The Bluffton boys and girls cross country teams each finished third at the muddy Northwest Conference championship meet Saturday morning, October 16,  in Van Wert.

Lady Pirate freshman June Essinger captured first place in the girls race with a time of 21:32.086. She beat out 40 other girls to win the wet event.

Freshman Mackay Tuttle finished seventh in 23:58.789. Sophomore Amairi Painter ended up 10th in 24:39.803.

Freshman Faith Combs came in 20th in 28:06.828. Sophomore Kaelin Weissling finished 21st in 28:07.595. Sophomore Greta Kauffman came in 25th with a time of 34:47.831 to complete the Bluffton results.

Lincolnview won the NWC girls team title with 36 points. Crestview finished second with 53, followed by Bluffton (59) and Columbus Grove (65). 

NWC Girls Team Scores:

1 36 points LINCOLNVIEW

2 53 CRESTVIEW

3 59 BLUFFTON

4 65 COLUMBUS GROVE

Ada, Spencerville, AE and Leipsic did not have the required minimum five girls runners to compile a team score.

Pirate junior Landon Armstrong took second in the 76-runner boys race with a time of 17:08.129, less than a second behind the winner.

Junior Erik Nygaard was close behind in fourth at 17:28.130. Classmate Sam Derstine took 21st in 19:45.140.

Sophomore Liam Jordan came in 23rd in 20:13.065. Senior Trey Boblitt ended up 25th with a time of 20:47.498.

Sophomore John Yoder was 27th in 21:14.017. Junior Jonah Rehm rounded out the Pirate lineup by finishing 32nd in 21:59.268.

Senior Hunter Sidle of Allen East finished first in the boys race in 17:07.661.

Columbus Grove captured the boys team crown with 33 points. Lincolnview was second (58), followed by Bluffton (75), Allen East (106), Crestview (125) and Spencerville (155).

NWC Boys Team Scores:

1 33 points COLUMBUS GROVE

2 58 LINCOLNVIEW

3 75 BLUFFTON

4 106 ALLEN EAST

5 125 CRESTVIEW

6 155 SPENCERVILLE

Ada, Leipsic not enough runners

Bluffton runs in the district meet at Columbus Grove Saturday, October 23. The girls compete at 10 a.m., and the boys race is at 12:40 p.m.