UPDATE Runner Lydia Tarpley was not included in the first version of this article. Thank you to an Icon reader for their email to [email protected].

DELPHOS – The Bluffton High School cross country teams opened their season at the Delphos St. John’s Blue Jay Invitational meet Saturday at Stadium Park.

The Bluffton girls finished sixth out of 10 teams with 146 points. 

Kenton won the girls meet with 36 points. Host St. John’s was a distant second with 79 points, followed closely in third by Van Wert (81).

Coach Bill Theisen commented, “Both the boys and girls teams ran good races for this early in the season. All the hard work they put in over the summer is paying off. June Essinger had a particularly good run coming in 6th overall in a strong field.”

Essinger ran amid a 97-girl field and crossed the line with a time of 19:57.61 to pace Bluffton.  

CONTINUES WITH TEAM RESULTS

Senior Amairi Painter finished 34th in 23:26.47.

The average Pirate girls time was 23:15.34.

Senior Page Steine of Anna won the girls race in 17:57.52.

Pirate girls finishes:

Place  Runner Class Team Time

6 Essinger, June            11 Bluffton              19:57.61

28 Tarplee, Lydia            10 Bluffton            22:38.38 25

34 Painter, Amairi          12 Bluffton              23:26.47

45 Honse, Elizabeth          10 Bluffton              24:22.10 

64 Weissling, Kaelin         12 Bluffton              25:52.11 

78 Mueller, Alayna           10 Bluffton              27:56.08 

The Bluffton boys team finished eighth out of 13 teams with 221 points. 

Van Wert won the boys team title with 30 points, followed by Bath in second (55) and Anna in third (59).

Junior Levi Fenzil posted the top Pirate finish by coming in 26th out of 116 runners with a time of 17:57.33.

The Bluffton boys average finish time was 19:59.49.

Owen Scott of Van Wert won the boys race in 15:07.74.

Pirate boys finishes:

Place  Runner Class Team Time

26 Fenzil, Levi     11 Bluffton              17:57.33 

36 Jordan, Liam              12 Bluffton              18:31.49 

58 Shoemaker, Owen            9 Bluffton              19:46.27

82 Fritsch, Adam              9 Bluffton              21:37.39

85 Diffin, Elijah            11 Bluffton              22:04.94