Staff report
RUSSIA — It was quite a battle for the boys championship in the annual Shelby County Cross Country Preview, but the girls race revealed a clear-cut favorite for County laurels this season in action at Russia on Tuesday night.
When the boys race ended, Anna and Fort Loramie were separated by just a single point, with Anna totaling 50 and the Redskins 51. Russia wasn’t far behind in third with 64.
On the girls side, however, Russia was clearly the class of the field, taking four of the first five spots and five of the first nine in finishing with just 23, well ahead of runner-up Botkins with 69.
Boys
Both the Anna and Loramie boys put three runners in the top 10, but the Rockets prevailed when their fifth runner finished eight spots ahead of Loramie’s.
Anna had the race winner in junior Lucas Huber, who ran a 16:51.1 for a comfortable margin of victory. Tom Ballas of Loramie was second in 17:10 and teammate Jake Rethman third in 17:15.4.
Also for Anna, Tyler McKee was fourth, Bradley Axe 10th, Joel Gaier 17th and Korash Assani 18th.
For Loramie, Joe Ballas took sixth, Alan Holdheide was 14th and Noah Siegel 26th.
Also making the top 10 were Aaron Fullenkamp of Botkins, fifth, Caleb Ball and Alex Seger of Russia, seventh and eighth, respectively, and Cameron Flora of Botkins, ninth.
Girls
Chloe Flora of Botkins was the Preview champion in 19:02.9, an impressive 47 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
After her, however, came four Russia runners in Molly Kearns second, Lauren Heaton third, Megan Frazier fourth and freshman Anna Fiessinger fifth. Shae Goubeaux was Russia’s fifth runner, in ninth spot.
Lehman had two in the top 10. Jenna Zimmerman was seventh and Caroline Heitmeyer was 10th.
Also in the top 10 were Rachel Schmitmeyer of Fort Loramie, sixth, and Morgan Ely of Houston, eighth.
Junior high
Sidney won the junior high boys title with 40 points, to 61 for runner-up Russia. Houston had 65, Botkins 101, Loramie 104, Jackson 135 and Fairlawn 190.
For Sidney, Ian Bonifas was second in 11:55, Patrick McClain third in 12:01.3, Clay Boberg seventh in 12:35.3, Caleb Schroer 14th in 12:59.5, and Braden Guinther 16th in 13:10.5.
Russia’s Mason Dapore was the race winner, in 11:48.9.
Fort Loramie’s junior high girls won easily, with 23 points to 67 for Russia. Sidney had 84, Botkins 88, Anna 120, and Jackson 151.
Loramie was led by race winner Paige Rethman, who ran the course in 13:07.4. Danielle Eilerman was third in 13:18.9, Corynn Heitkamp fourth in 13:33.5, Clara Gephart fifth in 13:54.8, and Caitlyn Gasson 10th in 14:25.1. Kennedi Gephart came in 11th and Hannah Siegel 12th to complete Loramie’s domination.
Varsity boys results
Team standings — 1. Anna 50, 2. Loramie 561, 3. Russia 64, 4. Botkins 79, 5. Houston 114, 6. Sidney 175, 7. Jackson Center 186, 8. Lehman 225.
Individuals
Anna — 1. Lucas Huber 16:51.1, 4. Tyler McKee 17:23.3, 10. Bradley Axe 17:34.7, 17. Joel Gaier 18:18, 18. Korash Assani 18:18.7.
Loramie — 2. Tom Ballas 17:10, 3. Jake Rethman 17:15.4, 6. Joe Ballas 17:25.1, 14. Alan Holdheide 18:02.6, 26. Noah Siegel 18:35.9.
Russia — 7. Caleb Ball 17:26.9, 8. Alex Seger 17:27.3, 11. Andrew Ball 17:44.2, 15. Ethan Monnier 18:08.1, 23. Zachary Bell 19:29.2
Botkins — 5. Aaron Fullenkamp 17:24.23, 9. Cameron Flora 17:34.3, 20. Jared Goubeaux 18:23.7, 21. Austin Fullenkamp 18:26, 24. Mathew Prout 18:31.5.
Houston — 12. Troy Riley 17:46.3, 13. Tristan Freistuhler 17:55.9, 22. Ethan Knouff 18:28.4, 34. Devyn Ostrander 19:10.6, 34. Parker Cox 19:18.3.
Sidney — 16. Jonathan Perin 18:16.9, 29. Gavin Bockrath 18:58.7, 43. Eli Straman 19:39.2, 49. Josh Spaugy 20:05.6, 61. Ian Bowman 20:50.7.
Jackson Center — 27. Parker Morris 18:41.9, 31. Drew Sosby 19:09.9, 36. TJ Esser 19:20.6, 60. Allen Nash 20:41.3, 62. Sean March 20:53.7.
Lehman — 30. Isaiah Winhoven 19:01.6, 55. Brandon Simmons 20:22.6, 57. Malachi Bezy 20:28.4, 80. Elias Bezy 23:24.1, 87. Aaron Topp 28:26.4.
Fairlawn — 28. Nick Brautigam 18:54.9, 46. Troy Fletcher 19:5.3
Varsity girls results
Team standings — 1. Russia 23, 2. Botkins 69, 3. Lehman 76, 4. Fort Loramie 93, 5. Houston 119, 6. Anna 141.
Individuals
Russia — 2. Molly Kearns 19:49.9, 3. Lauren Heaton 20:17.2, 4. Megan Frazier 20:38.8, 5. Anna Fiessinger 20:39.7, 9. Shae Goubeaux 21;29.7.
Botkins — 1. Chloe Foora 19:02.8, 11. Brooklyn Flora 21:32.3, 18. Adriana Jutte 22:07.3, 19. Payton Amstutz 22:11.9, 20. Kayla Heuker 22:24.2.
Lehman — 7. Jenna Zimmerman 20:56.8, 10. Caroline Heitmeyer 21:30.1, 12. Alanna O’Leary 21:40.7, 24. Maria Schmiesing 22:343.5, 27. Janelle Gravunder 23:14.9.
Fort Loramie — 6. Rachel Schmitmeyer 20:47.2, 14. Claire Kazmaier 21:52.9, 25. Kaitlyn Luebke 23:00, 26. Erin Chaney 23:07.7, 29. Taylor Gasson 23:20.9.
Houston — 8. Morgan Ely 21:14.6, 16. Hollie Voisard 21:59.4, 22. Emma Mertz 22:31.6, 49. Addie White 26:00.3, 59. Kaitlyn Ellison 27:38.6.
Anna — 13. Jennifer Robinson 21:51.2, 30. Jenna Harshbarger 23;23.9, 31. Grtacen Rogers 23:24.4, 50. Nicole Smith 26:16.2, 51. Rafhel Gehret 26:41.3.
Sidney — 21. Malia Kellner 22:29.7, 42. Grace Martin 24:41.3, 58. Brandi Motsinger 27:18.8, 66. Hannah Deal 31:00.
Fairlawn — 52. Kathi Viethen 26:41.9, 67. Christina Anderson 31:29.
Jackson Center — 41. Kennady Tooke 24:37.6, 55. Abby Nash 27:00.2, 56. Gwen Giesemann 27:04.4, 68. Jaclyn Schmiesing 31:54.
