L-B boys, Findlay's Gutman stand out at district cross country meet

L-B boys, Findlay's Gutman stand out at district cross country meet Smiles cracked as soon as they reached the finish line. At the end of a hotly contested district cross country meet at Owens Community College in Findlay, the top three boys in Division II took a moment for each other. "Are you a senior?" Lake junior Micah Balsmeyer asked, between breaths, to Liberty-Benton runner Jackson Hochstettler. "No, sophomore," Hochstettler responded. "Oh, dang," Balsmeyer exclaimed, turning to Otsego junior Wesley Kellermeier. "That was fun." "Yeah, great race," said Kellermeir. You wouldn't have known who finished first (Balsmeyer, 16:41.07), second (Hochstettler, 16:44.99) or third (Kellermeier, 16:48.90). All three competitors understood the assignment of advancing to next week's regional meet in Tiffin, and met that goal with ease. For a sport as individual as cross country, the joy comes in the camaraderie of pushing a rival to the finish line. "I'd say everyone in cross country is a little bit rooting for each other," Hochstettler said. "That's the sport. You want to see improvements from other kids, you want to see people break through like (Balsmeyer) did today." At Liberty-Benton, Hochstettler gets challenged nearly every day. Right behind the lead pack were a flock of Eagles soaring to the district title. Gabe St. Amour, Cohen Levenhagen, Lane Fannin and Aiden Lee took places five through eight to lift L-B to a dominant 28-53 edge over second-place Otsego. Sights are set on getting back to state and improving on last year's 20th-place finish. "Last year we went to state and didn't really have the performance that we wanted," St. Amour said. "We're going to try to go back there and shoot for All-Ohio. It's a stretch, but if we go out there and run our best, at the end of the day we'll consider it a success." Different courses for Gutman Natalie Gutman has been busy this fall, balancing two sports in the same season for Findlay. After putting up her golf clubs for the year, Gutman rode her running shoes to third place in the Division I girls race. "If I had a golf match, I would skip cross country and just run at home," she said. "This was the first year I did both, but my coaches were really understanding and they understood how much it meant for me to do both." Gutman (19:49.46) took command for the first mile with a split of 6:01 before the pair of Corinne Croy and Grace Blonde overtook her. From there, the Findlay sophomore created a comfortable buffer of 23 seconds between herself and fourth place. "I've kind of been working on not going so fast (at the start) so I don't lose so much energy at the end," she said. "Third place was about what I was aiming for, but I would like to get my time under 19:30." She will have teammates with her in Tiffin after the Trojans grabbed the third and final qualifying spot at districts. Abanna Dotson (fifth) and Lindsay Clarke (sixth) both landed in the top 10, with Kayla Moyer (26th) and Amber Bihn (27th) not far behind. The Findlay boys missed qualifying by one spot, but will have a representative in Adrian Stechschulte (16:08.05), who grabbed fifth. "Only the top seven make it through (to state)," he said. "I'm probably going to have to be sub-16, but again the goal is position. We've got to make a move that last mile instead of getting caught." Survive and advance in DIII Personal bests were hard to come by Saturday at Owens as the athletes put a premium on achieving qualifying places without injury. Two who expertly threaded that needle were Allison Woodruff of Riverdale and Jakob Zibbel of Elmwood. Both weaved their way to third in their respective DIII races, setting up a push for state next week at Hedges Boyer Park in Tiffin. Woodruff knew from previous races that she'd have a hard time sticking with frontrunners Lilly Schiefer (Seneca East) and Macie Miller (Old Fort), but the Riverdale junior found her own zone with more than 20 seconds in front and behind. "It's not my PR, but I'm just happier I made it (to regionals) and in the top three," she said. "That's what I wanted to do. I was going more off of place than time today." Van Buren, Riverdale and Elmwood will all send teams to Tiffin, with Chloe Etzinger and Abby Kurtz from Carey going to regionals as individual qualifiers. On the boys side, Zibbel bided his time before making a move in the last mile. "We made the change midway through the year to go out slow and make it up at the end because we've been seeing people burn themselves out in the first mile, especially as the year goes on and there's more pressure to be in those upper spots," Zibbel said. Elmwood squeaked through as a team in the fifth and final qualifying spot, joining Van Buren as area teams at the regional meet. Brayden Young of Carey, Xander Roerdink and Will Fruth of Hopewell-Loudon and Andrew Sutton from Hardin Northern also made it through. DI Girls 1. Tiffin Columbian 49, 2. St. Ursula Academy 63, 3. Findlay 67, 4. Ashland 111, 5. Fremont Ross 120, 6. Madison 148, 7. Wapakoneta 168, 8. Lima Senior 238 FINDLAY - 3, Natalie Gutman (19:49.46); 5. Abanna Dotson (20:24.63); 6. Lindsay Clarke (20:25.94); 26, Kayla Moyer (22:06.57); 27, Amber Bihn (22:07.08). DI Boys 1. Toledo St. Francis 35, 2. Lexington 58, 3. Lima Shawnee 109, 4. Findlay 126, 5. Ashland 129, 6. Wapakoneta 168, 7. Norwalk 176, 8. Fremont Ross 193, 9. Tiffin Colombian 236, 10. Madison 293 FINDLAY - 5, Adrian Stechschulte (16:08.05); 25, Darren Paige (17:33.36); 27, Phat Tran (17:34.05); 32, Lucas Parnell (17:58.55); 37, Russell Stine (18:15.13). DII Girls 1. Lexington 28, 2. Eastwood 58, 3. Norwalk 76, 4. Liberty-Benton 102, 5. Lima Shawnee 116, 6. Otsego 181, 7. Oak Harbor 202, 8. Maumee 203, 9. Lake 269, 10. Fostoria 280 LIBERTY-BENTON - 9, Maddi Gaerke (20:00.81); 13, Brenna Lay (20:39.55); 21, Emma Garmatter (21:46.14); 27, Alexis May (22:21.30); 34, Claire McDaniel (22:49.07). DII Boys 1. Liberty-Benton 28, 2. Otsego 53, 3. Genoa 89, 4. Lake 103, 5. Eastwood 134, 6. Fostoria 152, 7. Maumee 201, 8. Oak Harbor 201, 9. Rossford 230, 10. Toledo Rogers 276, 11. Toledo Scott 281 LIBERTY-BENTON - 2, Jackson Hochstettler (16:44.99); 5, Gabe St. Amour (16:54.61); 6, Cohen Levenhagen (16:59.31), 7, Lane Fannin (17:42.75); 8, Aiden Lee (17:45.30). DIII Girls 1. Genoa 75, 2. Seneca East 92, 3. Van Buren 129, 4. Riverdale 130, 5. Elmwood 164, 6. Old Fort 173, 7. Carey 189, 8. Woodmore 198, 9. Gibsonburg 198, 10. Mohawk 228, 11. Margarretta 230, 12. Hopewell- Loudon 247, 13. Lakota 278, 14. Hardin Northern 408 VAN BUREN - 7, Lily Grady (20:37.75); 15, Kate Schroeder (21:28.12); 32, Olivia Coutinho (22:25.58); 33, Rylee Orchard (22:29.38); 42, Sadie Thorla-Lopez (23:04.23). RIVERDALE - 3, Allison Woodruff (19:46.24); 12, Annalese Woodruff (21:12.79); 28, Chloe Powell (22:16.03); 37, Addie Manns (22:36.95); 50, Eden Barnes (23:25.92). ELMWOOD - 11, Alayna Beasley (21:07.83); 24, Danica Beasley (21:56.92), 30, Laura Tanner (22:17.46); 47, Janessa Childress (23:19.05); 52, Grace Morgart (23:29.45). CAREY - 5, Chloe Etzinger (20:17.72); 13, Abby Kurtz (21:19.25); 41, Grace Bianchi (22:59.04), 62, Gracie Luhring (24:31.29); 68, Abbie Bushong (25:11.16). HOPEWELL-LOUDON - 34, Emma Hintze (22:35.86); 38, Hannah Schreiner (22:40.86); 43, Emily Arbogast (23:06.02); 63, Kara Wyman (24:34.54); 69, Kacie Flechtner (25:27.87). HARDIN NORTHERN - 79, Abby Diller (27:56.48); 80, Jenna Legge (27:56.62); 81, Paeghton Cook (28:04.38); 83, Mariann Woodruff (28:22.85); 85, Cicillia McCoy (29:55.32). NORTH BALTIMORE - Attlee Rowlinson (23:23.38); Ariana Melendez (27:26.04); Lindsay Crouse (27:50.11). MCCOMB - Sarah Rider (29:43.32). DIII Boys 1. Seneca East 65, 2. Old Fort 104, 3. Van Buren 105, 4. New Riegel 127, 5. Elmwood 142, 6. Hopewell-Loudon 157, 7. Mohawk 173, 8. Riverdale 173, 8. Riverdale 188, 9. Gibsonburg 234, 10. Lakota 238, 11. Carey 276, 12. Margaretta 279, 13. Hardin Northern 315, 14. Woodmore 338, 15. North Baltimore 416. VAN BUREN - 11, Carter Fry (17:27.62); 17, Carter Finley (17:42.02); 18, Andrew Puperi (17:44.16); 20, Reed Harmon (17:49.74); 39, Griffin Ware (18:59.29). ELMWOOD - 3, Jakob Zibbel (16:55.35), 26, Gavin Minich (18:19.29); 36, Gaige Flores (18:50.48); 37, Dylan Armentrout (18:55.16); 40, Griffin Ware (19:00.14). HOPEWELL-LOUDON - 14, Xander Roerdink (17:39.48); 15, Will Fruth (17:41.38); 34, Logan Lust (18:49.64); 44, Chase Huber (19:06.93); 50, Judah Risner (19:27.29). RIVERDALE - 23, Andrew Woodruff (18:05.71); 24, Kolten Evans (18:13.72); 38, Karson Barnes (18:56.10); 49, Gabe Donaldson (19:21.67); 54, Ethan Spitnale (19:32.77). CAREY - 12, Brayden Young (17:34.24); 48, Aaron Lortz (19:18.63); 58, Riley Miller (19:40.94); 74, Damon Zimmerly (20:50.72); 86, Owen Sidor (21:38.24). HARDIN NORTHERN - 19, Andrew Sutton (17:46.20); 55, Riley Newton (19:35.86); 71, Luke Price (20:24.48); 82, Jake Cook (21:11.73); 88, Carl Woodruff (21:58.34). NORTH BALTIMORE - 71, Daniel Hinkle (20:13.79); 76, Andy Burelson (20:58.57); 79, Jesse Vanlerberg (21:04.94); 92, Jeremiyah Horner (22:19.82); 100, Kyle Green (25:15.06). MCCOMB - Jack Paniagua (23:07.06)