BUCYRUS — Back on Tuesday, September 3, members of the Northmor, Galion and Clear Fork cross country teams, as well as Crestline’s lone runner, Danny Kiser, headed to the Crawford County Fairgrounds to compete in the Wynford High School Cross Country Invitational.
On the girls side of things, the Northmor Lady Golden Knights would claim the team championship as they held off the runner-ups from Western Reserve; 44-66. Galion’s girls would finish fourth overall with 98 points while the Lady Colts snagged sixth in the field, tallying 152 points.
Tabi Pausch of Western Reserve was the individual champion, pacing the 85-runner field with a time of 21:29.45. Allison Lust of hosting Wynford finished as the runner-up in 21:45.94.
In total, Northmor would see five of their runners finish in the top-13, led by a fifth-place finish from Riley Johnson in 22:02.37. Right behind her was Julianna DiTullio, taking sixth with a time of 22:22.12. Lauren Johnson earned ninth in the field with her time of 22:30.74 while Julia Kanagy snagged 11th in 23:44.99. Olivia Goodson crossed the finish line in a time of 23:04.68, good for 13th overall.
Also in action for the champion Lady Golden Knights were: 44. Felicia Galleher; 47. Maddison Yaussy; 49. Kahlene Brinkman; 57. Carolyn McGaulley; 61. Sydney Kelley and 77. Bailey Snyder.
The Galion Lady Tigers were led by a strong performance from sophomore Zaynah Tate. Tate took home third place with her time of 21:54.40 on the day in Bucyrus. Brooklyn Gates and Ava Smith rounded out the top-20 finishers for Galion as Gates earned 16th with a time of 23:24.18 and Smith 19th, 23:44.07.
Other runners in the field for Galion were: 28. Emily McDonald; 37. Kaitlyn Bailey; 38. Jasmine Clingman; 40. Natalee Perkins; 75. Kaylee Ramsey; 79. Amara Ratcliff; 81. Micah Brown and 85. Hannah Daniels.
For the Lady Colts of Clear Fork, they would have two runners finish within the top-25 in the field, led by a solid, 10th place effort by Isabellah Molina in 22:41.08. Claire Blubaugh took home 22nd overall with a race time of 24:04.13. Jocie Dornbirer (34th), Allison Rose (48th) and Kailyn Moody (67th) were also in the field for Clear Fork on Tuesday.
Over on the boys side of action, Galion’s Braxton Tate dashed his way to an easy win as he led the field of 100 runners with a blazing time of 16:19.02. Gavvin Keen of Northmor snagged runner-up honors with his time of 18:04.97.
Upper Sandusky would prevail as the team champion, tallying 59 points to edge the runner-ups from Northmor (63 points). The Galion boys team finished fourth in the field with 126 points while Clear Fork finished in 10th as a team with 240 points.
Crestline’s Danny Kiser took to the field as the lone representative of his school and finished eighth overall in a time of 19:09.68.
In addition to Keen’s runner-up finish, the Northmor Golden Knights boys squad would have four additional runners finish within the top-25 in the field.
Kooper Keen ran his way to fifth overall in a time of 18:39.27 while Austin Amens took 11th in the field in 19:15.56. Connor Radojcsics clocked-in with a time of 20:01.36, good for 23rd and TJ Diehl rounded out the top-25 in 20:11.37.
Also running for the black and gold on Tuesday were: 29. Lucas Weaver; 56. Jedd Adams; 64. PJ Lower; 71. Jayden McClain; 73. Kolten Hart; 76. Jack Sears; 93. Dylan Amens and 94. Tyler Parsons.
Braeden Horn would be the only other Galion runner to finish in the top-25 of the boys race as he claimed 10th in the 100-runner field with a time of 19:14.19.
Other Tigers running in the invite were: 36. Holden Gabriel; 39. Kellen Kiser; 47. Garrett Murphy; 51. Corban Justice; 53. Grayson Willacker; 57. Zach Slone; 74. Simon Shawk; 83. Sean Clark and 96. Hunter Parsley.
Kaden Wilson was the lone runner to finish in the top-50 for the Colts on the day, snagging 26th in the field with a finishing time of 20:12.96.
Additonal Colts in field were: 54. Nathen Wright; 60. Liam Motter; 63. Alex Pore; 67. Ben Wallis; 77. David Bollinger; 84. Cooper Conkling; 91. Caiden Moody; 98. Zach Hotz and 99. Ben Blubaugh.
