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Celina's Kaleb Dameron (713) battles with St. Henry's Michael Rindler (786) for the lead at the Mercer County Cross Country Meet in St. Henry.
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
The 2026 cross country season got underway for area teams with county invitationals in both Mercer and Auglaize County.
At the Wally Post Athletic Complex in St. Henry, Celina brought home the winning runners in both high school boys and girls events.
Kaleb Dameron paced the field and won the 5,000-meter event in 17:30.64. Host St. Henry brought home the next two runners as Johan Horstman crossed in 18:10.70 and Clayton Koesters finishing in 18:14.24. Fort Recovery's Alex Roessner was fourth in 18:16.18 with St. Henry's Michael Rindler rounding out the top five in 18:17.17.
The second 10 had Celina's Corbin Meyer in sixth, St. Henry's Daniel Fullenkamp and Jack Siefring in seventh and eighth, respectively, Parkway's Isaac Menchhofer in ninth and Fort Recovery's Reese Diller in 10th.
Jordan Bohman's 12th-place finish was tops for Marion Local with Coldwater's Noah Obringer finishing in 17th.
St. Henry placing its first five finishers in the top eight gave the Redskins the boys' team title with 25 points. Celina was second with 59 points, one point ahead of Fort Recovery. Coldwater (121), Parkway (128) and Marion Local (145) rounded out the leaderboard.
Celina's Elle Miesse (797) leads teammate Sophie Gudorf at the Mercer County Meet in St. Henry.
In the girls' 5-kilometer run, Celina's Elle Miesse dominated, finishing in 19:05.62, nearly 86 seconds ahead of teammate Sophie Gudorf, who was second in 20:31.33. Coldwater's Abby Alig was third at 20:49.52 with Fort Recovery's Makenna Huelskamp taking fourth in 20:57.76. Celina's Claire Huwer was fifth at 21:32.53.
Marion Local took the next two spots as cousins Maria Dirksen and Colleen Dirksen finished sixth and seventh, respectively. Coldwater's Audrey Alig was eight, Celina's Janelle Dameron was ninth with Lana Kaiser of Coldwater taking 10th.
Aliyah Zimmerman finished 12th for the host Redskins, one spot ahead of Parkway top finisher Tabitha Meyer.
Celina took first in the girls meet 32-52 over Coldwater with Marion Local third with 77 points. St. Henry (108), Fort Recovery (125) and Parkway (127) completed the standings.
In the junior high boys meet, St. Henry won with 36 points with Fort Recovery (49), Coldwater (61) and Celina (78) rounding out the team field.
Marion Local's Colleen Dirksen (831) runs between Parkway's Tabitha Meyer and Savannah Tickle.
Coldwater's Bentley Heyne won the boys' 2-miler in 12:21.76. St. Henry's Oliver Schmitz was second with Fort Recovery's Maverick Huelskamp and St. Henry's Tim Merrill and Jace Knapke rounding out the top five.
Celina won the junior high girls division with 39 points followed by Coldwater (47), St. Henry (71), Fort Recovery (91) and Marion Local (95).
Coldwater's Lani Pohlman won the race in 13:04.24. Rounding out the top five were St. Henry's Graci Westerheide, Parkway's Mia Miller and Celina's Harper Minnich and Alexa Smith.
The Auglaize County meet was moved from St. Marys to Waynesfield due to course conditions.
The New Bremen boys won the high school division 32-46 over New Knoxville with Wapakoneta (55), St. Marys (108) and Waynesfield-Goshen (114) rounding out the field.
Wapakoneta's Hans Sammetinger won the race in 17:40.94. New Knoxville's William Lammers was second with New Bremen putting the next three runners across in Tobiah Wittenbrink, Simon Shroyer and Luke Long. Sixth through 10th went to Wapak's Wesley Snyder, New Bremen's Isaiah Wittenbrink, New Knoxville's Noah Miller, Wapak's Jackson Serr and New Knoxville's Ty Koenig. St. Marys' Gavin Luebke was 11th.
The high school girls race went to Wapakoneta with 18 points. New Bremen was second with 43 and Waynesfield finished with 69.
The Redskins swept the top three spots with Kenzie Schneier, Olivia Hudnall and Maci Neumeier taking first through third. St. Marys' Piper Reams was fourth with New Bremen's Kara Suchland fifth. The second five were Wapak's Alivia Gallaspie, New Bremen's Chloe Elking, Wapak's Kelsey Schneider and New Bremen's Aurora Laterback and Tara Kramer. New Knoxville's Emily Bambauer was 12th.
The New Knoxville boys and New Bremen girls won the junior high team titles. New Bremen's Zeb Grillot won the boys race with Cardinal Renee Klein taking the girls' race.
