VW cross country teams both 2nd at meet

VW cross country information

UPPER SANDUSKY — The Van Wert Cougar boy and girl cross country harriers officially started off their 2015 season Tuesday evening at Harrison-Smith Park in Upper Sandusky with runner-up finishes. The boys’ team fell to Bay Village Bay, ranked No. 4 in the preseason poll, while the girls fell to a tough Toledo Notre Dame Academy.

Leading the way for the boys’ team was senior captain Cade Fleming (17:09) in seventh place.  Freshman Calahan Wolfrum (17:27) was 10th, sophomore Thane Cowan (17:43) was 18th, sophomore Stephen Hamblett (17:46) was 22nd and sophomore Max Sealscott (18:17) rounded out the scoring in 32nd position.

In unusual fashion, the Cougar boys had to utilize a sixth-man tiebreaker, as both the Cougars and the Napoleon Wildcats tied with 88 points. Freshman Blake Henry (18:23) in 35th place, was the go-to guy for Van Wert, as he outdistanced Napoleon’s sixth man by 17 places, garnering the runner-up spot for his team.

With Toledo Notre Dame Academy girls placing four girls in the top seven, the race for second came down to a battle once again between Van Wert and Napoleon. The Cougar girls proved to be the better team on the day, scoring 86 points while the Wildcats from Napoleon had 100.

Sophomore Julia Springer led the way for the ladies with a ninth-place finish in 20:46.  Senior Chloee Gamble (21:00) was 12th, freshman Sierra Shaffer (21:19) was 20th, junior Natalie Riethman (21:25) was 22nd and sophomore Nicole Clay (21:57) completed the scoring for the girls in 29th place.

“Both squads ran well this evening and I couldn’t be more proud of them,” said Head Coach Brendon Moody. “We’ve been training hard so I was extremely impressed how they handled the race this evening.

“We have a lot of work to do to close that gap between our fourth and fifth runners on both the guys and girls side, but it’s early in the year and we know we have work to do,” he added.