Staff report
There will be six full teams from the county and area running in the State Cross Country Championships in Columbus on Saturday, as a result of their performances in the regional meets two days ago.
At Troy, three County boys teams advanced to the state meet, led by the Anna Rockets, who added to their district crown by winning the regional title as well.
The Rockets finished with 86 points to beat out runner-up Fort Loramie’s 98. Botkins was fourth with 129 to also earn a berth at state. It was Anna’s first regional title since 1995, the year the Rockets won their second of back-to-back state championships.
Lucas Huber again led the Rocket runners, placing seventh overall in 16:29.2. Tyler McKee was 20th, Joel Gaier 22nd, Korash Assani 28th and Bradley Axe 29th.
Fort Loramie was led by Jake Rethman, who was 17th, but he had friends close by. Tom Ballas was 19th and Joe Ballas 21st. Noah Siegel placed 30th and Alan Holdheide 35th.
For Botkins, Aaron Fullenkamp was 14th and Cameron Flora 15th. Then came Austin Fullenkamp 31st, Mathew Prout 50th, and Ryan Egbert 54th.
It was the second year in a row that three boys teams from the Shelby County League qualified for the state meet.
Russia, meanwhile, placed fifth, breaking an impressive streak of nine straight years of qualifying for the state meet.
There was one other team to qualify for state. Minster’s boys ran at Tiffin Saturday and placed fourth to earn the final qualifying spot. Ben Butler was 10th to leads the Wildcats, followed by Carter Pohl 41st, Jon Albers 49th, Ethan Monnin 52nd and Ryan Cavanaugh 65th.
New Bremen’s Cort Speckman earned a state berth as an individual, finishing eighth in 16:38.2.
• In girls action, two things happened that have been happening all season long.
One, senior Chloe Flora of Botkins won another race, taking the D-3 race at Troy by 36 seconds, in 18:50.2.
And two, the Minster girls dominated. Top-ranked all season, the Lady Wildcats appear headed for another state championship. They won Saturday, totaling just 32 points, 43 better than runner-up Liberty Center in action at Tiffin.
Kaci Bornhorst was third, Morgan Pohl fourth, Madeline Maboto 10th, Margeret Meiring 12th and Lisa Barlage 15th. Kaitlynn Albers was 17th and Julia Slonkosky 31st.
At Troy, the Russia girls are headed to state after winning the regional meet by six points over Covington.
Lauren Heaton and Molly Kearns led the way, placing sixth and ninth, respectively. Anna Fiessinger was 21st, Megan Frazier 36th and Claire Meyer 38th.
Individual qualifiers in addition to Flora were Rachel Schmitmeyer of Fort Loramie, who was 10th, and Jenna Zimmerman of Lehman, who placed 12th.
STATE QUALIFIERS
Division 3
With District places
Girls
Saturday at Troy
Teams
1. Russia — 6. Lauren Heaton 19:47.2, 9. Molly Kearns 19:53.9, 21. Anna Fiessinger 20:22.5, 36. Megan Frazier 20:55.3, 38. Claire Meyer 21:01.1, 43. Shae Goubeaux 21:14.9, 54. Becky Pinchot 21:40.3.
Individuals
Botkins — 1. Chloe Flora 18:50.2
Fort Loramie — 10. Rachel Schmitmeyer 19:55.8
Lehman — 12. Jenna Zimmerman 20:02.2
Saturday at Tiffin
Teams
1. Minster — 3. Kaci Bornhorst 18:50.7, 4. Morgan Pohl 19:01.2, 10. Madeline Magoto 19:35.3, 12. Margaret Meiring 19:43.4, 15. Lisa Barlage 19:45.4, 17. Kaitlynn Albers 19:52.6, 31. Julia Slonkosky 20:26.1.
——
Boys
Saturday at Troy
Teams
1. Anna — 7. Lucas Huber 16:29.2, 20. Tyler McKee 17:03.6, 22. Joel Gaier 17:09.5, 28. Korash Assani 17:17.9, 29. Bradley Axe 17:18.0, 59. Matthew Burden 17:59.3, 66. Kyle Christman 18:04.9.
2. Fort Loramie — 17. Jake Rethman 16:55.7, 19. Tom Ballas 17:01.6, 21. Joe Ballas 17:08, 30. Noah Siegel 17:20.6, 35. Alan Holdheide 17:25.8, 72. Riley Holland 18:09.1, 97. Collin Luthman 18:40.6.
4. Botkins — 14. Aaron Fullenkamp 16:44.4, 15. Cameron Flora 16:51.0, 31. Austin Fullenkamp 17:21.2, 50. Mathew Prout 17:48.9, 54. Ryan Egbert 17:55.3, 74. Konnor Burmeister 18:12, 88. Jared Goubeaux 18:31.2.
Saturday at Tiffin
Teams
4. Minster — 10. Ben Butler 16:40.3, 41. Carter Pohl 17:27.1, 49. Jon Albers 17:36.8, 52. Ethan Monnin 17:42.8, 65. Ryan Cavanaugh 17:50.7, 129. Andrew Broering 19:32.2, 130. Jacob Enneking 19:32.6.
Individuals
New Bremen — 8. Cort Speckman 16:38.2
