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Celina's Colin Buening, right, stays close to Ottawa-Glandorf's Ty Rosengarten, left, and Van Wert's Owen Scott during Saturday's WBL Cross Country Meet in Lima. Buening finished third as the Bulldog boys were league runner-up.
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry and Robb Hemmelgarn
Good weather made for some solid running as the Western Buckeye League and Midwest Athletic Conference held their league cross country championships on Saturday.
For Celina, it was a good effort at Faurot Park in Lima that resulted in top-three finishes for both the boys and girls.
The battle for the WBL boys team title came down to Celina and Van Wert. The teams combined to put 12 runners in the top 22 to earn all-league honors, but Van Wert was able to pack runners just enough to take a 40-52 win over the Bulldogs with Bath coming in third with 91 points. St. Marys placed ninth with 292.
"We performed well. Our training got us ready and put us where need to be this time of year," said Celina coach Jason Andrew. "I couldn't be more proud of the effort everyone put in."
Ottawa-Glandorf's Ty Rosengarten, Van Wert's Owen Scott and Celina's Colin Buening battled at the front of the pack for the full 3.1 miles. Rosengarten and Scott, who finished second and third last year at St. Marys, got enough of a lead and dashed down the stretch as Rosengarten edged Scott 16:20.0 to 16:20.4 to win the race. Buening finished third with a solid 16:40.1 with Van Wert's Andrew Laudick the only other runner to break 17 minutes in finishing at 16:54.7.
Celina's Kaden Steed and Kaleb Dameron finished fifth and sixth, joining Buening in earning first team All-WBL honors, but the next four Van Wert runners came in 10th, 11th, 13th and 14th before fourth Celina runner Eli Spring finished 15th, giving the Cougars the nod for the title.
Bulldogs Aaron Krogman and Cole Buening finished 21st and 22nd to earn second team All-WBL honors. Caleb Lehman was 27th with Jackson Bagne taking 34th.
St. Marys was led by Collin Ridgeway's 56th-place finish. Vince Walter was 73rd with Kaden Neal placing 82nd.
In the high school girls race, Celina finished third as O-G and Kenton battled for the top spot, with the Titans taking the league title with a 55 with Kenton tallying 72. Celina edged Bath 112-113 for third as Bath posted its highest finish ever in the league meet. St. Marys finished 10th.
O-G's Anna Buddelmeyer, last year's runner-up to teammate Madelyn Hovest, pulled away for the win, finishing in 19:07.7 with Shawnee's Jenna Stump second at 19:46.3 and Kenton's Addi Manns third with 19:46.7.
Celina's Jennalee Dameron finished fourth in the girls' race at the WBL cross country meet in Lima.
Celina's Jennalee Dameron earned first team All-League honors with a fourth-place showing. Brook Faber earned second team honors by placing 22nd. Emma Morgan, Autumn Klosterman and Danica Draiss finished 32nd, 33rd, and 34th, respectively.
Lauren Schloemer led St. Marys with a 48th-place finish. Katherine Boos was 55th and Iliana Tlahuel was 60th.
Elle Miesse of Celina won the middle school race with a time of 11:53.8. Janelle Dameron was sixth with Claire Huwer eighth for Celina. Joslyn Cable was top finisher for St. Marys in 16th. Ottawa-Glandorf won the team title with Celina third and St. Marys ninth.
Celina finished second in the middle school boys race with Van Wert winning the team title. Noah Sutter led Celina with a fifth-place finish with Ross Bellman 12th. Bryce Bertke was the top St. Marys finisher in 25th.
Celina and St. Marys will be at Columbus Grove this Saturday for the Division II district race. Races will be run at 12:40 p.m. and 1:20 p.m.
Minster's Maria Niekamp (368), Joanna Topp (370) and Claire Bohman (357) helped the Wildcats win their 13th straight MAC girls team title.
At Memorial Park in Coldwater, Minster and Versailles traded titles as the Minster girls won their 13th straight conference crown in scoring 30 points with Versailles second at 64. St. John's (118), St. Henry (125), New Bremen (129), Fort Recovery (137), Coldwater (167), Parkway (168) and Marion Local (257) rounded out the standings.
The Wildcats stayed toward the front all day with four finishers in the top 10 and all five scoring runners finishing in the top 13. Maria Niekamp won the race in 19:01.91 with teammate Claire Bohman second at 19:21.39. St. John's Brezlynn Rohr was third with New Bremen's Mia Hirschfeld fourth and Versailles' Ava Rismiller rounding out the top five.
"I was very pleased. The weather was nice," said Niekamp. "I'm happy how we did (in preparation for district). Everyone at least got our season (personal bests). We're on the right track."
Finishing sixth through 12th to earn first team honors were Joanna Topp (Minster), Gabrielle Spitzer (Versailles), Madison Eilerman (Minster), Audrey Alig (Coldwater), Cady Donaldson (St. John's), Lillian Selhorst (Versailles) and Joelle Kaup (Fort Recovery). Second team honors for finsihers 13th through 20th were Ava Stammen (Minster), Christina Tong and Taylor Muhlenkamp (Parkway), Claire Martz (St. John's), Catherine Post (St. Henry), Corynn Goubeaux (Versailles), Audrey Huelsman (St. Henry) and Adriana Kremer (Minster).
Honorable mention honors for finishing 21st through 28th went to Ellie Grieshop (Minster), Riley Suchland (New Bremen), Ariyah Pfenning (New Knoxville), Naomi Swallow (Versailles), Channing Lefeld (Coldwater), Riley Heitkamp (Fort Recovery), Shaylee Boyle (New Bremen), Makenna Huelskamp (Fort Recovery).
Coldwater's Mason Ayers finished second in the MAC boys race.
The battle for the boys team title was flipped as Versailles rolled to a 26-74 win over Minster for the team's second straight title. New Bremen was third with St. Henry fourth and Marion Local fifth. The rest of the leaderboard was Coldwater, St. John's, Parkway, Fort Recovery and New Knoxville.
Versailles' Jackson Spitzer broke the 16-minute barrier in finishing in 15:48.38. Coldwater's Mason Ayers finished second on his home course at 16:00.62. Minster's Nick Prenger was third with Versailles' Carmen Magoto fourth and Marion Local's Dalton Pohlman fifth. Sixth through 12th earning first team All-MAC honors were Versailles' Anthony Spitzer and Zachary Rahm, St. Henry's Michael Rindler, Marion Local's Ryan Stucke, Versailles' Drew Meyer and Minster's Collin Cedarleaf. Earning second team All-MAC for finishing 13th through 20th were Ben Pittsenbarger and Landry Knore (Versailles), Simon Shroyer (New Bremen), Ryan Pleiman (Versailles), Carter Dirksen (Minster), Josh Schoen (Coldwater), Max McKibben (Versailles) and Michael Kunkler (St. Henry).
Honorable mention finishes went to Caleb Wittenbrink and Jett Jellison (New Bremen), Dylan Dunn (Versailles), Jack Strausbaugh (Minster), Zach Heath (St. Henry), Reese Diller (Fort Recovery), Isaac Bruns (Marion Local) and Jackson Corona (Minster).
Minster also swept the middle school titles. Minster's Elizabeth Niekamp joined her sister Maria as a race champion in taking first in the two mile race in 12:15.42. Versailles' Owen Gibson won the junior high boys race in 11:29.21.
All area teams except for Versailles and Fort Recovery will be at the Division III district meet at Columbus Grove with races run at 10 a.m. and 10:40 a.m. Fort Recovery and Versailles will be at Cedarville for Division III and Division II races starting at 10 a.m.
