The West Liberty-Salem girls cross country team won the 50th Annual Ohio Caverns Max Evans Memorial Invitational Saturday. The host, Big Orange ranked 5th in the latest OATCCC DIII state coaches poll, ran away with the 10-team race with a low score of 18 points.Team Scoring: 1st WL-S 18, 2nd Columbus Grove 77, 3rd Benjamin Logan 99, 4th Kenton Ridge 147, 5th Bellefontaine 154, 6th Graham 170, 7th Yellow Springs 178, 8th New Bremen 179, 9th Fairlawn 192, 10th Springfield 258
The Lady Tigers put 11 runners in the top 30 with Ashley Yoder winning the individual title in 20:23. Freshman Malia Miller came in 2nd (20:25), Addison McAuley placed 3rd (20:33), Breece Gullett finished in 4th place (20:50), Taylor Kennedy was 8th (21:24), Gwen McCullough 12th (21:55) and Claire Longshore 16th (22:18) to round out the Big Orange scorers.
Miller, Gullett, Smith, Griffith, Dooley, and Estep all ran personal best times.
Also placing for WLS were Emma Smith 21st (22:52), Elise Longshore 25th (23:15), Chloe Griffith 26th (23:16), Mylee Dooley 30th with a career PR of 23:32, Geneva Estep 38th (24:29), Abriley Krabill 43rd (24:54), Anna Knox 51st (25:30) and Laney Craig 82nd (29:49).
“Our freshmen showed a lot of progress today with several of them running personal bests on a challenging course,” said WLS head coach, Ann Vogel. “It’s a great sign of things to come as they build their confidence racing at the high school level. We’ve been dealing with some illness this week and our goal was to be smart early on and focus on making some competitive moves in the second half of the race. I was proud of the way we battled and executed the race plan.”
WL-S will compete in the Saturday Night Lights Invitational at Centerville High School on October 1st.
The West Liberty-Salem varsity boys, who were #3 in this week’s D3 OATCCC State Poll, also won the Ohio Caverns Invite.
Placing for the Tigers were:
1st Asher Knox (16:34.0 PR), 3rd Owen Harrison (16:56.5), 8th Garrett Wallen (17:13.9 PR), 9th Troy Bradley (17:28.1), 11th Michael Jones (17:30.2), 13th Dylan King (17:32.4), 15th Quentin Rudolph (17:36.5), 16th Joey LaRoche (17:42.5), 19th Brevin Louden (17:50.4 PR), 21st Ryan Henry (18:11.8 PR), 22nd Taryn Bradley (18:12.5 PR), 23rd Caleb Larson (18:14.0 PR), 34th Micah Smith (18:54.3), 45th Mason Barger (19:33.8), 56th Chandler McCafferty (20:07.4), 108th Maxwell McCombs (25:21.4 PR).
Season Record: 58-1
“Extremely proud of our overall team effort and fight today. Picking up a convincing win over Columbus Grove the #6 team in the state was definitely a big confidence boost,” said head coach Mike Louden. “I’m ecstatic about our depth and can’t wait to see how that pays off for us come the postseason. Asher Knox picked up his first career Invitational win and moved to 11th on the schools All-Time 5K list with his 16:34. Would also like to acknowledge our four seniors (Chandler McCafferty, Owen Harrison, Michael Jones, and Micah Smith) all of which competed for the last time at the Ohio Caverns.”
WL-S will compete Saturday, October 1st at the Centerville Night Race. The Tigers will run at 9:45 p.m.
The Benjamin Logan Lady Raiders cross country team placed 3rd in a field of 14 schools at the Ohio Caverns XC Invitational held Saturday at the Ohio Caverns.Georgia Bates led the Raiders with her 6th place medal-winning finish In a field of 95 runners. She covered the hilly 3.1-mile course in a time of 21:07. Also placing in the top 15 and earning medals were Estella Wenger 11th (21:47), Mylee Boysel 15th (22:07). Completing the scoring were Hadley Boysel 37th (24:16) , Scarlett Elliott 48th (25:16), Peyton Smith 50th (25:29), Malori Barnes 52nd (25:37).
Also competing for Benjamin Logan were the following athletes: 57th Nora Elliott (25:43); 62nd Kendra Kennedy (26:18); 66th Libby Siefring (27:03); 68th Sarah Folk (27:09); 73rd Natalie Chapman (27:21); 74th Allie Fay (27:23); 93rd McKenzee Roseburrough (33:47).
The Benjamin Logan varsity boys finished 6th out of 12 teams at the Ohio Caverns.
Leading the Raiders was Eric Hughes, finishing 25th out of 123 runners with a time of 18:28. Placing 29th was Eli Rhodes with a new PR of 18:40.
Tyler Shoopman set a new PR finishing 43rd with a time of 19:25. Landon Zehner set a new PR for the season finishing 49th in 19:40.
Rounding out the top 5 for Benjamin Logan was Ethan VanWinkle with a time of 20:16 for 59th place.
Micah Ackley ran a season PR with a 21:03 for 65th and Parker Sutherly rounded out the Raider’s top 7 with a 21:31 for 72nd. Landon Braddock set a season PR with a 25:35 and finished in 105th.
Benjamin Logan will run again on Tuesday at the Triad Invitational.
The Bellefontaine varsity boys finished 3rd at Ohio Caverns.
Tony Stewart led the Chiefs placing 5th out of 123 runners. Gavin Wilson was 11th, Hayden Maus 15th, Seth Taylor 27th, Elias Abrego 33rd.
The Chieftain girls were 5th out of 10 teams. Montana Buck paced the Lady Chiefs finishing 27th. Kailyn Newman was 31st, Sophie Adelsberger was 40th, Ella Reier 44th, Aubrey Hudson 46th, Mia DeLong 59th, Zoey Rister 63rd, and Emma Costin ran 27:24.
Middle School:The West Liberty-Salem boys and girls middle school teams both competed at the Ohio Caverns Invitational.
The Lady Tigers finished 2nd out of 7 full teams.
Top 3 team scores: 1. Cedarville 50, 2. WL-S 50 (lost on tiebreaker), 3. Benjamin Logan 52.
There were 73 finishers.
For WL-S, Addi Wallen was 1st (12:27), Hattie Jacobs finished 2nd (13:04), Isla Leichty came in 5th (13:42), Ellery Wygal was 7th (14:05), Bianna Blair crossed the line at 52nd (17:52), and Lexie Wisner was 58th (18:55).
The Tiger boys won the race.
Top 3 team scores: 1. WL-S 17, 2. Cedarville 68, 3. Columbus Grove 84.
There were 74 finishers.
For WL-S, Asher Cole (11:08), Brayan Gullett (11:30), Adly Knox (11:36), and Zeke Longshore (11:46) took the top four spots respectively. Zac Carter was 8th (11:50), David Roberts finished 34th (13:55), Casey Boyer was right behind at 35th (13:59), Robert Park finished 37th (14:02), and Calen Craig crossed the line at 42nd (14:44).
The West Liberty-Salem Middle School teams will compete Saturday at the Jim Murray Invitational held at Clark County Fairgrounds.
The Benjamin Logan Middle School cross country teams competed also at the Ohio Caverns.
The girls placed third, just 2 points out of first place. Bonnie Brunson led the way placing 6th of 72 runners with a personal record of 13:54. She was followed by Lottie Bodin 10th (14:24), Gwendolyn Smith 13th (14:38), Elliott Butler 15th (14:47.3), and Molly Siefring 16th (14:47.6).
The boys‘ team placed 7th led by Max Troth 14th (12:39). Also scoring for the Raiders were Gabe Elsasser 29th (13:30), Asher Boysel 41st (13:36), Michael Berry 60th, Charlie Wolfe 62nd, and Ezra Ramsey 70th.
The Raiders are back in action Tuesday at the Triad Invitational.
The Bellefontaine Middle School Cross Country teams ran at the Celtic Clash in Dublin.
The Lady Chiefs finished 9th as a team and were led by Grace Brown won the race with a school record time of 11:25. Her time is the fastest time so far this season in the state of Ohio.
Other finishers for Bellefontaine include Hailee Lamb 35th, Rylee Yelton 41st, Hannah Wilson 56th, Sloan Stolly 77th, and Karsyn Newkirk 78th.
Every girl ran a personal best time.
The Chieftain boys placed 7th.
Jake Moreland was 2nd overall, becoming the first boy in Bellefontaine history to break the 11:00 mark for two miles with a time of 10:48.
Other finishers for the Chiefs were Oliver Grandstaff in 17th, Brenden Murray 37th, Will Myers 51st, and Landon Rister 67th.
The Bellefontaine MS boys and girls will run at North Union Saturday.