5 local runners qualify for state CC meet

Van Wert independent sports

Five local runners will be heading to the state track meet in Hebron this coming Saturday after qualifying during regional track meets held at Tiffin’s Hedges Boyar Park this past weekend.

Van Wert High School will be sending four runners to the state track meet following the Division II regional track meet on Saturday.

Senior Jared Fleming won the boys’ Division II regionals with a time of 15:57.31, who beat out Defiance’s Abel Flores for the meet’s top sport. Fleming was followed by fellow Cougar Kase Schalois, who came in ninth in a time of 16:29.09, while Connor Holliday also qualified for state with a 14th place finish in 16:37.81.

As a team, the Cougar boys were fifth, just out of the running for a berth in the state meet.

On the girls’ side, Van Wert’s Andrea Foster qualified as an individual with a 15th place finish in 20:14.54.

In the Division III boys’ race, Crestview’s Mycah Grandstaff came through with a 11th-place finish in 16:48 to qualify for the state cross country meet in that division.

Like the Cougars, the Lincolnview boys just missed out on a trip to the state track meet, finishing fifth in the 16-team Division III race. Top runners for the Lancers were Bayley Tow, who was 26th in a time of 17:10.