By Cort Reynolds
ADA - The Ada track and field program hosted its annual 16-team Invitational meet on a wet, overcast Saturday.

Spencerville won the girls team crown by a narrow margin over Van Wert and Bath. Van Wert captured the boys team title by 50 points over second-place Bluffton.

Bluffton junior Brady Garmatter took first in the 400 meters in 52.01, and anchored the winning Pirate 4 x 800 relay quartet (8:44.92).

Pirate junior Xavier Dunifon won the 300 hurdles (41.57) to nose out Ada's Morgan for first. Dunifon also captured first in the 110 high hurdles (16.12).

Bluffton senior Jackson Steinmetz won the 1600 in 4:41.25, nipping USV's Hipher by just .05. Steinmetz also finished second in the 3,200 meter run.

Lady Pirate freshman sprinter Kylie Jackson won the 100 meter dash in 13.63 to edge second-place Allen East junior Rachel Kanney (13.71).

The AE girls took ninth out of 14 schools, and the Mustang boys finished 14th out of 16.

Girls team results:
1) Spencerville 91 points
2) Van Wert 87
3) Bath 83
4) Arlington 80
5) Carey 69
6) Mohawk 54
7) Bluffton 51
8) Kenton 41
9) Allen East 33
10) LCC 29
11) New Knoxville 27
12) Ada 13
13) Cory-Rawson 4
14) Upper Scioto Valley 1

Boys team results:
1) Van Wert 150 points
2) Bluffton 100
3) Cory-Rawson 59
4) Carey 50.5
5) Arlington 50
6) Spencerville 44.5
7) Ada 41.5
8) Hardin Northern 38
9) Kenton 36
10) Upper Scioto Valley 28
11) Bath 16
11) Lima Central Catholic 16
13) Temple Christian 13
14) Allen East 12
15) New Knoxville 5
16) Mohawk 3.5

Bluffton will next compete at the Northwest Conference meet Thursday (May 9) and Saturday (May 11), hosted by Allen East. Competition starts Thursday at 4:30 p.m. and resumes Saturday morning at 10 a.m.