Knight runners 4th, 9th at Grove Invite

Van Wert independent sports

COLUMBUS GROVE — The Crestview varsity cross country teams competed in the Grove Invitational on Saturday.  A huge number of Knight runners set personal record times.

The varsity boys’ team earned a trophy with its fourth place finish out of 22 schools. The Knights continued to tighten up their pack with just 53 seconds between their top five scoring runners. They were paced by Wyatt Richardson, who raced to a 14th place plaque winning finish in a time of 17:23. He was followed by Caleb Bagley, 28th; Gabe Smith, 40th; Dylan Sparks, 41st; and Jace Vining, 46th.

The varsity girls’ team placed ninth out of 15 teams. Ashley Bowen ran a smart and gutty race to win the individual championship trophy in a personal record time of 19:34. This time is the fifth fastest 5K time by a Crestview female runner.

Ragen Harting also set a personal record, finishing in 21:24 to win a plaque and move into the 19th position on Crestview’s all-time top 20 list. They were followed by Lydia Saylor, Savannah Smith, and Lauren Schumm.

The boys’ junior varsity team placed 10th out of 15 teams and were paced by Tyler White and Cameron Cearns, who both raced to personal record times.