By Cort Reynolds
SPENCERVILLE - The Bluffton boys cross country team finished an impressive third out of 15 teams at the Spencerville Invitational Saturday.
Shawnee won the boys black division race team title with 66 points, followed by Ottawa-Glandorf (115) and Bluffton (133).
Pirate sophomore Erik Nygaard finished a strong sixth in the 160-runner field with a time of 17:42.2 to lead Bluffton.
Sophomore Sam Derstine came in 15th in 18:21.5. Senior Elijah Conley ended up 25th in 18:55.4, and classmate Brandon Good was 32nd overall in 19:25.4.
Sophomore Jonah Rohm (48th, 21:08.14) came in 55th to round out the Bluffton scorers.
Junior Trey Boblitt finished 68th in 21:12.3, and freshman Liam Jordan ended up 109th in 23:06.7 to complete the Pirate top seven.
Other Bluffton finishers were senior Carter Dyar (118th, 23:31.4), junior Carter Dailey (79th, 23:56.7) and junior Caleb McKenzie (138th, 25:19.7).
The average Bluffton boys time for the 3.1-mile course was 18:59.
Two Lady Pirate runners competed in the girls race, which featured 16 schools and 106 runners.
Pirate freshman Amairi Painter came in 67th in 27:11.5. Freshman Kaelin Weissling finished 69th in 27:18.8.
Sarah Reinhart of Carey won the girls individual race in a time of 19:20.7.
Carey won the girls black division team title with 57 points. Shawnee came in second (88) to nose out Ottawa-Glandorf (91).
The Pirates run next at the Ottawa-Glandorf Invitational Saturday, September 19.
