L-B's Lee, Elmwood's Childress first in D-III district races

The first leg on the journey to the state cross country meet got under way on Saturday with district competition held at several sites.Next up is regional competition on Saturday. Division II, III and IV teams will descend on Tiffin for their respective meets at Hedges Boyer Park. Northwest Ohio's Division I schools – Findlay, Perrysburg and Toledo Whitmer – will have their regional meet Saturday at Youngstown Boardman. DIVISION IIIAT OWENSFINDLAY – Liberty-Benton won a team championship and two area runners were individual race winners as well in the Division III district cross meet held at the Owens Community College campus on Saturday.L-B's Aiden Lee raced to a first-place time of 16:12.18 and led the Eagles, with 38 points, to a team title over Ottawa Hills (45) and Ontario (63).Liberty-Benton's top five runners all finished among the top 15. In addition to Lee, Cohen Levenhagen (17:17.98) was sixth, Bryce Hans (17:28.89) eighth, Lane Fannin (17:44.50) ninth and Hudson Day (17:58.75) 14th.In the Division III girls race, Elmwood's Janessa Childress (20:31.29) just beat Clyde's Marissa Gessner (20:31.80) at the tape to win an individual title. The Royals were fourth and Liberty-Benton was sixth in the team standings, earning both squads automatic advancement to next week's Division III regional in Tiffin.Grace Morgart was 14th overall (22:02.74) for Elmwood. Leading L-B were Claire McDaniel (11th, 21:31.84), Saraphina Bouaphakeo (21st, 23:04.03) and Josie Kern (22nd, 23:07.29).OTHER BOYS RESULTSFOSTORIA – 33, Andrew Lira (19:17.59); 47, Jayden Schmitz (20:11.14).OTHER GIRLS RESULTSELMWOOD – 25, Reagan Delamatre (23:18.45); 31, Mackayla Casey (23:39.57); 59, Addysen Barton (26:34.16);LIBERTY-BENTON – 37, Ava Ellerbrock (24:05.51); 44, Evelyn Checki (24:34.46). DIVISION IVAT OWENSFINDLAY – Riverdale's Kolten Evans ran a strong race in winning the individual title and Van Buren took home the team championship in the boys Division IV district cross country meet held at Owens Community College.Evans, a junior, covered the 5,000-meter course in 16:15.41, finishing comfortably ahead of Margaretta's Cole Zang (16:24.31) and Old Fort's Cale Hull (16:32.86).Van Buren's top runner was Carter Fry, who placed sixth with a time of 16:59.42. The Black Knights bunched their runners well after that, with Griffin Ware 12th (17:22.89), Andrew Puiperi 14th (17:27.90) and Carter Finley 16th (17:35.09). Colin Treece was 33rd (18:17.81) to complete Van Buren's 81-point team total. Old Fort was second (97) and Elmwood third (108) in the Division IV boys meet, which qualified the top nine teams and top 18 individuals from non-qualifying team for next week's regional meet in Tiffin.Elmwood freshman Henry Good (17:10.72) was tenth overall. Leipsic's Calvin Miller was seventh (17:04.85) and Hopewell-Loudon's Ian Bloom, also a freshman, was eighth (17:05.54). Hardin Northern's Riley Newton qualified for regional, finishing 29th (18:07.53).In the division IV girls meet at Owens, Ottawa Hills put on a dominating display by filling seven of the top eight spots and running away with the team title. Carey was third, North Baltimore fourth, Riverdale sixth, Van Buren eighth and Hopewell-Loudon ninth.Two freshmen led Carey's girls, with Ellianna Arnold placing 18th overall (21:57.49) and Ema Ritter 21st (22:23.92).After Ottawa Hills' dominance, North Baltimore had two of the next four runners, with Ady Reynolds placing ninth (20:57.01) and Maddie Stufft 11th (21:06.06).Riverdale's Gwen Bucher was 14th (21:24.76), Hopewell-Loudon's Kara Wyman was 15th (21:30.87) and Van Buren's Darby Poling was 16th (21:38.81).OTHER BOYS RESULTSELMWOOD – 15, Gavin Minich (17:29.26); 21, Trever Shaffer (17:47.61); 26, Gavin Reinhart (17:58.38); 37, Evan Strausbaugh (18:19.56).RIVERDALE – 17, Gabe Donaldson (17:35.89); 47, Giovanni Noascono (18:40.29); 64, Ethan Spitnale (19:32.67).CAREY – 43, Riley Miller (18:35.07); 52, Brylon Middleton (19:01.26); 62, Callen Lewis (19:30.45).HOPEWELL-LOUDON – 22, Logan Lustc (17:49.85: 28, Vince Fruth (18:06.38); 32, Chase Huber (18:16.79); 44, Josh Huffman (18:36.55).HARDIN NORTHERN – 45, Eibling Treyson (18:38.48).NORTH BALTIMORE – 48, Camden McCartney (18:45.25); 56, Daniel Hinkle (19:14.57).LEIPSIC – 57, Carson Schroeder (19:21.13). OTHER GIRLS RESULTSCAREY – 25, Elysa Holsinger (22:33.71); 26, Gracie Luhring (22:34.67); 28, Kinsey Motter (22:59.16).NORTH BALTIMORE – 22, Evelyn Thompson (22:26.60); 38, Rylee Fennell (23:29.70); 55, Lindsay Crouse (25:58.46).RIVERDALE – 31, Ava Brooks (23:07.87); 36, Lexi Dailey (23:27.49); 37, Addie Manns (23:29.01); 43, Lauren McBride (24:28.85).VAN BUREN – 32, Kate Schroeder (23:11.61); 33, Grace Harrington (23:16.43); 35, Ashleigh Doyle (23:26.19); 46, Taylor Smith (24:49.41).HOPEWELL-LOUDON – 27, Emily Arbogast (22:39.01); 40, Caitlin Faber (23:53.44).LEIPSIC -- 35 Elliannah Hiegel (23:14.18).HARDIN NORTHERN -- 48, Kalie Couch (24:03.99).MCCOMB – 54, Lana Lause (24:43.26). DIVISION IVAT COLUMBUS GROVECOLUMBUS GROVE – Columbus Grove put on a dominating performance on its home course on Saturday, with its top five runners all posting top ten finishes in earning the Bulldogs the boys Division VI district championship.Caiden Squillante (16:21.6) and Holden Hartzog (16:27.1) place second and third in the 5,000-meter race and Aidan Vogt (16:42.9) and Zack Bryan (16:43.5) doubled up at sixth and seventh. Braylon Best was tenth (16:51.3), capping Grove's 28-point team total. Convoy Crestview (53) was second in the team standings and St. Henry (92) third.Pandora-Gilboa (29) edged Wayne Trace (303) for ninth place, the final spot that automatically qualified the Rockets for team competition at this week's regional meet in Tiffin.P-G's Adam Buell was 20th overall (17:40.8) and Jack Buell was 38th (18:16.8). Cory-Rawson's Micah Benedict also punched hit ticket to regionals, finishing 29th overall (17:55.7) to advance as an individual from a non-qualifying team.Columbus Grove's girls team (98 points) finished third behind Minster (35) and Coldwater (98). Grove's Lily Montgomery was third overall (19:29.0), with Sarah Kamphaus (9th, 20:11.8) adding a top ten finish as well.Cory-Rawson's Libby Kempf (27th, 21:37.5) qualified for regionals as an individual, along with teammate Ayla Fought. OTHER BOYS RESULTSPANDORA-GILBOA – 74, Anthony Giesige (19:41.3); 79, Austin Giesige (20:04.3); 88, Eli Hilty (21:04.7). OTHER GIRLS RESULTSCOLUMBUS GROVE – 23, Alexa Kamphaus (21:21.6); 27, Claire Koch (21:39.0); 36, Lauren Martz (22:16.0);CORY-RAWSON – 77, Ayla Fought (24:35.3). DIVISION IIIAT COLUMBUS GROVECOLUMBUS GROVE – Ottawa-Glandorf was a close seconds in the girls meet and placed fifth in the boys standings of the Division III district cross country meet in Columbus Grove.Napoleon (59) nipped O-G (61) by two points in the girls meet. Maci Maag and Carly Siefker led O-G. Maag placing fifth (19:38.1) and Siefker ninth (20:47.6). Kayt Croy (14th, 21:07.9), Alivia Schroeder (15th, 21:12.4) and Brea Recker (14th, 21:26.7) were top-20 placers as well,O-G's Cooper Fischer was second overall in the boys race (16:53.6). Bluffton had six runners qualify for regionals as individuals, three from the girls team and three from the boys.OTHER GIRLS RESULTSBLUFFTON –35, Lydia Tarplee (23:20.2); 37, Tessa Tarplee (23:31.9); 47, Elizabeth Honse (25:05.3). OTHER BOYS RESULTSOTTAWA-GLANDORF –18, Ethan Weis (18:26.0); 26, Gage Recker (18:50.6); 48, Carter Vorst (19:57.3); 51, Connor Johnson (20:01.1).BLUFFTON – 24, Atticus Prothro (18:44.8); 31, Levin Esinger (18:58.5); 36, Toby Clevidence (19:12.0). DIVISION IIIAT GALIONGALION – Upper Sandusky had five runners among the top 15 placers in winning the boys team title at the Division III district cross country meet in Galion.Henry Minehart finished fourth overall in 17:23.1, Carter Pohlman was sixth (17:23.1) and Andrew Leightey eighth (17:43.4). Franklin Arnold (11th, 18:09.9) and Bryce Weyand (15th, 18:39.9) completed Upper's 44-point team total. Edison (53) was second and Sandusky Perkins (63) third.Upper Sandusky's girls team also qualified for the regional in Tiffin, finishing second in their meet with 95 points. Huron was well out in front (25), with Galion (109) third.Upper's Jocelyn Leightey was ninth (20:51.6), Madison Miles 14th (21:43.7) and Abigail Ault 20th (22;32.1). OTHER GIRLS RESULTSUPPER ANDUSKY – 26, Shiloh Shasteen (23:08.5); 27, Macie Clark (23:13.7).