Staff report
COLDWATER — The annual Coldwater Lions Invitational cross country meet was held Thursday in Mercer County, and the Fort Loramie boys served notice that they are ready for postseason action.
The Redskins, the No. 3-ranked team in the state, put on an impressive performance in taking first place by 30 points. They totaled 47 points to 77 for St. Henry in the 19-team field.
What made it impressive was three Redskin runners crossing the finish line just after race winner Joe Spitzer of Versailles.
Second was Jake Rethman, third was Joe Ballas and fourth was Tom Ballas. Alan Holdheide crossed in 11th place and Noah Siegel was 27th.
Spitzer finished in 16:17.24 to 16:29.03 for Rethman. Spitzer led Versailles to a fifth-place finish.
Final team standings — 1. Fort Loramie 47, 2. St. Henry 77, 3. Lincolnview 92, 4. Parkway 1-4, 5. Versailles 158, 6. Crestview 161, 7. Minster 169, 8. Lima Shawnee 200, 9. Marion Local 287, 10. Coldwater 319, 11. Fort Recovery 339, 12. Jackson Center 360, 13. New Bremen 364, 14. St. Marys 383, 15. Celina 392, 16. Van Wert 423, 17. Delphos St. John’s 462, 18. Bradford 487, 19. Ansonia 586.
Individuals
Fort Loramie — 2. Jake Rethman 16:29.03, 3. Joe Ballas 16:47.34, 4. Tom Ballas 16:54.59; 11. Alan Holdheide 17:30.56; 27. Noah Siegel 18:01.59.
Versailles — 1. Joe Spitzer, Versailles, 16:17.24; 8. Noah Pleiman 17:25.9; 36. Brooks Blakeley 18:17.47; 51. Stuart Baltes 18:48.53; 63. Mitchell Huelskamp 18:59.75.
Minster — 21. Carter Pohl 17:56.28; 23. Jon Albers 17:57.5, 31. Luke Barga 18:03.97; 40. Andrew Broering 18:23.22; 54. Ryan Cavanaugh 18:50.78.
Jackson Center — 18. Parker Morris 17:53.78; 41. Christopher Elchert 18:25.72; 105. TJ Esser 19:58.41; 131. Jeremy Burch 20:23.31.
New Bremen — 39. Hunter Waterman 18:22.53; 46. Ezra Ferguson 18:33.62; 102. Sam Rutschilling 19:56.31; 112. Landin Boyle 20:06.5; 124. Spencer Elking 20:18.66.
GIRLS
To no one’s surprise, the No. 1-ranked Minster girls took first place with just 28 points, putting four runners in the top 10 and its top five in the first 12 to cross the line.
Emma Watcke led the Lady Wildcats, winning the race by 11 seconds in 19:31.28. Kaitlynn Albers was fourth, Morgan Pohl seventh, Gwendolyn Meiring eighth and Mackenzie Bohman 12th.
Versailles places third and was led by Liz Watren in 17th spot, Megan Rismiller 21st, and Hannah Bey, 25th.
Fort Loramie finished in sixth place and had one runner, Paiger Rethman, in the top 10. She placed 10th in 20:18.31.
Final team standings — 1. Minster 28, 2. St. Henry 88, 3. Versailles 112, 4. St. Marys 139, 5. Lima Shawnee 147, 6. Fort Loramie 176, 7. Coldwater 193, 8. Fort Recovery 244, 9. Marion Local 252, 10. New Bremen 274, 11. Lincolnview 285, 12. Crestview 293, 13. Delphos St. John’s, 14. Parkway 416, 15. Ansonia 430, 16. New Knoxville 450.
Individuals
Minster — 1. Emma Watcke 19:31.38; 5. Kaitlynn Albers 19:50.2; 7. Morgan Pohl 20:05.75; 8. Gwen Meiring 20:14.68; 12. Mackenzie Bohman 20:24.58.
Versailles — 17. Liz Watren 20:36.02; 21. Megan Rismiller 20:59.58; 25. Hannah Bey 21:08.37; 29. Brynna Blakeley 21:20.08; 31. Kara Spitzer 21:24.59.
Fort Loramie — 10. Paige Rethman 20:18.31; 33. Danielle Berning 21:27.12; 51. Jenna Thomas 22:19.15; 53. Hannah Siegel 22:20.52; 54. Avory Smith 22:20.96.
New Bremen — 14. Bailey Bronkema 20:30.68; 56. Erica Niekamp 22:28.06; 85. Alana Speelman 23:43.34; 92. Andrea Heitkamp 24:08.68; 99. Kathryn Niekamp 24:39.56.
New Knoxville — 88. Jacklyn Leffel 23:50.31; 102. Abby Maggi 24:47.02; 166. Ashley Scott 27:32.72; 170, Elaine Poppe 27:55.14; 176. Madison Ott 28:29.62.
Jackson Center (two runners) — 118. Gwen Geisemann 25:30.52; 120. Courtney Meyer 25:32.12.
JUNIOR HIGH
Fort Loramie also took first place in the junior high girls race with 48 points, just six less than Minster.
Corynn Heitkamp led Loramie, placing fifth in 12:41.97. Olivia Borchers was seventh in 12:54.25, Danielle Eilerman placed 10th in 12:57.09, Kaitlyn Grillot was 12th in 13:07.81, and Caitlyn Gasson was 14th in 13:10.0.
Minster’s Kate Larger was second in 12:22.4, Ella Boate fourth in 12:39.03, and Janae Hoying ninth in 12:56.5. Mason Pohl placed 11th.
In junior high boys, Versailles took first place with 70 points, six better than Lima Shawnee.
Fort Loramie had two in the top ten, with Colin Gasson second in 11:43.28 and Colten Gasson seventh in 123:05.18.
Jackson Center’s Elijah Murphy finished sixth in 12:04.34.
Versailles was led by Xavier Grillot in fifth in 12:04.06, and Matt Cromwell was eighth in 12:07.66. Ryan Subler was 21st, Noah Barga 25th and Jarrett Petitjean 28th.
