County teams run at Coldwater Invite

VW independent sports

COLDWATER — Crestview, Lincolnview and Van Wert made the trek to southern Mercer County to compete in Saturday’s Coldwater Lions Club Invitational.

The Crestview boys team had a strong showing, finishing third out of 22 teams. Derek Young was the top finisher for the Knights, placing fifth with a time of 16:13. He was followed by Lincoln Smith (eighth, 16:24), Kale Vining (13^th, (16:36), Hudson Perrott (27^th, 17:14), and Andy Heth (40^th, 17:39).

“The Coldwater meet is always a competitive race at the end of the year, leading into conference and the tournament season,” coach Randy Grandstaff said. “It was a warm day, which was reflected in the times they ran.”

Lincolnview finished eighth in the team standings and the Lancers were paced by Noah Peters who finished 39^th (17:38), followed by Max Hammons (42^nd, 17:42), Zander Coil (43^rd, 17:43), Kale Kundert (47^th, 17:47) and Elijah Martz (90^th, 18:28). Van Wert finished in 12^th place and the Cougars were led by Jayden Whilte (62^nd, 17:58), Harrison Sloan (64^th, 17:59), Owen Bates (66^th, 18:07) and Johan Gemmer (76^th, 18:15).

Versailles won the team title with 46 points, followed by Bryan (73) and Crestview (92). Columbus Grove (98) and Tinora (105) rounded out the top five. Lincolnview finished with 248 points and Van Wert tallied 328.

In the junior high race, Van Wert’s Ollie Scott (10:27) and Nate Dreup (10:59) finished first and second.

In the varsity girls’ race, Van Wert finished fourth in the team standings (139), Lincolnview was sixth (185) and Crestview 17^th (407).

Symphony Scheurman led the Cougars with a 14^th place finish (20:56), followed by Noelle Byrum (21^st, 21:22), Jasleen Sharma (21:26), Ruby Dicke (21:47) and Faith Stoller (50^th, 22:29).

Brynleigh Moody paced Lincolnview with a 10^th place finish (20:35), followed by Kassidy Hammons (29^th, 21:30), Elyssa Renner (44^th, 22:10), Kendall Hoffman (49^th, 22:25) and Josie Miller (58^th, 22:52).

The Lady Knights were led by Emily Heth, who finished 18th with a time of 21:12. She was followed by Anna Gardner in 45th place (22:15), Kenzie Harting in 105th place (24:10), Ava Motycka in 171st place (28:16) and Marlee Temple in 190th place (30:24).

Liberty Center won the team title (83 points), followed by Versailles (98), Coldwater and Van Wert, who both finished with 139 points, but Coldwater won the sixth runner tiebreaker.