Below: Two P-G Girls are Regional Bound

The course at Ottawa Park was a familiar one; the team had run there before at the O-G Blue/Gold Invite earlier in the season. The course, while fairly flat, has many tight turns, which makes it one of the more difficult to run. Nevertheless, the weather was flawless and Bluffton was prepared for battle.

The Bluffton High School girls' cross country team placed second to qualify for regionals. Senior Matthew Herron also placed second individually and will represent Bluffton boys Saturday in Tiffin.

Bluffton Girls

Kalida, the Bluffton Girl's closest rival, was on their minds throughout the week. After Bluffton eked out a 3-point victory over the home team at the Kalida Invitational, they knew it would be a close race.

At the District Meet, Bluffton was on top of their game, and managed to top Kalida 126-96. Liberty Center proved untouchable and swept the girls meet, their top five averaging 20:21.18 and collecting 56 points.

Ottoville's Shayla Siefker and Liberty Center's Kelly Haubert led the race, alternating positions throughout. In the end, Siefker pulled ahead to capture the crown in 19:05.1, with Haubert right behind in 19:05.7.

Hannah Chappell-Dick grabbed fourth place to finish first for Bluffton with a time of 19:50.5.Next for Bluffton was super-sophomore Julie Althaus, who placed 13th. Althaus picked up the pace after the second mile, when she was in 22nd place, blew past her competition, and shattered her PR. She crossed the finish line in 20:50.2.

Freshman Morgan Humphreys was close behind, placing 18th in 21:10.9.

Lydia Guagenti was next, coming in 32nd with a 21:58.8 effort. Right behind in 34th was Bluffton's fifth, Senior Evania Bonifaz, in 22:04.4.

Both girls made impressive placement gains on the homestretch. Delaney Reineke ran on pure determination and smashed her PR, placing 37th in 22:15.6. Audrey Marshall bravely finished 46th in 23:15.5, despite suffering from painful shin splints.

Bluffton Boys

Though missing two varsity runners, the Bluffton boys still performed well, placing seventh. Rivals Allen East narrowly topped them 217-200. Delta captured many top individual spots and won the boys' race with 34 points and averaged less than 17 minutes for each of their runners.

Matt Herron was the man to beat and he didn't disappoint. His impressive time of 16:23.3 was only six seconds behind the winner, Delta's Colin Fisher in 16:17.0. Jonathan Nisly finished his first cross country season was a PR of 18:29.7: a phenomenal improvement since the beginning of the season. He crossed the line for the last time this year in 40th.

Seniors Dustin Brinkman and Jared Staley also concluded their seasons with solid performances. Brinkman placed 47th in 18:56.1 and Staley placed 59th in 19:33.0. Stefan Stechschulte rounded out the scoring, placing 85th with a time of 24:30.8.

Pandora-Gilboa Girls
Senior Sarah Flickinger led the P-G girls to a sixth place finish, also placing 6th individually and crossing the line in 20:02.6. Fellow Rocket Vannessa McCullough was right behind, placing 7th in 20:14.2. Both girls qualified for the Regional Meet and will be representing P-G in Tiffin Saturday.

Freshman Audrey Sprunger narrowly missed the qualifying line, placing 22nd in 21:25.7. Megan Schneck was next, placing 48th in 23:19.5. Candace Vance placed 77th in 26:37.9 and Marissa Schutz placed 85th in 28:08.1.

Regional Meet Information
The regional meet is Saturday, Oct. 30 at Tiffin. Matt Herron will race at 11:05 a.m. with the Divison III Boys. The Girls' Division III race will take place at 1:20 p.m.

In order to qualify for the state meet, which will take place on Nov. 6, a team has to place in the top four or an individual must finish in the top 16.