Icon seeks list of BHS runners who have advanced to state cross country meet - see details at bottom of this story -

By Cort Reynolds
TIFFIN - The Bluffton boys cross country team finished 13th at the unseasonably cold Div. III regional race Saturday morning in Tiffin's Hedges Boyer Park.

Bluffton sophomore ace Erik Nygaard finished 25th in the large field of 189 runners to post the top Pirate showing with a time of 17:03.7. 

Nygaard has a Bluffton family cross country tradition. His grandfather, the late Tim Boehr, qualified for Bluffton in 1971 in Class A, and finished the then 2-mile course in a time of 10:40.

Nygaard thus qualified for the state meet in central Ohio at Obetz Saturday, Nov. 7. The boys Div. III state race at Fortress Obetz, a multi-purpose sports and entertainment complex, starts at 9 a.m.

The top seven teams and individual runners who ended up in the top 28 at regionals advanced to the state meet. Nygaard is one of the youngest runners to qualify for the state field.

Columbus Grove won the 23-team boys district title with 98 points. Holgate came in a close second with 104, followed by Minster (145).

Bluffton was 13th with 335 points. Runners from 23 other schools without a team score also competed in the regional event.

The finishes of the six other Bluffton runners are listed below. 

Place  Runner          Time
70th   Sam Derstine  17:52.8
85th   Elijah Conley 18:09.7
117th  Brandon Good  18:40.2   
136th  Jonah Rehm    18:56.4   
166th  Trey Boblitt  19:26.5
180th  Wyatt Lovell  19:55.2 

Junior Braden Yingst of Perry won the boys individual regional title with a time of 16:02.7. Junior Alex Albers of Minster was second in 16:14.2.

Boys Div. III Tiffin regional team results
1 Columbus Grove 98 points
2 Holgate 104  
3 Minster 145 
4 Tinora 164  
5 New Riegel  
6 Lincolnview  
7 Lakota 240 
8 St. Paul 258  
9 New London 258 
10 Ottawa Hills 266 
11 Ashland Crestview 279 
12 Archbold 303  
13 Bluffton 335  Average time: 18:09 
14 Liberty Center 339 
15 Sherwood Fairview 347 
16 Convoy Crestview 388 
17 Old Fort 396  
18 Bucyrus Wynford 417 
19 Hopewell-Loudon 470 
20 Marion Local 494 
21 Van Buren 512 
22 Kalida 515  
23 New Bremen 548  

Putting together all-time 
BHS cross country to state list
The Icon’s is gathering a list of all Bluffton High School cross country athletes who advanced to state meets. Our list is incomplete and we ask viewers to provide names, years, Division and times of athletes we’ve missed.

Here’s what we have:

Team
1982 – Bluffton High School boys, finished 4th in Class A 
(we lack the team members'names)

Boys
1971 – Tim Boehr, finished 16th in Class A, 2-miles, 10:40 time
1982, 1983 and 1984 – Paul Shelly
1991 or 1992 – Josh Barhorst
1999 – Nick Kennedy
2010 – Matt Herron
2020 – Erik Nygaard

Girls
1991 or 1992 – Katie Chappell
1994, 1995 and 1996 – Ann Stechschulte
2002 – Carrie Fett
2011 – Hannah Chappell-Dick, 44th of 150 runners