WEST MILTON – The West Liberty-Salem girls cross country team opened up the season by winning the Division III race at the Bob Schul Invitational hosted by Milton-Union on Saturday.
The Big Orange, ranked No. 5 in the OATCCC State Division III poll, held off No. 1 Minster and Number 4 Madeira for the win.
Ashley Yoder and Addison McAuley led the Big Orange with top 10 finishes. Yoder was 6th (20:30) and McAuley was 8th (20:37). The Big Orange put six other runners in the top 30 with Breece Gullett 17th (21:04), Taylor Kennedy 19th (21:07), Malia Miller 21st (21:20), Elise Longshore 22nd (21:29), Gwen McCullough 29th (21:46) and Lily Smith 30th (21:49).
Rounding out the finishers for the Big Orange were Teagan Boyd 33rd (21;56), Mallory Bostick 50th (22:31), Claire Longshore 54th (22:40), Abriley Krabill 93rd (24:25), Chloe Griffith 96th (24:28), Mylee Dooley 103rd (24:42), Emma Smith 106th (24:49), Geneva Estep 124th (25:38) and Laney Craig 175th (30:09).
“This win is definitely a reflection of the consistent training and hard work this team has put in this summer. I loved our fight and our commitment to the team,” said WL-S Coach Ann Vogel. “Our race was loaded with some of the best teams and runners in the state, and I’m proud of the way, as a young team, we stuck to our race plan and maintained our composure.”
WL-S is back in action on Sept. 10 at Seneca East’s Stars, Stripes and Lights Invitational.
The West Liberty-Salem boys team, ranked No. 6 in this week’s OATCCC State Division III poll, won the D2/D3 Bob Schul Invitational race. This marks the fourth consecutive year the Tigers have won the meet.
For WL-S, Owen Harrison was 4th in 16:34.9, Asher Knox was 6th in 16:52.0, Quentin Rudolph was 15th in 17:22.7, Troy Bradley was 16th in 17:22.7, Joey LaRoche was 18th in 17:26.0, Garrett Wallen was 19th in 17:35.6, Micah Smith was 21st in 17:37.0, Dylan King was 25th in 17:47.0, Brevin Louden was 46th in 18:17.9, Caleb Larson was 57th in 18:27.7, Taryn Bradley was 58th in 18:29.8, Michael Jones was 60th in 18:30.1, Ryan Henry was 69th in 18:40.7, Mason Barger was 119th in 19:37.1, Chandler McCafferty was 145th in 20:10.1 and Maxwell McCombs was 305th in 27:22.4.
Graham at NW
SPRINGFIELD – The Graham cross country squads participated in the Northwestern Warrior Cross Country Classic on Saturday.
Results for the high school boys, who finished second, were Cayden Bonham 18:23.3 (5th out of 106 runners), Ayden Rudolf 19:39.0 (19th), Ashton Aldredge 19:48.0 (22nd), Jack Bonham 19:53.1 (23rd), Brayden Crooks 20:24.9 (33rd), Zachary Wheeland 21:41.5 (53rd), Ben Parke 23:32.3 (73rd), Weston Helman 24:17.0 (79th), Hayden King 25:43.0 (87th), Tyler Shefbuch 25:49.3 (91st) and Braden Bost 26:48.6 (94th).
Results for the high school girls, who finished fifth, were Hailey Nash 21:12.1 (1st out of 94 runners), Kelsey Demarco 23:05.0 (12th), Taylor Aldredge 24:27.1 (29th), Ella Putterbaugh 26:52.8 (48th place), Ivy Hatfield 27:12.2 (52nd), Grace Smith 29.12.5 (65th), Nora Uhl 30.12.0 (70th), Eliza Blosser 32.24.7 (78th) and Lydia Loos 35:22.1 (87th).
For Triad in the high school boys race, Wyatt Robison finished 9th and Jacob Haser came in 38th.
For Triad in the high school girls race, Shalyn Smiles finished in 2nd place.
Indians at Buckeye Valley
Mechanicsburg competed at the Baron Blast hosted by Buckeye Valley.
For the boys, Will Negley won in 16:50.38, Joshua Porter was 4th in 17:33.99 and Beck Negley was 17th in 18:34.32 as the team placed 4th overall.
For the girls, Clair Rodgers was 4th in 20:57.22, Isabelle Rodgers was 7th in 21:09.19 and Emma Rodgers was 16th in 22:50.23 as the team placed 3rd overall.
JH cross country
For Mechanicsburg at Buckeye Valley, Mason Bandy was 14th in 14:24.01. For the girls, Evie Shultz was 4th in 14:29.51.
The top runner for the Graham middle school boys at Northwestern was Jessie Jenkins 14:33.3 (19th out of 50 runners) and for the middle school girls it was Leila Konicki 16:16.3 (15th out of 57 runners). The boys and girls teams both finished 5th out of 5 teams.
For Triad in the junior high boys race, Cohen Millice finished 1st, Henry Beverson finished 2nd and Wydell Hendricks came in 11th.
For Triad in the junior high girls race, Aubrey Johnson finished 6th, Taylor Queen finished 35th and Brooklynn Melidor finished 36th.
The WL-S junior high boys were 1st out of 27 teams at the Bob Schul Invite. Asher Cole led the Tigers finishing in 12th place in a time of 12:12, Zach Carter was 13th in 12:13 and Brayan Gullett was 14th in 12:14.
The WL-S junior high girls were 4th. Addi Wallen led the Tigers by finishing in 6th place in a time of 13:38, Mariska Smith was 11th in 13:42 and Hattie Jacobs was 13th in 13:44.
