Fort Loramie’s Adam Zircher (left) and Sean Bornhorst (right) keep pace during Tuesday’s cross country race at White Oak Campground in Fort Loramie.
FORT LORAMIE – Fort Loramie boys and girls take first place as teams at Tuesday’s cross country race at White Oak Campground in the Fort Loramie Invitational.
“Overall I was pleased with the efforts of our runners tonight,” Fort Loramie head coach Dennis Prenger said. “We are dealing with afew injuries and illnesses on the guys side that created some holes in our team for today’s meet, but I was happy with the wa some of our other guys stepped up and filled in.”
Fort Loramie boys finished with a score of 39, placing them nine points better than second place Ansonia.
The Houston Wildcats finished in third as a team with their score of 85.
Fort Loramie’s top runners were Dj Barhorst (18:44.1, third overall), Ethan Koester (18:44.8, fourth overall), Isaac Holthaus (19:11.7, seventh overall), Sean Bornhorst (19:17.3, eighth overall), Adam Zircher (20:30.7, 17th overall) and Jackson Frilling (20:38.7, 18th overall).
Top runners for the Wildcats were Dakari Crawford (19:09.8, sixth overall), Weston Hoover (19:40.9, 10th overall), Dyan Shaffer (20:05.5, 14th overall), Konner Pleiman (21:30.2 29th overall), Hudson Mowery (21:35.6, 30th overall) and Logan Ramge (25:23.9, 44th overall).
The top two finishes in the boys race were both Ansonia runners, Bennett Lehman (16:00.2) and Ethan Sparks (18:37.8).
“The performance of the night went to Ansonia’s Bennet Lehman,” Prenger said. “His race was amazing. When you consider the caliber of runners from FLXC and other programs that have run this course over the years, his time of 16:00 bests most if not all of them.”
In the girls race, Fort Loramie took a decisive victory over the field with a score of 22 which was 41 points better than second place Parkway. Houston finished in fourth place with its score of 86.
Fort Loramie’s top runners in the girls race were Ariel Heitkamp (20:28.5, first overall), Lauren Moore (21:07.5, second overall), Harley Eilerman (21:20.3, fourth overall), Marie Ballas (22:53.0, eighth overall), Carly Holthaus (22:56.4, ninth overall), Liza Poeppelman (23:00.9, 10th overall).
“Our three seniors (Ariel, Lauren and Harley) did what they have been doing all season, leading by example,” Prenger said of his girls squad. “They finished first, second and fourth in the race. Obviously we need to tighten up the pack if we want to accomplish our team goals, but I saw some things tonight taht make me optimistic if we can keep working and improving.”
The Wildcats top runners were Ava Mowery (22:42.2, seventh overall), Mekayla Pleiman (25:32.6, 22nd overall), Gabriella Harding (29:39.5, 34th overall), Elizabeth Fogt (31:56.8, 41st overall) and Kaelyn Richardson (32:33.4, 42nd overall).
Fort Loramie’s cross country team is back in action on Saturday at the Troy Twilight Invite at 4:30 p.m. where they will compete alongside the Houston Wildcats again.
