{"id":210844,"date":"2026-10-04T20:34:28","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T01:34:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=210844"},"modified":"2026-10-04T20:34:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T01:34:28","slug":"local-runners-enjoy-another-strong-showing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/10\/04\/local-runners-enjoy-another-strong-showing\/","title":{"rendered":"Local runners enjoy another strong showing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

VW independent sports<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

OTTAWA — Another invitational, and another outstanding showing by local cross country runners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert won the boys\u2019 team title, while the girls\u2019 team finished as the runner-up. In addition, Crestview\u2019s Derek Young was the invididual champion and Lincolnview\u2019s Maeleigh Evans was the runner up at the Kalida Wildcat Invitational at the Kalida Fish and Game Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cougar boys finished with 55 team points while Crestview finished with 66 points at the 21-team invite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again, Van Wert was led by freshman Oliver Scott (fifth place, 16:16.96), while senior Quintin Parrish placed ninth (16:38.62). Along with Scott and Parrish, the Cougars had five finishers in the top 18. Calvin Byrum finished 15th (16:53.36), Alex Bauer was 16th (16:53.87) and Harrison Sloan was 18 (16:57.21).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young was the day\u2019s individual champion, racing to a winning time of 15:26.81, a mark that broke his own Crestview school record and continued his exceptional senior campaign. Crestview backed up Young\u2019s victory with a tight, disciplined pack: Kale Vining placed seventh in 16:37.00, Hudson Perrott (17th, 16:56.32), Caleb Thomas (23rd, 17:20.44), and Andy Heth (25th, 17:27.09).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lincolnview finished seventh as a team and the Lancers were led by Aaron Sawyer, who placed with a time of 16:50.35. He was followed by Max Hammons (42nd, 17:58.39), Evan Young (55th, 18:25.31), Ethan Renner (56th, 18:26.00), and Zander Coil (63rd, 18:31.71).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the girls\u2019 side, Evans finished as the runner-up behind Napoleon\u2019s Gwen Huddle, who clocked a time of 17:33.49. Evans finished the course in 18:58.70, followed by Lancer teammates Kassidy Hammons (19th, 20:39.58), Josie Miller (23rd, 21:02.09), Addie Breese (44th, 21:58.20) and Moriah Bertsch (64th, 22:50.61). As a team, Lincolnview finished fourth (133 points).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pair of top seven runners helped secure Van Wert\u2019s runner-up finish in the team standings. Noelle Byrum led the Cougars (fifth, 19:17.28) and Symphony Schuerman (seventh, 19:46.58). Jasleen Sharma (14th, 20:14.37), Ava Keuneke (18th, 20:36.92), and Faith Stoller (20th<\/sup>, 20:40.90) rounded out the top five for Van Wert (54 points).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lady Knights placed 12th out of 18 teams, led by a standout run from Emily Heth, who claimed 13th overall in 20:12.73. Lydia Grace followed with a steady performance, finishing 34th in 21:26.23. Kenzie Harting added a 79th place finish in 23:24.30, while Jetta Merkle crossed in 112th at 25:06.73. Ava Motycka placed 118th in 25:29.85.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ottawa-Glandorf was the team champion with 50 points. Full results can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert, Crestview and Lincolnview will compete at this Saturday\u2019s Coldwater Invitational, a meet known for fast times and deep competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VW independent sports OTTAWA — Another invitational, and another outstanding showing by local cross country runners. Van Wert won the boys\u2019 team title, while the girls\u2019 team finished as the runner-up. In addition, Crestview\u2019s Derek Young was the invididual champion and Lincolnview\u2019s Maeleigh Evans was the runner up at the Kalida Wildcat Invitational at the […]<\/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-210844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-15 22:42:43","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\/210844","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=210844"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210845,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210844\/revisions\/210845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}