Cougar, Knight runners in Seneca County

Van Wert independent sports

Crestview and Van Wert’s cross country teams made the trek to Seneca County on Saturday to compete in a pair of different events.

Stars, Stripes and Lights

ATTICA — With three runners in the top nine, Van Wert finished as the runner-up to Woodridge at Seneca East’s Stars, Stripes and Lights night race on Saturday.

Competing in the Division II classification, Hunter Sherer and Gage Springer finished No. 4 and 5 with respective times of 16:36.33 and 16:38.95, while teammate Gage Wannemacher finished ninth (16:47.41) out of more than 240 runners.

In addition, Drew Laudick (17:49.17) finished 30th and Rylan Miller (47th, 18:20.12) rounded out the scoring for the Cougars. Jayden Welker (48th, 18:21.97) and Owen Scott (56th, 18:43.81) also ran for Van Wert.

Woodridge also won the girls’ Division II team title while Van Wert finished seventh out of 17 teams.

Kyra Welch paced the Lady Cougars with a 17th place finish and a time of 20:12.39, followed by Tyra McClain (32nd, 21:42.57), Alyssa Knittle (47th, 22:42.61), Tayler Carter (62rd, 23:22.51) and Sarah Verville (83rd, 24.24.74).

Tiffin Cross Country Carnival

TIFFIN — It’s billed as the largest cross county race in the United States, with dozens of teams and thousands of high school and middle school runners.

After an off-year in 2020 due to COVID-19, the Tiffin Cross Country Carnival took place at Hedges Boyer Park on Saturday, with the Crestview Knights taking part in the massive event.

In the Boys High School Division III-A race, Hayden Tomlinson led the Knights by placing 77th (18:22.4), followed by Isaiah Watts (106th, 19:07.8), Logan Foudy (114th, 19:25.8), Jayden Renner (127th, 19:45.9), Gavin Grubb (151st, 20:59.7), Aiden Ankney (163rd, 21:48.6) and Nolan Walls (22:02.5).

As a team, Crestview finished 25th out of 28 teams. East Canton won the team title, followed by Fort Loramie and Columbus Grove.

In the Division II-III girls open, Lauren Walls posted a fine fourth place finish with a time of 22:25.9, trailing only Anna Brown (22:01.8) and Maggie Ramsey (22:24.7) of Eastwood and Sabrina Henige of Columbus Grove (22.25.5).

Crestview will compete in the Galion Cross Country Festival on Saturday.