Bluffton’s Sam Derstine (341) runs ahead of Lincolnview’s Conner Baldauf (450), Spencerville’s Lanny Oakman (519) and Fayette’s Jose Blanco (1117) during Saturday’s Columbus Grove Invitational.
Jackelyn Johnson | The Lima News
COLUMBUS GROVE — There’s nothing better than running on your home course.
Last Saturday, the Columbus Grove boys cross country squad won the team title at the Blue Jay Invitational at Delphos Stadium Park.
This weekend, Columbus Grove returned home to compete in its very own Columbus Grove Invitational.
The Bulldogs ran well Saturday, but had to settle for second place, behind Botkins.
Botkins won the boys team title in the Gray Division with 75 points, while Columbus Grove was a close second with 79 points. Lincolnview (101), Bluffton (104) and Hicksville (188) rounded out the top five squads in the boys Gray Division. There were 17 full teams in the Gray Division.
Last season, Columbus Grove placed fourth in Division III at the state cross country meet. This year, the Bulldogs are working hard to fill the voids left from losing four seniors from last season’s team.
So far, it appears that Columbus Grove is picking up right where it left off last season.
The Bulldogs set several personal bests Saturday at the Columbus Grove Invitational, but still came up a little bit short of notching the team title.
“I think I had four of those top seven (runners) PR today,” longtime Columbus Grove boys head coach Terry Schnipke said. “We were down a man. … Our No. 3 guy (Bryce Bonifas) was out. He tweaked his hamstring this week. We knew that was going to make it a little bit tougher, but the other guys stepped up.
“I felt like I lied to them. I told them what kind of times we needed, to be able to win. They outdid those times and still got second. But give Botkins credit. … They ran pretty well today.”
Leading the Bulldogs Saturday was junior Luke Ellerbrock, who finished seventh overall in 16 minutes, 50.54 seconds on the 5,000-meter course that traversed around the Columbus Grove school campus.
Ellerbrock said his team knows its home course, inside and out.
“We ran on it all week,” Ellerbrock said. “Coach (Terry Schnipke) always tells us to run the tangents. When we run in the woods, there are a lot of turns. You want to run the inside on every turn. … It’s definitely an advantage to know your course.”
Columbus Grove senior Trent Koch was right behind Ellerbrock on Saturday, placing eighth in 16:51.78
The rest of Columbus Grove’s pack included Evan Pitts (11th, 16:58.28), Logan Mershman (26th, 17:53.04), Anden Blankemeyer (27th, 18:03.60), Braylon Best (30th, 18:07.05) and Nate Kamphaus (37th, 18:29.98).
Also, in the boys Gray Division race, Bluffton’s Landon Armstrong (15:45.37) and Erik Nygaard (15:51.53) finished first and third, respectively. Both of those times were personal bests. Upper Scioto Valley’s Joe Parker finished fourth (16:06.64).
Throughout most of Saturday’s race, Armstrong and Nygaard ran right behind Jackson Center’s Kellen Reichert, who finished second (15:47.43).
Late in the race, Armstrong made a surge, passed Reichert, and then pulled away for the win. Nygaard finished four seconds behind Reichert.
“I was feeling pretty good at the end,” Armstrong said. “It was like now or never for the kick. So, it just kind of happened. Erik (Nygaard) also has a kick. His (kick) is longer. … He’ll drop me, like a half mile back. …It was a good race.”
Nygaard said that his focus was not on going below 16 minutes on Saturday.
“That (going sub-16 minutes) was definitely in the back of my mind,” Nygaard said. “But I wasn’t trying to focus on it too much, because I didn’t want to get disappointed, if it didn’t happen. I just went out there to race, and wanted to see what time I got.”
In the girls Gray Division, Botkins won the team title with a score of 45 points. Woodmore was second with 71 points. Lincolnview (71), Delphos St. John’s (113) and Columbus Grove (124) notched the top five spots. Woodmore and Lincolnview both scored 71 points, but Woodmore was awarded second, due to the sixth-runner tiebreaker.
In the girls Red Division, defending Division III state champion Minster, slipped past Ottawa-Glandorf for the team title Saturday, 69-82. Liberty-Benton (101), Napoleon (211) and Archbold (225) rounded out the top five teams. There were 16 teams figured into the team scoring.
Senior Taylor Roth, who won the Division III state title in the 800 meters in track this past spring, was the top placer for Minster on Saturday. Roth finished fifth overall in 19:15.72.
Rounding out the top seven for Minster were Annie Hemmelgarn (13th, 20:04.28), Maria Niekamp (14th, 20:08.84), Ava Stammen (17th, 20:26.23), Chaney Cedarleaf (20th, 20:40.80), Elle Grieshop (29th, 21:16.73) and Morgan Ketner (32nd, 21:34.74).
Longtime Minster girls head coach Jessie Magoto was especially pleased at how her younger athletes performed on Saturday.
“I thought they did a really nice job, working together,” Magoto said. “They’re still trying to figure it out. … We’re starting to slowly see them begin to figure it out. … So, it was good.”
Ottawa-Glandorf senior Alexa Fortman led the way for the Titans with a fourth-place finish (19:01.11).
Fortman, who won Division II state titles in track this past spring in the 400- and 800-meters (state record), decided to stop playing soccer this fall, and focus on cross country. In previous years, Fortman competed in both cross country and soccer during the fall season.
“I feel a lot stronger this season, and a little more rested,” Fortman said. “I’m focused on running, instead of doing both.
“I built my miles up a lot this summer. I think just focusing on running this year, will really make a difference.”
O-G’s pack was solid on Saturday. Madelyn Hovest was the second O-G runner, placing seventh in 19:37.48. Teammate Olivia Fenbert was close behind in 10th (19:50.90). Corinne Closson (27th, 21:14.33), Anna Buddelmeyer (34th, 21:37.25), Morgan Maag (44th, 21:58.72) and Marissa Beckett (45th, 22:00.60) rounded out the top seven runners for the Titans.
In the boys Red Division, Toledo St. Francis ran away with the team crown, scoring 30 points. Findlay finished a distant second with 126 points. Liberty-Benton (135), Minster (149) and Ottawa-Glandorf (153) rounded out the top five squads.
Sophomore Ty Rosengarten led O-G with an 11th-place finish and a personal-best time of 16:23.32.
“My goal for this meet was 16:30, but I crushed that,” Rosengarten said. “I knew at the start (of Saturday’s race), that a lot of guys would go out really hard. So, I tried to stick with them (early), and then started to accelerate after the first mile.”
After having a solid track season this past spring, in which he finished a close second in the 3,200 meters at the Western Buckeye League Championships, Rosengarten has been focused on taking it to the next level this fall.
“After track, I ran a lot during the summer. Now, I want to go to state. … That would be nice,” Rosengarten said.
Rosengarten said the team has some high goals as well.
“We want to win the WBL. That’s what our team is looking at, right now. Our guys are running a lot better. We put in a lot of offseason work,” he said.
.
Mark Altstaetter wrote this story for The Lima News. Reach The Lima News sports department at 567-242-0451.
