LIMA – After Bath’s Jacob Wireman finished second at last year’s Allen County Invitational as a junior he had one goal in mind for this year’s annual cross country race.
At Tuesday’s Allen County Invitational, Wireman jumped out quickly and led from start to finish, en route to a winning time of 17 minutes, 53.7 seconds on the very hilly 5,000-meter course at Faurot Park.
Teammates Landen Jones (second, 18:20.3) and Everett Bensman (third,18:29.3) were not too far behind Wireman. Jaden Ryan (11th, 19:54.4) and Will Bensman (14th, 20:00.5) rounded out the scorers (top five runners) for Bath.
“My goal was to get first, and to cruise,” Wireman said with a grin. “That’s what my coach told me to do, and that’s what I did. So, I’m happy with how it went.
“Once I saw there was like 80 to 100 meters (between him and the pack of runners), I thought, ‘OK, they’re probably hurting more than I am. So, I should be good to just cruise right in’.”
Bath won the boys title on Tuesday with a score of 31 points, compared to second-place Shawnee’s 52 points. Delphos St. John’s (82), Perry (122), Spencerville (156), Lima Senior (161), Allen East (162) and Elida (163) rounded out the field of full teams.
Wireman said the challenging course at Faurot Park will help prepare him and his team for both the Western Buckeye League Championships, which will be held at Faurot Park on Oct. 12 as well as the postseason tournament that follows.
“The regional meet at Tiffin – those hills there are probably bigger than here. So, it’s good preparation for that,” he said.
At this past Saturday’s Kalida Wildcat Invitational, Wireman finished fifth overall in a time of 16:42.5.
The rest of the top 10 boys on Tuesday included Shawnee’s Ty Schaub (fourth, 18:50.5), Spencerville’s Tanner Braun (fifth, 18:59.7), Elida’s Hudson Lieurance (sixth, 19:33.1), Shawnee’s Kasey Hohe (seventh, 19:36.8), Delphos St. John’s Hank Kopack (eighth, 19:41.9) and Henry Hohman (ninth, 19:48.5), and Perry’s Michael Bowersock (19:53.5). There were 75 finishers.
On the girls’ side, Bath freshman Penny Francis reeled in Shawnee’s Jenna Stump, and then pulled away, en route to a winning time of 20:39.7. Stump crossed the finish line in 20:59.9.
Stump won last year’s Allen County Invitational as a sophomore.
“I was just really trying not to go out too hard, because of all the hills. It’s a tough course,” Francis said. “It was right before the second mile (when she passed Stump). I did not know how much she had left.”
Francis won the middle school title at the Allen County Invitational in both seventh and eighth grade. She clocked a personal best time of 19:16.7 at the Kalida Wildcat Invitational, where she finished fourth overall in a very competitive field of runners.
On Tuesday, Delphos St. John’s won the girls’ team title with 45 points, compared to second-place Bath’s 48 points. Shawnee (55), Elida (103), Lima Senior (134) and Lima Central Catholic (134) rounded out the six full teams.
“I think Bath got us at the front of the pack, which we knew they’re pretty strong,” Delphos St. John’s head coach Brian Kopack said. “But I think our depth pulled it out. The last several years, it’s been two or three points either way with us, Bath and Shawnee. Today, the strength of our pack pulled it out at the back end.”
The top five placers for Delphos St. John’s on Tuesday included Brezlynn Rohr (third, 21:58.2), Cady Donaldson (eighth, 23:11.4), Claire Martz (ninth, 23:29.9), Olivia Bockey (11th, 24;16.8) and Mary Claire Kopack (14th, 25:34.4). There were 49 finishers.
Behind Francis, the remainder of Bath’s scorers included Morgan Schrock (fourth, 22:19), Kyla Fallis (sixth, 22:59), Caylee VanBuskirk (15th, 25:38.4) and Ezrah McKissick (27th, 28:23.9).
The remainder of the top 10 girls (not already mentioned) included Shawnee’s Savannah Hohe (fifth, 22:52.7), Elida’s Emily Durham (seventh, 22:59.7) and LCC’s Hannah Brunk (10th, 24:09.3).
Bath head coach Dan Grime was pleased at his program’s performance on Tuesday.
“When you have four seniors in the top (boys) group like that, and you have 10 seniors total with the boys and girls, it makes a difference. So, they did a good job. They ran the way they needed to. They just took care of business,” Grime said.
“You want to have an approach where it’s still something to say that you’re the best cross country runner in Allen County, and to be an individual champion. … It’s something to be proud of. But we’re in a stretch where we’re in a lot of races. So, we want to make sure we’re getting better each week.”
**Complete results for the Allen County Invitational can be found on
