Wilker repeats as WBL champ; Defiance sweeps team titles

WAPAKONETA - Cross Country fans making the trek to Wapakoneta for the Western Buckeye League Championships on Saturday were expecting a classic battle in the high school girls' race with many of the top finishers from last year's race returning for the 2016 race.

Saturday was Kelly Wilker's day to shine again as the St. Marys senior repeated as league champion with an impressive effort at Wapakoneta High School.

As expected, the battle was between Wilker and the hometown standout and two-time former champion Allie Zofkie. At the early checkpoints, the pair were up front with Wilker keeping a slight edge.

When Wilker made the run onto the Ryan Field turf, her lead expanded and kept expanding. Wilker crossed the finish line in 19:17.40, nearly 21 1/2 seconds ahead of Zofkie. Wilker and Zofkie were the only runners to break 20 minutes.

"When we came here earlier this week to run the course, I mapped out the course really well," said Wilker. "I had a plan where I could start pulling away. When I got to that point, I went ahead of her and never looked back.

"It felt good. It was my goal coming into today. "I was really focused. I knew I had good competition with Allie. We ran well together throughout the race. Just came down to that last 800 meters."

Roughrider Morgan Henschen finished third with Faith Baxter of Shawnee fourth and Defiance's London Moening fifth. Rounding out the top 10 were Defiance's Shay Soukup and Ashley Weidenhamer, Van Wert's Jessica Huebner, Wapakoneta's Paige Schneider and Defiance's Emily Poling.

Sara Wenning, the first Celina runner to finish, placed 12th to earn the final first-team All-WBL placement. Lauren McDonough, who had placed fourth last year, finished 21st to earn special mention honors. St. Marys runners Lauren Cisco (20th) and Laura Wilker (22nd) also earned special mention honors.

Defiance with five runners finishing in the top 13, won the team title for the third straight season with a score of 41 points. Second place was a close battle as Shawnee edged St. Marys 72-76. Celina finished fourth with 115 points.

In the High School Boys' race, the battle for first place was a repeat of last season as Van Wert's Calahan Wolfrum had to fend off Defiance's Zach Lochmiller and Hayden Howerton. Wolfrum won his second straight league title with a time of 16:26.92, nearly six seconds ahead of Lochmiller and 23 1/2 seconds ahead of Howerton to compete the 1-2-3 repeat from 2015.

Howerton was followed by Defiance teammates Jesse Schlatter and Nathan Schlatter in fourth and fifth. Le'on Palomo of Ottawa-Glandorf was sixth with Hunter Sheery being the fifth Defiance runner across the finish line. Shawnee's Joe Wahlie and Defiance's Mhalicki Bronson and Drew Rogers completed the top 10.

Celina, running without the injured Adrian Hurley, was led by Ethan Ly's 11th place finish to earn first team All-League honors. St. Marys' Noah Tobin just missed first team with a 14th-place effort to earn special mention. Celina's Hunter Lynch finished 20th to also earn special mention All-League.

With seven runners in the top 10, Defiance easily won the boys' team title with 21 points. Van Wert was a distant second with 73 and Ottawa-Glandorf was third with 116.

Celina placed fifth with 136 points and St. Marys was ninth with 229 points.

The younger Celina runners had a strong day in the middle school divisions. Kennedy Newell won the girls' two-mile race in 13:04.56 and teammate Nicole Fennig was second. Celina finished second to Kenton in the team standings by a 48-67 margin with St. Marys finishing fifth.

St. Marys finished second to Defiance in the middle school boys' team results. Celina placed seventh. St. Marys' Tyler Hisey finished eighth and Trevor Hisey was eighth in the race. Cole Hitchcock led Celina with a 20th-place finish. Defiance's Vinnie Lopez won the race in 11:28.46.

Celina and St. Marys travel to Ottawa this Saturday for the Division II district meet.