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Cross country action The area’s cross country teams kicked off the season with a splash Tuesday evening at the Indian Lake Early Bird Invitational at Old Field Beach. The Bellefontaine boys started off on a successful note as they took first in the 10-team field with 56 points. The Chiefs did so without their best runner, state qualifier Mica Hatcher who is injured. An up-and-coming Mechanicsburg squad took second with 77, Ottoville was third (81) and West Liberty-Salem was fourth (92). Locally, Benjamin Logan took seventh (129) and Indian Lake was 10th (281). Ottoville, which finished sixth at the Division III state meet last year, won the girls race with 64 points. WL-Salem came in second with 77 points, while Tecumseh edged Indian Lake 98-99 for third place. Bellefontaine’s girls were fifth with 135 and Ben Logan was sixth with 149. The big surprise of the meet was Bellefontaine’s first-year cross country runner Katie King, a senior transfer from Riverside. Running her first high school cross country race, King finished second (21:01.16) in a field loaded with talented runners. King was 14 seconds behind Ottoville’s Shayla Siefker, who placed seventh at the state meet last year. “It was hard to judge when to do what since I haven’t done this before,” said King with a laugh. “I just kept thinking I’ve got to stay with the top runners and try to take them at the end. I’m just excited to see how I do and I hope to keep improving.” “She’s certainly a difference maker,” said BHS girls head coach Aaron Lauck. “Katie is talented and has one of the best work ethics around.” The Bellefontaine’s boys’ finish was well choreographed, according to BHS boys head coach Ben Davis. “I was pleased to see us run in a pack,” said Davis. “The kids responded to running in the heat for the first time and moving up throughout the race. It was a nice pack attack. That will help us be successful.” The WL-Salem girls topped the rest of the local squads. Head coach Ann Vogel was pleased with how her talented group of freshmen performed in their first race. “I was really pleased for us to get second to a team that finished sixth in the state last year,” said Vogel. “The girls handled the pressure really well. Our top-five runners were freshmen so they did really well. I told them it’s like the tortoise and the hare, and it’s a long season so we just have to keep improving.” Logan Leis was the top local boy after finishing third in 17:45.49. The multi-sport standout left after his race to compete in a soccer match. “Logan did well,” said Raider boys head coach Tom Braddock. “We have to continue to work on that third mile. He was in first for a large portion of the race, but it all came down to that third mile.” BOYS RESULTS Lawrence Miller and Todd White led the way for Bellefontaine. Miller took fourth (18:21.32) and White was fifth (18:21.98). Rounding out the other top runners for BHS were Josh Runion in 10th (18:32.74), Miyabe Nonaka in 18th (19:00.55), Chris Walker in 21st (19:16.34), Nathan Orndorf in 32nd (19:41.39), Christian Golden in 34th (19:43.26) and Connor Smith in 39th (20:05.97). Also racing for the Chieftains were Patrick Malloy in 54th (20:50.23), Petey Mosbarger in 89th (22:54.87), Patrick Tarasiewicz in 91st (23:15.33), Blake Olson in 98th (23:40.51), Connor Scott in 101st (23:52.92), Clayton Adams in 110th (24:41.33), Cody Proffitt in 117th (25:39.84), Thomas Stoner in 120th (25:56.46) and Brice Henry in 121st (26:07.92). In addition to the third-place effort of Leis, the Raiders saw Tyler Ahle finish in 20th (19:09.84), Paul Larsen in 31st (19:37.47), Zach Creamer in 38th (19:58.10), Joel Penhorwood in 45th (20:27.65), Jarred Campbell in 56th (20:58.79), Jake Penhorwood in 59th (21:16.41) and Kyle VanDyke in 64th (21:30.90). Others in action for Ben Logan were Evan Daugherty in 90th (23:05.69), Steven Watson in 100th (23:50.62), Adam Kavanagh in 105th (24:09.46), Sean Daugherty in 125th (26:28.60), Drake Brunner in 127th (26:34.85) and Logan Glauner in 128th (26:53.21). The duo of Colin Wilson and Matt Vogel led WL-Salem’s boys. Wilson took eighth (18:28.36) and Vogel was ninth (18:30.74). Also finishing in the top 50 for the Tigers were Aaron Scott in 13th (18:41.92), Jerrod Yoder in 29th (19:32.12), Alex Adams in 36th (19:51.73), J.J. Birt in 43rd (20:08.51) and D.J. Patterson in 47th (20:36.11). Others competing for WL-Salem were Zak Teets in 60th (21:18.28), Kelby Wallace in 63rd (21:30.12), Storm Shipp in 79th (22:13.66), Zane Esch in 84th (22:39.66), Eric Zirkle in 95th (23:25.60), Zack Esch in 97th (23:28.33) and Cody Allen in 118th (25:49.38). For Indian Lake, Jacob Varney was 48th (20:36.97), Brad McIntire was 52nd (20:47.46), Neil Schwieterman was 67th (21:39.16), Nick Bozman was 107th (24:17.24) and Seth Mackesy was 122nd (26:11.22). GIRLS RESULTS WL-Salem’s girls team saw its freshman class make an impact as its top-five runners were from that group. Meghan Vogel led the way in fourth (21:10.13), Shawnda Henault was fifth (21:15.48), Savanna Shipp was 20th (22:53.49), Jordan Smith finished 22nd (23:11.69) and Jasmine Smith was 26th (24:00.80). Aiding the Tigers’ fourth-place finish were Sarah Williams in 30th (24:24.89), Sarah Murphy in 33rd (24:30.07), Erica Cooper in 37th (24:34.31), Chris Edwards in 54th (26:08.37), Shelby Sigenthaler in 61st (26:49.31), Amanda Williams in 84th (29:00.34), Hannah Clasen in 94th (30:12.03), Rachel Davis in 96th (30:34.82), Evan Bailey in 99th (31:13.58) and Maddie Coan in 102nd (31:28.40). Finishing in the top 50 for the Chiefs were Jessica Haushalter in 28th (24:11.36), Libby Hill in 31st (24:26.15), Sarah Phillips in 32nd (24:26.94), Katie Vetorino in 43rd (25:11.18), Leann Miller in 44th (25:14.75) and Bethany Harshfield in 50th (25:42.58). Other Chieftains in action were Sierra McGrahanahan in 52nd (26:03.34), Taylor Angle in 53rd (26:06.66), Noelle Dunn in 55th (26:21.54), Sarah Bechtel in 63rd (26:57.44) and Stephanie Winslow in 73rd (27:47.85). Standouts Courtney Forsythe and Vanessa Wilkins led Ben Logan’s girls with top-15 finishes. Forsythe placed 10th in 21:41.56 and Wilkins was 12th in 22:03.97. Helping aid the Raiders’ attack were Kirsten Fultz in 39th (24:50.72), Morgan Cline in 45th (25:15.05), Hillary Lantz in 46th (25:18.28), Teryn Forsythe in 60th (26:42.46), Morgan Allen in 67th (27:21.81) and Brittney Poling in 69th (27:31.09). Rounding out the Ben Logan runners were Madison Leis in 71st (27:33.38), Amanda Frasure in 72nd (27:36.87), Kelsey Baughman in 74th (27:54.31), Katie Wilson in 85th (29:20.13), Alexis Drumm in 87th (29:26.97), Mallory Cira in 89th (29:37.06), Katlyn Brogan in 97th (30:48.20), Nicole McNamara in 101st (31:23.02) and Mika Griffith in 105th (32:41.71). Indian Lake’s girls turned in a strong pack effort with Rachel Watt in 14th (22:15.30), Ashley Albright in 15th (22:22.70), Kayla Beltz in 16th (22:26.77) and Emily Gardner in 19th (22:52.57). Also racing for the Lakers were Melissa Bell in 35th (24:31.83), Taylor Norviel in 40th (24:59.79), Robyn Zwiebel in 49th (25:31.34), Ashley Kawalec in 64th (27:01.07), Ellie Schwieterman in 76th (28:10.82) and Shelby Oda in 83rd (28:59.58). The Chiefs race again Saturday at the Brookville Invitational, while Indian Lake and WL-Salem are at the Northwestern Invitational on Saturday. |