Staff report

BOTKINS — The annual Botkins Best in the West Cross Country Invitational was held again Saturday at the Community Park, with the Trojan teams being joined by a host of other schools.

There were 16 boys varsity teams in the competition, and half that many full teams in the varsity girls race.

Joe Spitzer of Versailles dominated the boys race, crossing the finish line some 44 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

But it was Parkway that wound up winning the team title, with 62 points to 85 for runner-up Anna. Houston was fourth with 125.

Also finishing in the top ten were Lucas Huber of Anna second, Austin Fullenkamp of Botkins, fifth, Noah Pleiman of Versailles sixth, Bradley Axe of Anna ninth and Ethan Knouff of Houston 10th.

Also for Anna, Matthew Burden was 19th, Kyle Christman 23rd and Joel Gaier 32nd.

Houston’s Tristin Freistuhler was 12th.

— St. Henry won the girls team title with 44 points, five more than Versailles.

The race winner was Ashley Bowen of Crestview in 19:38.03, the only runner to finish under 20 minutes.

The top local/area finisher was Sidney freshman Ana Adams, who was fourth. Megan Rismiller of Versailles was sixth, Alanna O’Leary of Lehman ninth and Brynna Blakeley of Versailles 10th.

Houston had the next two runners in Morgan Ely and Hollie Voisard, then game Emma Peters, Hannah Bey and Liz Watren of Versailles, 13th thru 15th.

— Colin Gasson of Fort Loramie won the junior high boys race in 11:34, but it was Botkins winning the team title with 40 points to Loramie’s 98.

Botkins had four runners in the top 10, including Alan Fullenkamp in third in 11:40.44, Nate Schneider sixth in 12:01.74, Donovan Brown eighth in 12:04.05, and Collin Watterson ninth in 12:04.56.

Botkins’ fifth runner was Aiden Eigonbrond in 20th in 12:31.16.

Also making the top ten were Braden Guinther of Sidney in fifth in 12:01.2, Colten Gasson of Fort Loramie in seventh in 12:02.3, and Aidan Reichert of Jackson Center in 10th in 12:04.8.

— The Fort Loramie girls won the junior high team title in dominant fashion, with just 25 points.

Leading the way was Corynn Heitkamp in first place in 12:31.03. Teammate Danielle Eilerman was third in 12:45.6, Olivia Borchers was fifth in 12:54.84, Caitlin Gasson was seventh in 13:07.62, and Kaitlyn Grillot ninth in 13:22.61.

Also in the top ten were Ava Knouff of Houston in second in 12:42.78, Breann Reamen of Anna in sixth in 13:00.3, Madelyn Holzapfel of Versailles in eighth in 13:19.33, and Emma Koenig of Botkins in 10th in 13:22.94.

Varsity Boys

Final team standings — 1. Parkway 62, 2. Anna 85, 3. St. Henry 93, 4. Houston 125, 5. Crestview 143, 6. Versailles 153, 7. Sidney 197, 8. Botkins 212, 9. Jackson Center 273, 10. Fort Recovery 279, 11. Hardin Northern 312, 12. Spencerville 323, 13. Lehman 345, 14. Fort Loramie 355, 15. Cory-Rawson 364, 16. Fairlawn 372.

Individuals

Anna — 2. Lucas Huber 17:06.92, 9. Bradley Axe 17:34.16, 19. Matthew Burden 17:59.49, 23. Kyle Christman 18:04.52, 32. Joel Gaier 18:21.54.

Houston — 10. Ethan Knouff 17:34.16, 12. Tristin Freistuhler 17:38.78, 26. Parker Cox 18:11.93, 28. Fakota Francis 18:17.82, 49. Devyn Ostrander 18:58.38.

Versailles — 1. Joe Spitzer 16:22.32, 6. Noah Pleiman 17:26.17, 42. Brooks Blakeley 18:47.37, 47. Stuart Baltes 18:53.94, 57. Adam Gehret 19:14.95.

Sidney — 22. Ian Bonifas 18:03.33, 25. Gavin Bockrath 18:08.71, 31. Eli Straman 18:20.43, 50. Ian Bowman 18:59.21, 78. Ben Musser 20:02.36.

Botkins — 5. Austin Fullenkamp 17:188.01; 37. Konnor Burmeister 18:34.19, 43. Mathew Prout 18:51.22, 66. Elliott Goubeaux 19:38.55, 67. Jonathan Yenser 19:41.08.

Jackson Center — 29. Parker Morris 18:17.82, 35. Christopher Elchert 18:32.97, 52. TJ Esser 19:05.28, 91. Jeremy Burch 20:28.66, 108. Sean March 21:15.04.

Lehman — 40. Chris Goettemoeller 18:44.34, 64. Isaiah Winhoven 19:34.7, 79. Brandon Simmons 20:04.1 111. Elias Bezy 21:18.22, 119. Matthew McDonald 21:40.89.

Fort Loramie — 62. Nick Pleiman 19:31.92, 5, 75. Jay Kacin 19:55, 90. Evan Luthman 20:27.46, 98. Kaden Mescher 20:51.2, 99. Charles Wray 20:55.51.

Fairlawn — 38. Nick Brautigam 18:35.47, 46. Stephen Blanford 18:53.16, 124. Isaac Ambos 21:44.2, 149. Cade Allison 22:32.06, 150. Jordan Henman 22:33.26.

Riverside — 128. Ethan Williams 21:49.28, 181. Evan Kauffman 29:14.77.

Varsity Girls

Final team standings — 1. St. Henry 44, 2. Versailles 49, 3. Fort Recovery 93, 4. Crestview 104, 5. Houston 105, 6. Parkway, 7. New Knoxville, 8. Hardin Northern 201.

Individuals

Versailles — 6. Megan Rismiller 21:07.3, 10. Brynna Blakeley 21:14.94, 13. Emma Peters 21:29.92, 14. Hannah Bey 21:32.59, 15. Liz Watren 21:34.95.

Houston — 11. Morgan Ely 21:24.93, 12. Hollie Voisard 21:27.53, 30. Allie Voisard 22:43.03, 58. Emma Mertz 24:59.65, 64. Addie White 25:42.53.

New Knoxville — 37. Abby Maggi 23:33.63, 51. Jacklyin Leffel 24.44.23, 84. Ashley Scott 27:36.21, 92. Elaine Poppe 28:22.94, 94. Madison Ott 28:45.24.

Sidney — 4. Ana Adams 21:02.37, 31. Mariana Kellner 23:02.81, 67. Savannah Garber 25:42.15, 68. Mikayla Smedley 25:47.87.

Lehman — 9. Alanna O’Leary 21:12.61, 20. Maria Schmiesing 22:10.85, 60. Theresa Flood 25:16.15, 69. Caitlin Swallow 26:04.99.

Botkins — 16. Adriana Jutte 21:49.24, 35. Brooklyn Flora 23:25.79, 49. Cassie McGowan 24:30.45.

Jackson Center — 41. Lexi Schmiesing 23:47.38, 43. Deanna Lowry 23:51.94, 61. Gwen Giesemann 25:22.13, 62. Courtney Meyer 25:30.16.

Riverside — 75. Caitlyn Elliott 26:50.65, 104. Samantha Neeley 29:58.06.

Anna — 41. Gracen Rogers 23:44.81, 55. Susan Jones 24:51.79, 66. Ashleigh Jurosic 25:43.05, 105. Lilly Toller 30:07.87.