By Hannah Chappell-Dick

After a strong first showing at the Upper Sandusky Icebreaker Invitational meet last Tuesday, the Bluffton High School Cross Country teams didn't disappoint.

The Saturday meet began with the girls' race. It was a perfect day to run: 65 degrees and sunny. At 9:00, 117girls from the area crowded onto the Delphos football field and leaned over the line, waiting for the gun to sound.

Twenty minutes and eleven seconds later, Sarah Flickinger, a senior from Pandora-Gilboa, crossed the finish line in first place. Rounding out the top three were Shayla Siefker of Ottoville (20:25) and Kelli Ley of Spencerville (20:26).

Junior Hannah Chappell-Dick nabbed Bluffton's first spot, coming in fourth with a 20:48 effort. Freshman Morgan Humphreys was next, dropping an impressive amount of time from the meet on Tuesday and placing fifteenth with 21:58.

Bluffton track stars, sophomore Julie Althaus and junior Lydia Guagenti, sprinted together towards the finish placing 29th (23:04) and 30th (23:05) respectively, both girls lowering their 5000 meter times.

Senior Evania Bonifaz was not far behind. She, being the 5th runner from Bluffton, closed out the scoring and sealed in Bluffton's third place team finish with a time of 23:36th. She placed 35th.

Other varsity runners were Audrey Marshall, 9, placing 42nd (24:07) and Amber Bewsey, 12, finishing in 70th place (26:05). Bluffton was far from being finished, however. Morgan Shroeder, 9, (27:08), Jene Sommers, 12, (27:11), Courtney Barnett, 9, (27:17), Casey Demellweek, 11, (27:22), and Andrea Spallinger, 12, (30:40) all ran solid races and added much-needed depth to the team.

In 2009, the girls cross country program consisted of two runners. This year, the number has more than septupled. Fifteen high school girls now compete for Bluffton! As a team, the girls finished third with 107, just 8 points away from Kalida (second, with 99 points). Spencerville won with 41 points.

Next was the boys' race. Senior Matthew Herron averaged a speedy 5:29.6 per mile and ended up with a solid performance of 17:04, second only to Spencerville's Kevin Lenhart (16:49). Senior David Moser, returning after a season-ending injury last spring, edged LCC's John Kidd in a race down the homestretch, beating him by one second and placing 30th in 19:00.

Sophomore Jonathan Nisly cruised in next for the boys in 19:40, an impressive drop in time. Seniors Jared Staley and Dustin Brinkman both crossed the line in 19:57, Staley finishing 58th and Brinkman 59th. Sophomore Stefan Stechschulte was the sixth boy from Bluffton over the line in 25:53.

Overall, the boys placed seventh of thirteen teams with 189 points. Coach Blair was excited to have her top five under 20 minutes for the first time this year. Crestview won overall with 78 points.
Haley Keller was the sole Bluffton junior high runner in the two mile race.

The eighth grader came in 30th with a time of 16:22. Liberty Benton won the girls' junior high invitational with 29 points.

The Pirates look to continue to improve in Columbus Grove next Saturday.