{"id":185390,"date":"2024-10-27T21:17:48","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T02:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=185390"},"modified":"2024-10-28T08:47:36","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T13:47:36","slug":"local-runners-punch-ticket-to-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2024\/10\/27\/local-runners-punch-ticket-to-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Local runners punch ticket to state"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TIFFIN — Just like at regionals, Van Wert County will be well represented at the 2024\u00a0OHSAA cross country state championships, as the Van Wert Cougar boys plus one girl, Lincolnview boys and girls and Crestview boys will compete at Fortress Obetz on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Division II<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert qualified for state with a third place team finish in the Division II regionals at Hedges-Boyer Park on Saturday. Lexington won the team title with 36 points, followed by Liberty-Benton (101) and Van Wert (106). Celina (114)\u00a0also qualified for state with a fourth place finish. In Division II, the top four teams, along with the top 16 individual placers, all qualify for the upcoming state meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Van Wert boys will compete in the OHSAA cross country state championships on Saturday. Photos submitted<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Once again, Van Wert senior Owen Scott, who is Youngstown State-bound, set a personal record and school record. His time of 15:23.09 edged the record set just last week at district competition (15:23.28). He finished third overall behind Lexington\u2019s Chance Basilone (15:14.28) and Ottawa-Glandorf\u2019s Ty Rosengarten (15:22.42).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Scott, Van Wert\u2019s scorers were Andrew Laudick, who finished ninth overall with a time of 16:12.41, Harrison Sloan (32nd, 17:07.91), Quintin Parrish (38th, 17:18.81) and Johan Gemmer (44th, 17:25.38).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course, our goal was to come home with some team hardware but we fell short of that in a very competitive race,\u201d Van Wert head coach Kimberly Laudick said. \u201cBeing five points away from regional runners-up hurts, but also gives a little extra motivation heading into state week. Owen and Andrew once again put together two very solid performances and it\u2019s very comforting as a coach knowing we have two guys that consistently score in the top 10.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know a few other guys were a little bummed on how they raced, but we get to race at the state meet as a team, which is a great team achievement,\u201d she continued. \u201cMy message to the team was a lot of other schools wish they could be in our shoes and we have a great opportunity to make some noise down at Obetz. We still have business to take care of and the Cougars plan to do just that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Van Wert\u2019s Symphony Schuerman also punched her ticket to state as an individual. The freshman finished 15th overall with a time of 19:24.18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am so proud and excited for Symphony,\u201d Laudick said. \u201cShe ran a great race in a highly competitive regional race. Her future is very bright and for her as a freshman to get the chance to race at the state meet is very special for her and our girls team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teammate and sophomore Noelle Byrum also competed and finished 53rd<\/sup> (21:15.87) but did not advance to state competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Division II boys state race will begin at 12 p.m. Saturday at Fortress Obetz and Memorial Park in Obetz, followed by the Division II girls race at 12:45 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Division III<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a runner-up finish in the Division III regionals, the Crestview boys are state-bound. The Knights (152) finished just five points behind team champion Columbus Grove (147) in the final standings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Van Wert’s Symphony Schuerman (right) will compete at state on Saturday. Teammate Noelle Byrum competed with Schuerman at Saturday’s Division II regionals. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Lincoln Smith paced the Knights with a 14th-place finish (16:22.81) and was followed by Andrew Heth (26th, 16:33.10), Derek Young (35th, 16:55.80), Kale Vining (43rd, 16:58.95) and Luke Sawmiller (78th, 17:36.51).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese young athletes continue to impress, showcasing their speed and determination in such crucial competitions,\u201d head coach Randy Grandstaff said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t be prouder of their performances today, especially as they\u2019re reaching their peak as the season winds down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anna Gardner competed as an individual for the Lady Knights and finished her season with a 59th place finish and a time of 20:55.96.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lincolnview\u2019s boys\u2019 and girls\u2019 teams are both bound for Fortress Obetz and the Division III state meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The girls finished qualified for state with a fifth place team finish (217 points). Brynleigh Moody led the Lancers with a ninth place finish (19:13.07), followed by Keira Breese (42nd, 20:40.73), Kassidy Hammons (51st, 20:48.29), Josie Miller (81st, 21:25.30) and Harper Reindel (97th, 21:43.11).  Minster won the team title (98) points and Ashland Crestview was the runner-up (121 points).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBrynleigh ran one of her best races of the season,\u201d Lincolnview head coach Matt Langdon said. \u201cThe girls were also down one of their top five so our pack really had to really run well for us to advance and they did just that. Each girl after Brynleigh did their job and it allowed us to qualify for the state meet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe girls are excited to have another chance to run in Columbus and end their journey on the state course,\u201d he continued. \u201cThey have had an incredibly consistent year and the coaching staff is extremely proud of how far they\u2019ve come. The top seven is made up of mostly junionrs and sophomores so we are also looking to gain even more experience at the state level for next season.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lancers finished sixth as a team in the boys\u2019 race (254 points). Evan Johns (31st, 16:43.02) led Lincolnview and was followed by Kreston Tow (53rd, 17:12.93), Max Hammons (73rd, 17:30.64), Kaleb Denman (81st, 17:40.65) and Myles Moody (85th, 17:42.81).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe boys ran a great team race,\u201d Langdon said. \u201cWe have been dealing with an injury to our normal third guy so the pack really stepped up today. It was a big reason whey we advanced. They found each other during the race and were able to finish within seconds of each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur third through seventh guy were only 30 seconds apart and that made a huge difference in a very close and competitive race,\u201d he added. \u201cOur regional is very deep with talent and it always comes down to a thin margin. We are blessed to be able to compete at state but more importantly, we get another week to be together at practice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Division III, the top seven teams and the top 28 individual placers all qualified for the state meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Division III boys\u2019 state meet will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at Fortress Obetz, followed by the girls\u2019 race at 10:45 a.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports TIFFIN — Just like at regionals, Van Wert County will be well represented at the 2024\u00a0OHSAA cross country state championships, as the Van Wert Cougar boys plus one girl, Lincolnview boys and girls and Crestview boys will compete at Fortress Obetz on Saturday. Division II Van Wert qualified for state with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-01 15:25:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185390"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":185436,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185390\/revisions\/185436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}