A chaotic offseason did little to shake the West Liberty-Salem’s boys and girls cross country teams on opening weekend. The Big Orange squads both won the Bob Schul Invitational at Milton-Union High School in their first meet of the season.
The Tiger girls, which are ranked third in the first Division III state poll, won the smalls school race with 20 points out of 13 teams. Botkins was runner-up with 64 points, Milton-Union came in third with 98 points and Brookville was fourth with 160 points.
“We were so thankful for the opportunity to race today,” said WL-Salem girls head coach Ann Vogel. “Coach Meredith and the Milton Union athletic department did outstanding job of putting together a meet that was safe and fun for the runners.
“This is a competitive group and it was fun to finally mix it up with other teams. We have a lot of room for improvement, but the hard work this team has put in during the offseason was definitely evident today.”
WL-Salem’s boys are ranked ninth in the Division II state poll and won the small school race Saturday with 30 points out of 11 teams. Botkins finished second with 49 points and Covington came in third with 83 points.
“The resilience these guys have shown over the past six months is absolutely amazing,” said WL-Salem boys head coach Mike Louden. “So to pick up a win in the first meet is a testament to their continued commitment and sacrifice. The meet conditions were unlike any conditions we’ve seen at Bob Schul in our previous 10 years of competition.
Normally, the course is dry and firm and today it was the complete opposite. I thought as a whole the guys embraced the unexpected sloppy muddy course conditions.”
WL-Salem’s girls had six runners place in the 10 top. Megan Adams led the way by winning the girls individual title out of 103 runners with a first-place time of 19:04.
Addison McAuley was a strong second in 19:27, while Katelyn Stapleton was fourth (20:19), Ashley Yoder was sixth (20:48), Madison Bahan was seventh (21:11) and Mandilyn Weaver was ninth (21:45).
Other strong races came from Lily Smith in 13th (22:14.7) and Taylor Kennedy in 14th (22:14.8), Maria Henderson in 22nd (23:41) and Claire Longshore in 25th (23:52). Also in action were Maggie Davis in 32nd (24:34), Izzy Wygal in 39th (25:17), Kenzie Bahan in 52nd (26:52) and Dani Smith in 68th (28:17).
The Tigers also had the individual winner in the boys race with Dylan Lauck, who won with a first-place time 16:49. Tate Yoder was runner-up with a time of 16:58 and Josh Spinner came in sixth with a time of 18:11. Also making the top 25 were Hayden Kennedy in 13th (18:26), Owen Harrison in 15th (18:30) and Michael Jones in 22nd (19:06).
Also racing for the boys were Ayden Estep in 35th (19:42), Ian Maurice in 43rd (20:00), Joey LaRoche in 47th (20:15), Ryan Henry in 59th (20:37), Adam LaRoche in 61st (20:56) and Mason Barger in 75th (21:30).
WL-Salem hosts the Ohio Caverns Meet of Champions on Saturday, Sept. 12, which will feather several of the top ranked teams in the state.
Raider boys take second at Celina Invite
Benjamin Logan’s boys cross country team highlighted the area squads that competed int he Celina Rotary Invitational Saturday on the Wright State University Lake Campus.
Ben Logan and Bellefontaine both competed, but the boys and girls races were broken up into three different sections and ran at different times to follow coronavirus guidelines and the number of runners allowed in each race.
The Raiders boys competed in the section two race, which had seven teams and was won by Ft. Loramie with 38 points. Ben Logan finished second with 71 points and St. Marys Memorial was third with 76 points.
Tucker Munz was the Raiders top finisher in sixth (18:39), while Tayte Williamson came in 10th (19:25) and Blake Rhoades finished in 11th (19:26). Rounding out the team were Trevor Penwell in 17th (20:12), Andrew Hughes in 27th (20:57), Yale Schiederer in 38th (22:05), Gabe Mooney in 46th (23:00) and Eli Rhoades in 53rd (24:52).
Bellefontaine’s boys ran in the section one race. Belmont won out of seven teams with 23 points, New Haven was runner-up with 52 points and the Chieftains were third with 66 points.
“We have had a truckload of adversity this season, the most of my 35 years coaching,” said BHS head coach Ben Davis. “Today was a shot in the arm as we had many quality starts. We have the talent to make some noise at the end with this crew. We will improve greatly. These kids will work hard for it.”
Ben Logan and Bellefontaine’s girls ran in the section two race. Celina won that six-team race with 27 points, Belmont was second with 76 points, Ben Logan took third with 84 points and Bellefontaine was sixth with 111 points.
Connor Skidmore led Bellefontaine’s boys in fifth (17:51), while top 15 finishes came from Tony Stewart in 11th (18:50), Gannon Purcell in 12th (19:05) and Justin Carper in 13th (19:08). Other strong finishes came from Patrick Donnelly in 25th (20:09), Ollie Moreland in 42nd (22:10).
Others racing for BHS were Seth Taylor in 57th (24:05), Noah Conner in 60th (24:35), Nate Hardy in 62nd (24:58), Micah Woolf in 66th (25:48) and Hayden Deitsch in 71st (31:32).
The Chieftain girls were paced by Sophi Adelesberger in 11th (24:37), Ella Reier came in 16th (25:20), Aubrey Hudson finished in 24th (26:14), Zoey Rister took 30th (27:20), Olivia Eader came in 48th (32:41) and Lilly Moody finished in 51st (38:21).
Dani Widmark sparked the Ben Logan girls with a third-place finish (22:28). Top 25 finishes came from Malori Barnes in 15th (25:17), Kendra Kennedy in 18th (25:29) and Mylee Boysel in 25th (26:15). Also racing were Tori Miller in 29th (27:17), Allie Fay in 35th (27:40), Madeyn Wagnild in 38th (27:58), Cora Watson in 40th (28:49), Sarah Folk in 45th (30:52), McKenzee Roseburrough in 47th (31:25) and Kate Vicroy in 50th (36:01).
Bellefontaine and Ben Logan race again Tuesday at the Logan County meet, which is being held at Southview Park in Bellefontaine.
Laker girls take second at Northwestern Classic
Indian Lake’s girls cross country team had strong early season performance Saturday by placing second at the Northwestern Warrior Classic on Saturday.
Dayton Christian won the girls meet out of 10 teams with 73 points, Indian Lake was a close second with 76 points and Northwestern was third with 91 points.
State-ranked Cedarville dominated the boys meet with 15 points, Kettering Alter was runner-up with 106 points and Mechanicsburg was third with 108 points. Triad finished 11th with 252 points. Indian Lake’s boys did not have a team score.
“It was nice to see the girls team compete well in their first meet,” said IL head coach Justin Metzger. “We had a lot of first time finishers in the 5k distance. Of our top seven runners today, Elayna Richardson was the only runner in a Laker uniform last season. The team is improved and the freshman and new faces made an impressive Laker debut today.”
Powering the Laker girls were KaiLea Miller in eighth (22:40), Chloe Sparks in 10th (22:44) and Elayna Richardson in 12th (23:04). Other top finishes came from Hannah Metzger in 22nd (23:30), Erika Wells in 30th (24:10) and Deborah Wells in 34th (24:19).
Also in action were Carlie Nickel in 47th (25:51), Kierra Saunders in 48th (25:53), Annie Braig in 85th (29:51), Maggie Reese in 97th (31:15), Makayla Motter in 103rd (32:55) and Phoebe Brielmaier in 115th (37:21).
Indian Lake had three boys compete Saturday. Jacob Huhn led the group in 50th (20:56), Grant McPherson finished in 58th (21:03) and Dawson Finfrock took 87th (23:08).
Joe Ferguson led Triad’s boys in 39th (20:13), Wyatt Robison came in 43rd (20:31), Tavin Yorgason finished in 52nd (20:57), Zane Robison took 79th (22:30), Jacob Haser was 81st (22:34), Klinton Driscoll finished in 83rd (22:53) and Aaron Roy rounded out the group in 99th (23:30).
For Triad’s girls, Shalyn Smiles was 21st (23:28), Andy Yorgason was 95th (30:53) and Tabitha Gaier was 100th (32:20).
Indian Lake and Triad both compete in the Logan County meet Tuesday at Southview Park in Bellefontaine.
