St. Francis, Findlay among boys cross country district champions

St. Francis, Findlay, Liberty-Benton, and Ottawa Hills collected team championships boys high school cross country districts Saturday.

Division I

Liberty Center

NAPOLEON, Ohio — St. Francis (66 points) was the team winner. Bowling Green (69), Anthony Wayne (73), and Perrysburg (98) also advanced to regional at Leaders Farms.

Southview (120), Northview (126), Whitmer (247), Springfield (248), Clay (258) St. John’s Jesuit (264), Waite (291), Bowsher (332), and Rogers (383) were fifth through 13th.

Perrysburg’s Anthony Clark (15 minutes, 27.72 seconds) crossed the finish line first. Anthony Wayne’s Benjamin Gasiorski (15:34.7), Northview’s Mamdouh Abukaram (15:35.5), Bowling Green’s Erek Kendrick (15:41.46), Anthony Wayne’s Jacob Proctor (15:42.47), Bowling Green’s Landon Fry (15:50.89), Waite’s Elias Valdez (15:51.78), St. Francis’ Sam Arquette (15:54.13), Perrysburg’s Kenneth Morgan, Jr. (15:54.53), and Southview’s Steven Owen (15:54.75) also were in the top 10.

St. Francis’ Brennan Higgins (12th, 16:04.7), Owen Little (13th, 16:04.99), and Jameson Heck (16th, 16:08.05) also had top-16 finishes, as did Bowling Green’s Sam Wiles (15th, 16:06.36), Anthony Wayne’s Ryan Shelton (11th, 15:56.27), and individual qualifier David Eckel (14th, 16:05.32) from Springfield.

Findlay District

FINDLAY —  Led by the one-two finish of Adrian Stechschulte (16 minutes, 25.03 seconds) and Camden Stechschulte (17:01.27), Findlay won the team championship with a 35-point total at Owens Community College’s Findlay campus.

Phat Tran (17:13.03) and Lucas Parnell (17:21.71) were fourth and fifth, respectively, for the Trojans.

Ashland (49) and Lima Shawnee (86) also qualified for regionals. Wapakoneta (89), Fremont Ross (107), Norwalk (143), Mansfield Madison (192), and Scott (239) were fourth through eighth. Fremont Ross’ Daniel Sanchez (18:08.59) advanced individually with an 11th-place finish.

Division II

Findlay District

FINDLAY — Liberty-Benton (42) was the team champ. Otsego (45), Delta (101), and Tiffin Columbian (114) also snagged regional berths.

Genoa (120), Eastwood (141), Lake (152), Maumee (218), Fostoria (228), Central Catholic (300), and Rossford (305) were fifth through 11th.

Otsego’s Wesley Kellermeier (16:28.98) and Nathan Strahm (16:30.27) were individually 1-2. Delta’s Konnor Hawkins (16:37.54), Liberty-Benton’s Aiden Lee (16:50.33), Delta’s Daniel Sintobin (17:00.33), Oak Harbor’s Gavin Witt (17:04.16), Liberty-Benton’s Cohen Levenhagen (17:07.84), Otsego’s Ben Nusbaum (17:11.61), and Liberty-Benton’s Lane Fannin (17:17.22) were fourth through 10th, respectively.

Liberty-Benton’s Evan Makowski (11th, 17:18.31) and Bryce Hans (12th, 17:20.25) and individual qualifiers Connor Carroll-Schramm (15th, 17:32.96) from Eastwood and Chase Cooper (16th, 17:38.51) from Genoa were also top-16 finishers.

Columbus Grove District

COLUMBUS GROVE, Ohio — Bryan (69) finished third behind Van Wert (50) and Celina (65) to nab a sport at regionals.

Wauseon (162) was seventh and Napoleon (252) ninth.

Bryan’s Braydon Buchanan (16:30.08) was fifth and teammate Josiah Cummins (16:33.63) was eighth behind race winner Ty Rosengarten (15:19.86) from Ottawa-Glandorf.

Wauseon’s Clay Wasnich (16:43.16) finished 10th to advance as an individual.

Galion District

GALION, Ohio — Port Clinton’s Charlie Simpson (16:59.7) advanced as an individual with an eighth-place finish at Amann’s Park. Lexington’s Latrell Hughes (15:33.96) crossed the finish line first.

The Redskins (289) finished 11th. Lexington (19), Ontario (88), Milan Edison (107) and Bellevue (116) claimed team regional spots.

Division III

Liberty Center District

NAPOLEON — Ottawa Hills (63), Tinora (82), Archbold (97), Pettisville (101), Holgate.(144), and Fayette (170) claimed regional berths at Leaders Farms.

Liberty Center (10th, 283), Montpelier (12th, 346), Edon (14th, 352), and Northwood (15th, 447) also were those with team scores.

Tinora’s Paul Westrick (15:41.41) finished first with Ottawa-Hills’ Joe Mayer-Heckathorn (15:57.03), Liberty Center’s Mason Like (15:57.47), Fayette’s Ethan Lee (16:15.45) and Jose Blanco (16:16.55), and Archbold’s Jude Hudson (16:33.54) coming in second through sixth.

Pettisville’s Kyle Galvin (16:46.63) was eighth. Holgate’s Braylon Leaders (16:53.38), Archbold’s Caleb Harrow (16:54.96), and Ottawa Hills’ Thomas Lathrop (16:55.05) and Kaed Egan (16:58.88) were 10th through 13th.

Archbold’s Oliver Seibert (17:06.43), Pettisville’s Alex Galvin (17:07), and Ottawa Hills’ Alex Cooper (17:07.36) were 15th through 17th. Ottawa Hills’ Miles Wharry (17:14.34), William Connelly (17:15.63), and Quinton Smith (17:15.64), and individual qualifier Isaac Sheets (17:18.01) from Evergreen and Holgate’s Nathan Miller (17:19.88) were 19th through 23rd.

Findlay District

FINDLAY — Van Buren (133) gained a regional spot with a fifth-place finish behind Mohawk (95), Margaretta (110), Old Fort (133), and Seneca East (133).

Gibsonburg (eighth, 208), Elmwood (ninth, 216), Lakota (11th, 241), Woodmore (12th, 259), Fremont St. Joseph (13th, 292), and North Baltimore (16th, 427) were also among those with team totals.

Gibsonburg’s Anthony Caprara (16:05.38) was third behind race winner Evan Schiefer (15:49.77) of Seneca East. Van Buren’s Carter Fry (17:06.62) and individual qualifiers Tyler Hill (17:16.11) of Gibsonburg and Lakota’s Wyatt Brubaker (17:17.06) were ninth through 11th, respectively. Individual qualifier Dylan Armentrout (14th, 17:23.95) of Elmwood and Van Buren’s Andrew Puperi (16th, 17:31.90) and Carter Finley (19th, 17:35.09) also were in the top 20.