L-B claims both Black Division crowns at Van Buren

CROSS COUNTRY VAN BUREN INVITE VAN BUREN – Liberty-Benton had three runners among the top five finishers in the boys race and two of the top six in the girls competition when the Eagles swept both Black Division titles at the Van Buren Cross Country Invitational on Saturday. Findlay's boys were third and the FHS girls fourth in the Orange (bigger schools) Division. Races were held at Owens Community College, making Saturday's event a preview of the Division I, II and III district meets that will be held at that same site on Oct. 21. Old Fort's Macie Miller won the Black Division girls race with a time of 19:12.98. Area runners dominated the top ten, though, with Riverdale's Allison Woodruff second (19:33.07), Liberty-Benton's Madi Gaerke third (20:08.52), Van Buren's Lily Grady fourth (20:22.28), Carey's Chloe Etzinger fifth (21:01.96), L-B's Brenna Lay sixth (21:06.01), Riverdale's Annalease Woodruff eighth (221:23.56), Pandora-Gilboa's Savannah Knueven ninth (21:35.08), and Carey's Abby Kurtz tenth (21:39.72). L-B scored 64 points in outrunning Van Buren (84) for the Black Division girls title. Carey was third (112), Riverdale fifth (134) and P-G tenth (205) among the 13 teams in the field. Emma Garmatter (14th, 22:15.91) and Alexis May (17th, 22:18.62) added top-20 placings and Emma Spears was 24th (23:18.19) to complete the scoring for L-B's girls team. Van Buren's Olivia Coutinho was 12th (21:54.58) while Rylee Orchard (21st, 23:00.89), Maddie Hudok (22nd, 23:04.55) and Sadie Thorla-Lopez (25th, 23:19.62), ran as a pack for the Knights. Addie Manns added a 23rd-place finish (23:05.17) for Riverdale, while Grace Bianchi was 29th (23:38.39) and Gracie Luhring 30th (23:44.39) for Carey. In the boys Black Division race, Liberty-Benton's Jackson Hochstettler, a sophomore, was race runner-up with a time of 16:37.54, freshman Cohen Levenhagen was third in 17:00.15 and senior Gabe St. Amour was fifth (17:07.84). Sophomores Lane Fannin (14th, 17:39.03) and Aiden Lee (19th, 17:53.28) completed L-B's 43-point team total. Old Fort was a distant second (89) and Van Buren was third (100). Riverdale was fifth (160) in the 15-team field, Pandora-Gilboa seventh (197), Cory-Rawson eighth (224), Carey ninth (244), Hardin Northern 13th (308) and North Baltimore 15th (379). Van Buren's third-place finish was built around four top-20 placings, with Reed Harmon fourth overall (17:02.52), Carter Fry tenth (17:33.51), Carter Finley 15th (17:39.57) and Andrew Puperi 18th (17:45.92). Carey's Brayden Young finished 16th overall (17:43.32), Riverdale's Andrew Woodruff was 17th (17:43.42), Cory-Rawson's Grant Welte was 23rd (18:16.06), Pandora-Gilboa's Adam Buell 28th (18:42.33) and Hardin Northern's Andrew Sutton 29th (18:44.61). Lexington had five of the top ten runners and seven of the top 15 in winning the boys Orange Division race with 33 points. Miamisburg was second (52) and Findlay third (74) among the eight teams in the big-school division. Adrian Stechschule led Findlay, finishing fourth overall with a time of 16:29.16. The Trojans bunched their runners well after that, with Darren Page 13th (17:38.26), Phat Tran 14th (17:49.32), Jeremiah Spiceland 21st (18:25.85) and Lucas Parnell 22nd (18:27.82). Lexington also captured the girls Orange Division with 36 points. Miamisburg (59) edged out Tiffin Columbian (70) and Findlay (80) for runner-up honors in the six-team field. Findlay High sophomore Natalie Gutman ran a time of 19:53.33 and placed fourth in leading the Trojans. Freshman Abanna Dotson was seventh (20:07.93) and Lindsay Clarke 11th (20:29.60, with Amber Bihn (27th, 22:49.59) and freshman Kayla Moyer (31st, 23:31.89), completing Findlay's total. BOYS BLACK DIVISION OTHER TOP-50 RESULTS RIVERDALE – 26, Kolten Evans (17:39.57), 31, Kason Barnes (18:48.49), 38, Ethan Spitnale (19:05.53) 48, Gabe Donaldson (19:30.41). PANDORA-GILBOA – 33, Nate Walker (18:51.82), 40, Owen Teders (19:12.36), 45, Jack Buell (19:16.41). CORY-RAWSON – 37, Hunter Foust (19:04.31), 43, Nate Gregorowicz (19:15.84). CAREY – 30, Riley Miller (18:46.68). GIRLS BLACK DIVISION OTHER TOP-50 RESULTS CAREY – 38, Abbie Bushong (25:10.58). RIVERDALE – CAREY – 50, Paige Courtad (27:02.96). PANDORA-GILBOA – 45, Claire Stall (26:31.87), 47, Elizabeth Knueven (26:49.54), 48, Avery Traxler (26:49.88). VAN WERT INVITATIONAL VAN WERT – Area runners grabbed three of the top six spots in both races on Saturday during the Van Wert Health Cross Country meet. Ottawa-Glandorf defended its girls title behind the efforts of Madelyn Hovest, Anne Budelmeyer and Corinne Closson. Hovest was race runner-up with a time of 19:06.79, Buddelmeyer was fourth (19:28.23) and Closson was sixth (19:56.12). Liana Fortman was 12th (20:56.96) and Brea Recker 17th (21:19.39) for the Titans, who had 41 points. Columbus Grove's Sarah Kamphaus was 11th (20:37.33) in the girls race. Bluffton's June Essinger was 16th (21:11.14). In the boys race, Columbus Grove's Luke Ellerbrock was second with a time of 15:53.88, just .35 behind Lima Shawnee's Noah Williams (15:53.53). Ottawa-Glandorf's Ty Rosengaren was a close third (15:54.48). Columbus Grove's Evans Pitts was sixth (16:32.21), while Levi Bryan (17:13.24) and Logan Mershman (17:28.20) were 16th and 19th, respectively. O-G's Cooper Fischer was 20th (17:28.44) and Bluffton's Levi Fenzi was 23rd (17:46.26). OTHER TOP-50 RESULTS GIRLS RACE COLUMBUS GROVE – 30, Grace Morman (22:16.36). BLUFFTON – 38, Ella Armstrong (22:32.05), 44, Clara Keysor (22:40.92). OTHER TOP-50 RESULTS BOYS RACE COLUMBUS GROVE – 29, Braylon Best (17:50.48). OTTAWA-GLANDORF – 37, Isaac Macke (18:05.37), 38, Jordan Croy (18:05.52), 47, Connor Johnson (18:26.98). BILL BROWN INVITE ONTARIO – Upper Sandusky's Hope Morris was ninth in a time of 21:09.16 and Abigail Ault was 13th (21:29.61) in leading the Rams to a fifth place finish in the girls portion of the Bill Brown Invitational at Ontario. Jocelyn Leightey was 23rd (22:13.54) and Brynlee Cundiff 37th (22:56.19) in the overall standings. Led by the tenth-place finish (17:16.07) of Evan Hinesman, Upper placed 11th in the Bill Brown boys meet. Jameson Reile (44th, 18:30.73) also had a top-50 placing in the boys race. STREAK INVITATIONAL FREMONT – Fostoria had five runners crack the top 20 and placed third among five schools at the Streak Invitational hosted by Fremont St. Joseph. Ezekiel Sensabaugh was tenth (19:05.99) and Traivon Cousin 11th (19:15.69). Andrew Lira (13th, 19:37.42), Jayce Ramirez (15th, 19:42.32) and Royal Ferguson (18th, 20:12.19) completed the third-place finish for the Redmen. LC EXTRAVAGANZA LIBERTY CENTER — Elmwood's Jakob Zibbel was seventh across the finish line in the Division III race at the LC Extravaganza hosted by Liberty Center. Zibbel ran a time of 16:57.90 and Gavin Minich was 44th (18:26.69) for Elmwood. Hopewell-Loudon's Xander Roerdink (18:09.96) and Will Fruth (18:10.52) were 29th and 30th, while Jacob Walther (19:00.97) was Leipsic's top runner. Elmwood was sixth in the Division III girls standings, with Danica Beasley (16th, 21:13.66), Alayna Beasley (27th, 21:52.48), Emma Hintze (37th, 22:37.62 46) and Emily Arbogast (50th, 22:50.16) achieving top-50 placings.