Iron sharpened iron at the Ohio Caverns on Saturday as West Liberty-Salem’s cross country program hosted the first Meet of Champions. There were just five teams in both the girls and boys races, but there were nine state-ranked teams competing.
The girls race was especially loaded with the first, second, third and fifth ranked teams in Division III all going against each other.
The Big Orange girls, ranked second, delivered under pressure and won the Meet of Champions over the Division III defending state champions Minster 31-65.
“Our girls executed their race plan and ran a total team race tonight,” said WLS head coach Ann Vogel. “The Ohio Caverns is one of the toughest courses in the state, so we knew we had to be smart in the first mile. I’m really impressed with the patience and tenacity they showed throughout the race.”
Mt. Gilead, ranked fifth, was third with 73, Ft. Loramie, ranked third, took fourth with 74 points, while Springfield Shawnee, ranked 22nd in Division II, was fifth with 113 points.
WL-Salem finished second at the Division III state meet last season, while Ft. Loramie was third and Mt. Gilead was fifth.
There were four state-ranked teams in the boys race Saturday. Mt. Gilead, ranked sixth in Division III, won the meet with 33 points. WL-Salem’s boys, ranked sixth in Division II, were second with 49 points.
Ft. Loramie, ranked 15th in Division III, was third with 61 points, Minster, ranked 12th in Division III, was fourth with 86 points and Springfield Shawnee was fifth with 125 points.
“We’re really disappointed with the outcome, but will learn from it and try to put together a more collective team race next week,” said WL-Salem boys head coach Mike Louden.
WL-Salem’s girls saw four runners finish in the top seven with Megan Adams in second (19:10), Addison McAuley in fifth (19:55), Ashley Yoder in sixth (20:05) and Katelyn Stapleton in seventh (20:11), while Madison Bahan added a strong 11th (20:44).
The Tigers also had several other strong performances, which included Mandilyn Weaver in 20th (21:56), Taylor Kennedy in 21st (21:59), Maria Henderson in 31st (23:35), Claire Longshore in 32nd (23:36), Maggie Davis in 35th (24:40). Rounding out the team were Kenzie Bahan in 44th (26:57), Dani Smith in 51st (29:07) and
Izzy Wygal in 40th (25:14).
The Big Orange boys were powered by the one-two punch of Dylan Lauck and Tate Yoder on Saturday. Lauck won the boys race with a time of 16:29, while Tate Yoder was second with a time of 16:40. The Tigers also had four other top 20 finishes that helped with the team’s runner-up finish. That included Hayden Kennedy in 13th (18:17), Owen Harrison in 15th (18:25), Michael Jones in 18th (18:36) and Josh Spinner in 20th (18:41).
Others racing at the Ohio Caverns were Ayden Estep in 24th (18:51), Ian Maurice in 34th (19:38), Joey LaRoche in 35th (19:40), Ryan Henry in 43rd (20:33), Adam LaRoche in 44th (20:33), Mason Barger in 53rd (21:40) and Hayden Miller in 59th (22:45).
“We did have several bright spots with a great one-two finish from Dylan and Tate,” said Louden. “Both of them are running at a high level right now, finishing 1-2 in three straight races to open the season. Hayden Kennedy, Owen Harrison, Ayden Estep, and Michael Jones are showing steady improvement. Joey LaRoche also had a solid outing.”
WL-Salem races again on Saturday at the Cedarville Invitational.
Ben Logan boys take fourth at Spencerville
Bellefontaine and Benjamin Logan’s cross country programs competed at the Spencerville Bearcat Invitational on Saturday with the Raiders boys highlighting the day after a fourth-place finish.
The Raider boys took fourth in the black division with 139 points. Lima Shawnee won the black division with 66 points, Ottawa-Glandorf was runner-up with 115 points and Bluffton was third with 133 points. The Chieftains were ninth with 206 points.
Carey won the girls race with 57 points, Lima Shawnee was second with 86 points and Ottawa-Glandorf was third with 91 points. Ben Logan came in seventh with 169 points and Bellefontaine was ninth with 211 points.
Tucker Munz paced Ben Logan’s boys with an 11th-place finish (18:30), while top 30 finishes came from Blake Roades in 23rd (18:47) and Tayte Williamson in 27th (18:56.82).
Rounding out the rest of the group were Andrew Hughes in 38th (19:43), Trevor Penwell in 40th (19:47), Gabe Mooney in 76th (21:33), Yale Sciederer in 78th (21:39) and Eli Rhoades in 119th (23:31).
Bellefontaine’s boys were led by Tony Stewart in ninth (17:57), Justin Carper in 26th (18:56.81), Patrick Donnelly in 29th (19:09) and Ollie Moreland in 64th (20:48).
Also in action for BHS were Seth Taylor in 102nd (22:54), Noah Conner in 108th (23:06), Nate Hardy in 123rd (23:49), Payton Plikerd in 139th (25:23), Alek Miller in 141st (25:44) and Hayden Deitsch in 156th (31:39).
Dani Widmark highlighted the Raider girls with a 12th-place finish in a time of 21:58. Other strong races came from Malori Barnes in 36th (24:52), Kerry Copenhaver in 41st (25:17), Kendra Kennedy in 49th (25:45) and Tori Miller in 58th (26:15).
Others racing were Allie Fay in 61st (26:40), Mylee Boysel in 62nd (26:49), Libby Siefring in 70th (27:19), Madelyn Wagnild in 71st (27:25), Cora Watson in 72nd (27:39), Sarah Folk in 89th (29:06), McKenzee Roseburrough in 100th (32:23) and Kylie Fansler in 106th (44:20).
For the Chieftain girls, Montanna Buck was 23rd (23:22), Aubrey Hudson was 37th (24:52), Ella Reier was 46th (25:37), Zoey Rister was 65th (26:56), Olivia Eader was 95th (30:49) and Lilly Moody was 105th (39:20).
Bellefontaine and Ben Logan are both back racing on Saturday at the Graham Invitational.