Staff report
FORT LORAMIE — The Fort Loramie boys cross country team, ranked No. 3 in the state in Division 3 this week, dominated in the annual Fort Loramie Invitational, held Tuesday afternoon at White Oak Campgrounds.
The Redskins had three of the top four finishers and ended up with 34 points to take top honors by a healthy margin over runner-up Parkway. There were 17 teams in the competition.
Joe Spitzer of Versailles was a clear-cut winner, running a 16:34.2 to win by 33 seconds.
Next came three runners from Loramie in Joe Ballas second, Tom Ballas third and Jake Rethman fourth. Alan Holdheide finished 10th and Noah Siegel 15th.
Noah Pleiman of Versailles and Tristin Freistuhler of Houston also made the top 10, placing fifth and ninth, respectively.
High school girls
The high school girls race went to Columbus Grove with 46 points. Versailles was second with 53 and Loramie third with 89.
Top 10 finishers included Kara Spitzer of Versailles in fourth, Kelsey Broering of Marion Local in fifth, Paige Rethman of Fort Loramie in seventh, and Megan Rismiller of Versailles in ninth. Danielle Berning of Fort Loramie was 11th.
Junior high
Botkins won the junior high boys championship with 72 pints to 101 for Versailles.
The Trojans were led by Donovan Brown in seventh place in 11:52.3. Alan Fullenkamp was 11th, Collin Watterson 12th, Nate Schneider 18th and Ethan Aufderhaar 24th.
Also in the top 10 were Braden Guinther of Sidney in second in 11:40.36, Aidan Tangeman of Sidney in fourth place in 11:43.1, Colten Gasson of Loramie in eighth in 11:55.19, Xavier Grillot of Versailles in ninth in 11:58.61, and Matt Cromwell of Versailles in 10th in 12:01.61.
• In the junior high girls competition, Fort Loramie dominated, placing all five runners in the first seven spots to easily win the team title with just 18 points.
Coryn Heitkamp led Loramie, winning the race in 12:29.75. Teammate Danielle Eilerman was second in 12:45.01, Kaitlyn Grillot was fifth in 13:02.74, Caitlyn Gasson sixth in 13:15.0, and Olivia Borchers seventh in 13:15.53.
Houston’s Evan Knouff was third in 12:48.85, and Botkins’ Jill Greve was 10th in 13:20.5.
Fort Loramie Invitational
Varsity results
BOYS
Final team standings — 1. Fort Loramie 34, 2. Parkway 80, 3. Houston 93, 4. Versailles 144, 5. Sidney 155, 6. Columbus Grove 155, 7. Wapakoneta 218, 8. Troy Christian 223, 9. Marion Local 239, 10. Ben Logan 262, 11. Piqua 288, 12. Arcanum 296, 13. Jackson Center 298, 14. Vandalia 367, 15. Fairlawn 430, 16. Troy 447, 17. Indian Lake 484.
Individuals
Fort Loramie — 2. Joe Ballas 17:09.8, 3. Tom Ballas 17:15.58, 4. Jake Rethman 17:22.17, 10. Alan Holdheide 17:38.9, 15. Noah Siegel 17:53.88.
Houston — 9. Tristin Freistuhler 17:35.72, 12. Parker Cox 17:43.76, 13. Ethan Knouff 17:45.21, 18. Dakota Francis 18:07.79, 42. Devyn Ostrander 19:04.82.
Versailles — 1. Joe Spitzer 16:34.2, 5. Noah Pleiman 17:25.97, 38. Brooks Blakeley 18:58.42, 51. Mitchell Huelskamp 19:33.22, 53. Stuart Baltes 19:36.3.
Sidney — 19. Ian Bowman 18:08.93, 23. Gavin Bockrath 18:12.1, 25. Eli Straman 18:21.58, 41. Ian Bonifas 19:03.39, 50. Patrick McClain 19:22.68.
Jackson Center — 17. Parker Morris 18:01.86, 30. Christopher Elchert 18:42.85, 71. TJ Esser 20:05.3, 84, Jeremy Burch 20:15.47, 179. Sean March 25:27.6.
Fairlawn — 48. Nick Brautigam 19:19.93, 76. Stephen Blanford 20:09.18, 155. Matt Brautigam 24:09.26, 170. Drew Brautigam 24:58.8, 192. Jordan Henman 27:13.41.
GIRLS
Final team standings — 1. Columbus Grove 46, 2. Versailles 53, 3. Fort Loramie 89, 4. Wapakoneta 109, 5. Marion Local 166, 6. Houston 175, 7. Piqua 187, 8. Troy 203, 9. Arcanum 248, 10. Parkway 254, 11. Indian Lake 301, 12. Mississinawa 366.
Individuals
Versailles — 4. Kara Spitzer 20:25.78, 9. Megan Rismiller 21:10.4, 14. Brynna Blakeley 21:49.23, 15. Hannah Bey 21:50.82, 18. Liz Watren 22:08.86.
Fort Loramie — 7. Paige Rethman 20:35.03, 11. Danielle Berning 21:30.99, 19. Hannah Siegel 22:10.99, 27. Kennedi Gephart 22:41.37, 34. Erin Chaney 23:05.43.
Houston — 13. Morgan Ely 21:40.44, 21. Hollie Voisard 22:19.28, 30. Allie Voisard 22:49.82, 79. Addie White 25:28.35, 102. Kaitlyn Ellison 26:31.35.
