By Cort Reynolds

OTTAWA--The Bluffton High School boys cross country team finished a strong second at the 16-team Ottawa-Glandorf Blue/Gold Invitational meet Saturday, September 17.

Ottawa-Glandorf won the blue division boys team title with 92 points. Bluffton was right behind in a very close second with 97 points.

Pirate senior aces Landon Armstrong and Erik Nygaard crossed the finish line third and fourth amid a field of 156 runners.

Sam Derstine finished 16th, while Theo Andreas came in 25th.

Xander Fackler of Bryan won the boys blue division race in 16 minutes.

The Pirate girls team finished ninth out of 12 teams in the O-G blue 
division girls race. Host O-G also won the girls team title with 43 points. Kenton was a distant second with 114.

Lady Pirate sophomore June Essinger finished a very solid 11th out of 114 runners to pace the Bluffton girls.

Kate Thormeier of Bryan won the girls blue division race in 19:42.094.

Bluffton runs in the Van Wert County Hospital meet Saturday, September 24.

BLUFFTON BOYS RESULTS
Place Runner - Class - Time
3 - Landon Armstrong - 12  - 16:12.791
4 - Erik Nygaard - 12 - 16:16.822
16 - Sam Derstine - 12  - 17:27.990
25  - Theo Andreas  - 11  - 18:08.154
49 - Liam Jordan - 11  - 19:27.201
50  - Landon Sehlhorst - 9 - 19:27.302
56 - Jonah Rehm - 12  - 19:39.193

Boys team results:
Place Score Team
1 92 OTTAWA-GLANDORF
2 97 BLUFFTON
3 124 ARCHBOLD
4 127 VAN WERT
5 129 BATH
6 146 ST. MARYS MEMORIAL
7 162 WAUSEON
8 179 TINORA
9 199 BRYAN
10 260 JACKSON CENTER
11 287 SPENCERVILLE
12 292 KENTON
13 401 NAPOLEON
14 405 PAULDING
15 442 ELIDA
16 501 LIMA SENIOR

BLUFFTON GIRLS RESULTS
Place - Runner  - Time
11 - June Essinger - 21:08.390
43  - Grace Conley  - 23:37.746
45  - Amairi Painter  - 23:45.131
53 - Mackay Tuttle  - 24:47.334
56  - Elizabeth Honse - 25:04.914
63  - Sadie Tarplee - 26:28.093
64 - Kaelin Weissling - 26:37.452

Girls team results:
Place Score Team
1 43 OTTAWA-GLANDORF
2 114 KENTON
3 127 NAPOLEON
4 141 ST MARYS MEMORIAL
5 152 VAN WERT
6 157 ARCHBOLD
7 159 BRYAN
8 161 WAUSEON
9 208 BLUFFTON
10 232 TINORA
11 283 ELIDA
12 293 PAULDING