Cross Country: Area runners and teams compete at district meet

COLUMBUS GROVE – After the Columbus Grove boys’ cross country team notched its first-ever state title at last year’s Division III state meet, and then graduated its top runner, some people projected this year’s team to be not as competitive.

However, after Columbus Grove won Saturday’s Division III district title on its home course, all signs pointed to another deep postseason tournament run.

On Saturday, Columbus Grove had five of its seven runners clock sub-17-minute times on the 5,000-meter course that traversed around the Columbus Grove campus.

Columbus Grove scored 56 points, compared to second-place Crestview’s 70 points. Lincolnview (103), Minster (116), Marion Local (118) and New Bremen (165) rounded out the six regional-qualifying teams in Division III.

Along with the six teams, the top 24 overall placers in the Division III boys’ race qualified for next Saturday’s regional meet at Tiffin’s Hedges-Boyer Park. Full results from Saturday’s district meet at Columbus Grove can be found on Finishtiming.com.

Longtime Columbus Grove boys’ coach Terry Schnipke said that he is pleased with the progress his team has made this season.

“At the beginning of the year, someone said ‘You’re going to have five guys under 17 (minutes) this year’. I’m like, ‘Yeah, right’. I know these guys are going to work hard, but you just don’t anticipate that as a coach. They worked their tails off this week. They wanted to go out and run a great race, and they did. They ran awesome today,” he said.

Leading the Bulldogs on Saturday was Levi Bryan with a second-place finish in a new personal-best time of 15 minutes, 55 seconds. Coldwater’s Mason Ayers won the Division III race in 15:51.2.

“I saw what the Coldwater kid (Ayers) got at his conference meet. … It was a 16 flat,” Bryan said. “I was going to try to win it (district race) and see if I could get into the 15s. It was a new PR for me. It was something I wanted all year.”

Ayers said he had to make a move toward the end of Saturday’s race to record the hard-fought win over Bryan.

“I did not realize how close he (Bryan) was at first. Then he passed me and was in front of me for most of the race. Once he passed me, I was determined to get this guy,” Ayers said.

Rounding out the top five runners (scorers) for Columbus Grove on Saturday included Bryce Bonifas (ninth, 16:38.1), Aidan Vogt (11th, 16:43.3), Zack Bryan (15th, 16:46.4) and Holden Hartzog (19th, 16:56.3). There were 144 finishers in the race.

Luke Ellerbrock, Columbus Grove’s top runner last year has graduated and is now competing at the University of Findlay. With Ellerbrock gone, Schnipke said he had to find other leaders on this year’s squad.

“I’ve been telling them for years that it’s part of the tradition – you don’t want to be the group that lets it (winning tradition) fall,” Schnipke said. “One of my concerns with graduating Luke (Ellerbrock) was his leadership. I told Levi (Bryan) and Bryce (Bonifas) that they’re now the captains. I couldn’t be prouder of the job that Levi and Bryce have done this year with leading the team. They’ve stepped up and have been good leaders this year.

Ottawa-Glandorf girls win district crown

After the Ottawa-Glandorf girls won the Western Buckeye League title last Saturday, the Titans were poised to make a run for the Division II district title at Columbus Grove on Saturday.

On Saturday, O-G slipped past WBL-foe Kenton for the district crown. The Titans scored 69 points, compared to Kenton’s 79 points. Napoleon (81) and Bath (114) were the other two regional-qualifying teams in Division II. Along with the four teams that advanced, the top 16 overall placers advanced as individuals to next Saturday’s Division II regional at Tiffin.

Anna Buddelmeyer, who placed sixth at last year’s Division II state meet and earned all-Ohio honors, led the Titans on Saturday with a second-place finish in a time of 18:44.9. Bath freshman Penny Francis was a very close third with a school record time of 18:45.2.

Rounding out the top scorers for O-G on Saturday included Brea Recker (13th, 20:07.7), Izzy Utendorf (19th. 20:46.1), Liana Fortman (21st, 21:02.1) and Rose Turnwald (22nd, 21:09).

There were 71 finishers in the Division II race.

“You get toward the end (of the season) and you’re hoping all these times start coming (down), but you have to remember that you’ve had a long

season of running,” O-G coach James Rader said. “So, for us right now, the top priority is making sure we’re healthy and making sure we’re feeling good.

“We will have to adjust a little bit on what we do at practice. We’ve had a schedule that we’ve kind of maintained all year. And right now, we’re going to have to make sure they are ready to go.”

Van Wert boys take first; O-G’s Rosengarten and Van Wert’s Scott battle

All season long, Van Wert’s Owen Scott and O-G’s Ty Rosengarten have battled for supremacy.

At Saturday’s Division II district at Columbus Grove, their battle played out once again.

Rosengarten and Scott went back and forth until about 300 meters to go in the race. That was when Rosengarten began to separate, en route to winning in a new school-record time of 15:19.9. Scott finished in a school-record time of 15:23.4. Celina’s Colin Buening came in third (15:56.1).

Rosengarten said the plan for Saturday’s race was to get out faster than normal, and then see what he had left toward the end of the race.

“Before the race, I said to Owen, ‘How are you feeling about going 4:45 (first mile)’? We came through at 4:40,” Rosengarten said with a grin.

Added Scott, “I felt dead. We still have two weeks left (until the state meet). My legs are still heavy. There was one point – about 1 ½ miles in – I took the lead, and I felt dead. But we were still running a good time.”

Rosengarten said he wanted to test himself on Saturday.

“Once I took the lead, I was ready for him to fight back and to see what happens. We have two more weeks. It’s all about qualifying. If we win, we win. But ultimately the Super Bowl is the state meet,” Rosengarten said.

At last year’s Division II state cross country meet, both earned all-Ohio honors as Scott placed fifth and Rosengarten came in ninth.

The Van Wert boys notched the Division II district title on Saturday. The Cougars won with 50 points, while Celina finished second (65). Bryan grabbed the third and final regional qualifying spot with 69 points. Along with the top three teams, the top 12 placers also qualified for the regional meet.

Rounding out the five scorers for Van Wert behind Scott was Andrew Laudick (fourth, 16:12.5), Harrison Sloan (11th, 16:44.9), Noah Spath (16th, 17:03) and Quintin Parrish (17th, 17:04.9).

Minster wins D-III title; Lincolnview’s Moody wins crown

The Minster girls ran away with the Division III district title on Saturday.

Minster scored 43 points, compared to second-place Lincolnview’s 94 points.

There were seven teams that qualified for next Saturday’s regional meet at Tiffin. The remaining qualifying teams included Columbus Grove (127), Delphos St. John’s (132), St. Henry (147), New Bremen (163) and Parkway (171). Individually, the top 28 placers advanced to the regional meet.

Lincolnview’s Brynleigh Moody won the Division III race in a personal-best time of 18:55.1.

“Me and my dad kind of had a little bet going on (to go sub 19 minutes),” Moody said. “I’ve been really pushing to get under 19 (minutes). I’m glad that I accomplished it today.

“My first goal is to get back to state and improve on what I did last year at state. But I still would love to run faster than that at state.”

At last year’s Division III state meet, Moody finished 29th and earned all-Ohio honors.

**Complete results of the district meet at Columbus Grove can be found on Finishtiming.com.