I am five years later.

I love living here. I have forgiven so many of the hurts and pains from the past. And I have found a completely different way to serve the program and community that shaped so much of my life.

On Sunday, after the Bengals won, Walt came over. He saw my Wall of Fame, then joined me in my office, where I walked him through the TrueRecord Sports app I’ve built over the past few weeks and showed him how it will serve athletes, coaches, families, schools, and communities.

After taking it all in, he said:

“Wow, I wish I had this when I was a coach. I wouldn’t have had to drive to Kenton to get a newspaper to see how their athletes were doing.”

I reminded him of that breakfast five years ago.

“Remember when you asked me if I would be a lifer, and my answer was no? I didn’t want to be the head coach. I didn’t want to take over the program.

But this is my way of saying yes.

I’m a lifer—just different than you expected.”

Maybe that is what legacy really looks like.

One person preserves the story long enough for someone else to discover a new way to carry it forward.

Athletes: What coach, teammate, record, or moment from your school deserves to be remembered? I would love to hear your story.

A look back…

CHAT GPT assisted-added by SSN

Daily Standard (5-14-2011) Bulldog boys win WBL

Celina’s coach Dan Otten, who earned (2011) WBL Boys’ Coach of the Year, gave praise to longtime Bulldogs’ head coach and current assistant coach Walt Shreffler, in his 40th year with the program.

“He’s the architect that got us going,” said Otten. “I haven’t changed anything (that Shreffler did)….. His system of doing things has carried through.

“All my experience comes from him Out of my 35 years (as a coach), 32 have been with him.”

Walt Shreffler — Celina track career

Celina High School

38 years in the Celina track program is the figure Shreffler himself has given: 33 years as head boys/girls track coach and five additional years as an assistant.
Celina school-board records show that he was already an assistant track coach with 31 years of service in 2006-07 and 32 years in 2007-08. By then, Dan Otten was head track coach.
In 2011, The Daily Standard described Shreffler as being in his 40th year with the program and called him the architect of Celina’s boys program. Otten said his own coaching experience was largely learned from Shreffler.
Shreffler received the 1992 Fred Dafler Award from the Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches for Girls Track & Field.
He was inducted into the Celina Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015 for track and football coaching.

The big 1980s success

The strongest part of the record is actually Celina girls track.

Celina won an extraordinary run of WBL girls track championships beginning in the late 1970s. The documented championship list includes:

1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, then 1989 through 2003, with the exception of 1984-88. The WBL historical material describes Celina as winning 15 consecutive WBL girls track championships from 1981 through 2003.

The 1983 team was particularly historic:

1983 — Ohio Class AAA girls state runner-up
Celina’s state-scoring performers included Cyndy Chapin, who won the 800 meters.
Celina’s 4×800 relay of Judy Boley, Lorna Eyink, Cyndy Chapin and Jill Weber established a WBL record of 9:32.30.

1983 ANILEC