Area runners head to Fortress Obetz for state meet

Once again, Fortress Obetz will be full of area runners when the Division II and III state cross country meets take place today. Leading the charge figures to be Carey's Sarah Reinhart, who will be running in the Division III girls race. Reinhart finished second at last year's meet, running 18:24 and trailing only Maplewood's Caleigh Richards, last year's champion. But Reinhart has yet to dominate a postseason race this season. At the regional last week at Owens, Reinhart finished eighth in 19:24. The week before at district, the Blue Devill senior ran a 19:22 in a runner-up finish. Reinhart is the only area girl in the D-III race, which begins at 9 a.m. At 10 a.m., the boys Division III race begins, paced by teams from Columbus Grove and Bluffton. Columbus Grove, for the second-consecutive year, won a regional championship. Bluffton finished seventh as a team at regional, but had the top area runners at the event: Landon Armstrong ran a 16:54 for seventh and Erik Nygaard finished in 16:56.9 for eighth. They can be expected to lead the Pirates today. Columbus Grove's top runner last week was Trent Koch, who registered a 17:04.9 last week to place 11th. The junior was part of the Bulldogs last year, who finished in sixth place overall. Koch finished 41st at state a year ago. Columbus Grove's top finisher last year was Caleb Stechschulte, who finished 37th. Stechshulte, now a senior, will run for CG today; he placed 44th at regional last week. The only other area boys team competing in Division III is New Riegel. Van Buren junior Hudson Sendelbach also will be competing today. Sendelbach finished 14th at the regional last week, and will be making his first state appearance. In Division II, Liberty Benton's girls team is the only area representative. The squad finished fourth at regional last week, led by freshman Madi Gaerke, who finished ninth last week in 19:51.6. Joining Gaerke will be Riley Irwin, Brenna Lay, Hannah Hiss and Alexis May. The Division II girls race starts at noon. The D-II boys run at noon, while the Division I girls start at 3 p.m., with the boys starting an hour later. SATURDAY'S SCHEDULE CROSS COUNTRY OHSAA Cross Country Championships at Fortress Obetz Division III girls race, 9 a.m.Division III boys race, 10 a.m. Division II girls race, noon Division II boys race, 1 p.m. Division I girls race, 3 p.m. Division I boys race, 4 p.m. VOLLEYBALL Division III Regional final at Lake High Liberty-Benton vs. Margaretta, 2 p.m. GIRLS SOCCER Division III Regional Final at Bowling Green High Ottawa-Glandorf vs. Eastwood, 1 p.m. FOOTBALL Division V Region 18 Apple Creek Waynedale at Ottawa-Glandorf, 5 p.m. Liberty-Benton at Elmwood, 7 p.m. Division VI Region 22 Liberty-Center at Columbus Grove, 7 p.m. Defiance Tinora at Carey, 7 p.m. Division VII Leipsic at McComb, 7 p.m. Waynesfield-Goshen at Hopewell-Loudon, 7 p.m. COLLEGE FOOTBALL Ashland at University of Findlay, noon