Cards, Lady 'Cats beat the field

SPENCERVILLE - The Minster girls once again dominated the Division III district cross country meet at Spencerville. And for the second year in a row, New Bremen and Minster battled for the boys title, with the Cardinals coming out on top this year thanks in part to having the top two runners in the race.

New Bremen's Justin Eilerman won his first race of the season, posting a time of 16:30. This tied the previous New Bremen school record set in 1990 by Chris Shroyer.

"I pushed it. I tried. I didn't look up at the clock until the last second," described Eilerman. "I've been good and I've been bad this season, but this one I just pulled out."

While Eilerman led the race from the start, defending district champion Jeff Kremer was moving through the pack. Kremer was in sixth place at the halfway point, but advanced until he finished in second place. His time of 16:34 was four seconds behind his teammate and 11 seconds faster this year than his winning time from 2007.

"I was feeling strong at the end," explained Kremer.

Behind the New Bremen boys came a trifecta of Midwest Athletic Conference teams. The Minster boys put on a late charge, going from 22 points behind at the halfway mark to finishing just 15 points behind the Cardinals. Joby Stechschulte led the Wildcats with a 10th-place finish.

Also qualifying for the regional meet were the third- and fourth-place teams from Coldwater and St. Henry. Dusty Kuess led the Cavaliers by finishing in sixth place, while Doug Ranly led the Redskins with a strong third-place finish.

Besides those four teams, Adam Wierwille and Brad Lucia of New Knoxville also qualified for regionals by placing seventh and 16th, respectively.

The Minster girls dominated their race, placing five runners in the top eight, all with times less than 20 minutes.

Lei Bornhorst repeated as district champion, easily outdistancing runner-up and teammate Jessica Albers by 38 seconds. Bornhorst finished 59 seconds faster this year than her winning time from 2007.

"I've been faster throughout the season. I think it's because I've stayed more relaxed this year," explained Bornhorst. "I've also been training a lot harder. Getting older, I need to do more training."

Jessica Albers finished second, 50 seconds better than her time from last year. All through the race she was fighting it out with Spencerville's Lyndie Brown.

"I knew if I didn't pull away I'd just kick myself later," admitted Albers. "I knew I just had to stay ahead of her."

Following second-place Spencerville, Coldwater and Fort Recovery finished third and fourth to also qualify for the regional meet. The Cavaliers were led by freshman Alyssa Brunswick, who finished fifth with a time of 19:30. In contrast, the fourth-place Indians were led by senior Tina Roessner, who finished in 10th place.

Marion Local's Ashley Dirksen finished in 17th place, one position too far back to move on to regional competition.