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By Hannah Chappell-Dick

The Pirate Cross Country team travelled Saturday to Fostoria: their 4th meet in 10 days. Though some had tired legs, the Bluffton athletes continued to turn up the heat.

The Fostoria course is known best for its hill, known to many as "the wall." A deceivingly flat start to the race takes runners around baseball diamonds and classic Ohio cornfields.

The runners are then, for a short time, taken into a forest trail with a beautiful canopy tree top: a wonderful, much needed break from the sun and unseasonably high temperatures, but don't be fooled. The forest soon spits runners out and one hair-pin turn later, they find themselves attempting to scale what at the time feels like a mountain.

"The wall" is a 100-meter hill that Bluffton runners agreed was "steeper than the AT&T tower, for sure." Surviving the hill is important, however, as the rest of the race is downhill, long, and surrounded by cheering spectators.

Bluffton Girls
All 15 girls raced at Fostoria, giving Bluffton a depth that many teams don't have. As a team, the girls placed 2nd: outrun only by Seneca East. Otsego was a very close 3rd in the 18 team field. Seneca East's Brittany Stockmaster won the race in 19:42.00.

Hannah Chappell-Dick was 9th in 21:01.29. Morgan Humphreys was next for Bluffton, placing 17th in 21:53.34. Lydia Guagenti, 27th, and Julie Althaus, 29th, ran 22:24 and 22:28 respectively. Evania Bonifaz was Bluffton's important number five, placing 39th in 22:54.

Audrey Marshall placed 53rd in 23:34. Delaney Reineke, in 66th, ran 23:57; Casey Demellweek, 97th, 25:21; Morgan Shroeder, 98th, 25:23; Jene Sommers, 124th, 26:52; Amber Bewsey, 125th, 26:56; Courtney Barnett, 129th, 27:19; Andrea Spallinger, 138th, 28:01; Brittany Brown, 160th, 31:50; and Courtney Coldiron, 164th, 33:55.46.

Bluffton's Junior High runner, Haley Keller, placed 63rd in her two-mile race with a PR of 15:22.03.

Bluffton Boys
Matthew Herron once again led the boys, placing an extremely close second in the Black division race. Darrell Randall of Fayette won the race in 16:56.68. Herron ran a 16:57.90. Overall, New Riegel took the boys' crown. Bluffton placed 13th of the 18 teams.

Next for Bluffton was Dustin Brinkman, placing 65th in 19:18. Jonathan Nisly was close behind in 67th with a 19:20 attempt. Jared Staley was 76th, running a 19:34. David Moser came in 105th in 20:32. Jordan Brinkman made his reappearance after a knee injury and placed 132nd in 21:47. Stefan Stechschulte ran a 25:31.

OnSaturday, Bluffton will compete at Lincolnview in the Northwest Conference championships.