Story by Cort Reynolds
Photos by Jamie Nygaard
COLUMBUS GROVE - The Bluffton cross country team finished fourth in the annual Northwest Conference championship meet Saturday at Columbus Grove behind a top three showing.
Host CG won the boys team title with 29 points to easily out-distance second-place Lincolnview (58). Crestview nosed out Bluffton for third-place, 91-93.
Bluffton sophomore Erik Nygaard finished a strong third in a time of 16:49 to lead the 11 Pirate boys in the 85-runner field.
The other Pirate runners, with place and time, follow below. The top five runners scored.
15th Elijah Conley 17:57.5
20th Sam Derstine 18:09
32nd Jonah Rehm 18:51
37th Trey Boblitt 19:14
42nd Wyatt Lovell 19:36
56th Brandon Good 20:16
57th Isaiah Conley 20:28
58th Liam Jordan 20:32
64th Carter Dyar 21:25
65th Carter Dailey 21:28
Junior Caleb Stechschulte of Columbus Grove won the boys individual race in a time of 16:33. Sophomore Trent Koch of Grove finished second, nine seconds behind his winning teammate in 16:42.
Boys NWC team results
1 Columbus Grove 29 points
Average time: 17:07.80
2 Lincolnview 58
Average time: 17:43.20
3 Crestview 91
Average time: 18:07.80
4 Bluffton 93
Average time: 18:12.10
5 Paulding 141
Average: 19:27.70
6 Allen East 152
Average: 21:26.20
7 Ada 183
Average: 21:21.20
Senior Melissa Langdon of Lincolnview won the girls individual race in a time of 19:33. Junior Lillee Stewart of Spencerville ended up second at 20:01.
Pirate Junior Caitlin Dailey finished 20th in the 39-runner girls race in 23:44.
Freshman Amairi Painter was 21st in 23:50. Freshman Kaelin Weissling ended up 29th in 26:09.
Only three schools had enough female runners to record a team score at the league meet. Crestview nipped second-place Grove 36-39 to win the girls team crown. Lincolnview finished third with 56 points.
Girls NWC Team Results
1 Crestview 36 points
Average: 21:59.20
2 Columbus Grove 39
Average: 22:07.60
3 Lincolnview 56
Average: 22:57.80
The Pirates run next in the district meet Saturday, October 24 at Columbus Grove.
