Knights, Lancers, Cougars to regionals

VW independent sports

COLUMBUS GROVE — Crestview and Lincolnview are moving on to Division IV regional cross country competition, while Van Wert has advanced to regionals in Division III.

At the Division III districts at Columbus Grove on Saturday, Crestview’s Lincoln Smith won the individual title with a time of 16:15 and the Knights finished as the runner-up to Columbus Grove in the team standings. Lincolnview finished seven in the standings in the MAC-heavy district. The top nine teams advanced to regionals.

After Smith, Crestview’s Kale Vining finished ninth overall (16:49), followed by Derek Young (11th, 16:54), Andy Heth (15th, 17:10), Caleb Thomas (19th, 17:35), Hudson Perrott (20th, 17:36) and Ian Owens, (61st, 18:50).

Lincolnview’s top finisher was Noah Peters (23th, 17:43), followed by Max Hammons (32th, 17:57), Zander Coil (43rd, 18:21), Kale Kundert (51st, 18:31), Wyatt Polley (62nd, 18:54), Aaron Sawyer (65th, 18:57) and Elijah Martz (72nd, 19:19).

Columbus Grove was named Division IV district champion (28 points), followed by Crestview (53), St. Henry (92), Marion Local (132), Minster (139), New Bremen (160), Lincolnview (197), Delphos St. John’s (225) and Pandora-Gilboa (299). 

On the girls’ side, Lincolnview finished fourth as a team and Crestview grabbed the final regional qualifying spot by finishing 10th. 

Lincolnview’s Brynleigh Moody finished fifth overall (19:45), while Kassidy Hammons recorded a 16th place finish (20:58), followed by Kendall Hoffman (35th, 21:52), Elyssa Renner (38th, 22:10), Josie Miller (41st, 22:25), Harper Reindel (46th, 22:34) and Keira Breese (53rd, 22:48).

Leading the Lady Knights was Anna Gardner (12th, 20:37), followed by Emily Heth (19th, 21:08), Kenzie Harting (51st, 22:44), Ava Motycka  (95th, 26:59), Marlee Temple, (99th, 27:15), Chloe Miller, (104th, 28:07), and Taylor Kittle (107th, 30:15).

Minster won the Division IV district team championship (35 points), followed by Coldwater (76), Columbus Grove (98), Lincolnview (123), Delphos St. John’s (130), Parkway (167), New Bremen (184), St. Henry (216), and Marion Local and Crestview (each with 234).

In the Division III district meet, also at Columbus Grove, Van Wert was the runner-up in the boys race, finishing with 73 points, trailing only Bryan (23 points). The Cougars had five runners in the top 20 – Harrison Sloan (ninth, 17:40), Johan Gemmer (11th, 17:44), Alex Bauer (14th, 18:00), Owen Bates (19th, 18:29) and Isaak Castillo (20th, 18:30). Jayden White finished 29th (18:56) and Calvin Byrum 34th (19:07).

The Van Wert girls also qualified for regionals by placing fourth on Saturday. Symphony Schuerman finished sixth overall for the Cougars (19:38), followed by Jasleen Sharma (17th, 21:19), Ruby Dicke (21st, 21:41), Noelle Byrum (31st, 22:35), Faith Stoller (32nd, 22:37), Whitney Holliday (42nd, 24:27) and Brenna Kimmet (46th, 24:56).

Napoleon won the team title with 59 points, edging Ottawa-Glandorf (62). Archbold was third (82) and Van Wert fourth (107).

The Division III and IV regionals will be held Saturday at Hedges-Boyer Park in Tiffin.