DEFIANCE – It’s early in the season.
But don’t tell that to Ottawa-Glandorf seniors Ty Rosengarten and Anna Buddelmeyer.
At Saturday’s Obie Mouser Defiance Early Bird Open, Rosengarten and Buddelmeyer helped lead their teams to impressive finishes.
In the girls’ race, Buddelmeyer finished second in 18 minutes, 47.23 seconds on the 5,000-meter course behind Defiance High School and Defiance Middle School. Wauseon’s Ella Rhoades won the race in 18:31.19. Napoleon’s Gwen Huddle was a close third (18:50.95).
At last year’s Division II state cross country meet, Buddelmeyer finished sixth in 18:41.4.
As a team, the Ottawa-Glandorf girls won the title on Saturday with 38 points. Napoleon (81) and Archbold (81) finished a close second and third, respectively. Napoleon was awarded second, based on the sixth-runner tiebreaker. There were 15 teams in the race.
“The race was a little difficult, but I’m glad there was somebody there to push me,” Buddelmeyer said. “I don’t think I would have run that fast if she (Rhoades) was not there. I didn’t think I’d be going that fast. So, coming in and seeing that time, made me feel good.”
Rounding out the scorers (top five placers) for O-G on Saturday were Brea Recker (eighth, 20:46.09), Izzy Utendorf (10th, 20:53.72), Rose Turnwald (12th, 20:57.74) and Liana Fortman (13th, 21:05.44).
On the boys’ side, Rosengarten separated from the pack on Saturday about halfway through the race and won in 15:52.20. Tinora’s Paul Westrick, who was with Rosengarten the first mile, finished second (16:16.48).
Last season, Rosengarten placed ninth (15:54.1) at the Division II state cross country meet. His all-time personal best is 15:47.29.
Despite coming off a high-mileage week of training, Rosengarten still wanted to clock a fast time on Saturday.
“That really was the goal coming in – to go under 16 (minutes). With the (warm and humid weather) conditions last week (OHSAA Preseason Invite), it (sub-16 minutes) was definitely in the picture today, and I accomplished it,” he said.
Rounding out the O-G scorers on Saturday were Cooper Fischer (ninth, 17:32.53), Ethan Weis (25th, 18:20.88), Connor Johnson (37th, 18:58.70) and Gage Recker (60th, 19:37.13).
O-G head coach James Rader was pleased with the way his team performed on Saturday. For the girls, he said it all starts with Buddelmeyer.
“Anna (Buddelmeyer) has been working hard – coming back from an injury. I thought that today she looked really strong,” Rader said. “I know she’s probably not the happiest with her time, but it’s early in the season. We have a lot of time to get it down to where it needs to be, and she’s going to keep getting stronger and better.
“Some of our younger girls are doing really well. They’re putting in the time and effort, and it’s really paying off. It’s going to be really exciting to see what they can do.”
For the O-G boys, Rader said it’s all about building a pack of runners behind Rosengarten.
“Ty is Ty. … He goes out and does his thing,” Rader said. “He really cranked it about halfway through that (Saturday’s) race. It will be interesting to see what he can do next week (Saturday’s Columbus Grove Invite) with maybe a little bit more competition.
“We have some of those guys that are right there on that edge and getting them to where they need to be is not going to take too much. It just has to click with them.”
*Complete results for the Obie Mouser Defiance Early Bird Open can be found on oh.milesplit.com
Van Wert boys win the Celina Rotary Invite
CELINA – The Van Wert boys team placed its top five runners in the top 14 spots at Saturday’s Celina Rotary Invitational at the Wright State Lake Campus, en route to notching the team title in the large school division.
The Cougars scored 36 points. Bryan finished a distant second (75), while Celina came in third (84). There were nine full teams.
Van Wert’s Owen Scott won Saturday’s race in 16:07.30. Celina’s Colin Buening finished second (16:49.80). At last year’s Division II state cross country meet, Scott placed fifth (15:42.8).
Rounding out the top five runners for Van Wert on Saturday included Andrew Laudick (third, 16:57.10), Harrison Sloan (eighth, 17:27.40), Johan Gemmer (10th, 17:31.10) and Quintin Parrish (14th, 17:41.90).
In Saturday’s boys, small school division, Coldwater won the team title.
In the girls, large school division, Fort Loramie notched the team title. Parkway won the girls, small school division on Saturday.
*Complete results for the Celina Rotary Invitational can be found on oh.milesplit.com
Anna boys, Kenton girls win Blue Jay Invite team titles
DELPHOS – Kenton junior Addi Manns led her team to the Delphos St. John’s Blue Jay Invitational title on Saturday as she won the 5,000-meter race at Stadium Park in a time of 19:45.62. Bath freshman Penny Francis was a close second 20:04.53, while Brezlynn Rohr from Delphos St. John’s came in a close third (20:28.24).
The Kenton girls team scored 41 points on Saturday. St. John’s finished second with 47 points, while Anna came in third (80).
On the boys’ side, Anna notched the title with 33 points, while Bath (55) and St. John’s (72) rounded out the top three teams.
Anna’s Titus Young won the race in 17:21.90, while Bath’s Landen Jones finished a close second (17:23.59).
*Complete results of the Blue Jay Invitational can be found on baumspage.com
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