LIBERTY CENTER — Perrysburg girls cross country took its first step in defending its 2021 state cross country championship as the Yellow Jackets took five of the first six spots in the Division I district meet at Liberty Center Saturday.
Perrysburg sophomore Ava Beeks won the race in 18:40.81, beating Toledo Start junior Sinai Douglas (19:26.81) by 46 seconds.
Perrysburg senior AnnaSophia Gower (19:27.7) was third, Perrysburg junior Hannah Kersten (19:29.83) was fourth, Perrysburg sophomore Natalie Sanders (19:36.07) was fifth and Perrysburg senior Sage Colon (19:40.17) was sixth.
Other Perrysburg runners were juniors Taylor Moody (20:40.89) and Sydney Daudelin (20:58).
Perrysburg won the district championship, scoring 19 points, followed by Toledo Notre Dame (73), Sylvania Southview (124), Bowling Green (137), Anthony Wayne (138), Toledo Whitmer (182), Clay (193), Toledo Start (202) and Springfield (255).
BG sophomore Averie Crawford (20:10.13) finished in ninth, and other BG runners were sophomore Annie Oberlander (20:37.38), sophomore Shelby Janes (22:09.52), sophomore Natalie Neeson (22:25.09), sophomore Ava Peper (22:36.69), senior Londyn Thompson (22:45.34) and freshman Lizzie Amspoker (23:06.49).
AW won the Division I district cross country boys meet on Saturday with 47 points. BG finished second with 66 points and Perrysburg was third with 68.
Sylvania Northview (76) was fourth, followed by Southview (130), Springfield (174), Toledo St. John’s (197), Clay (208), Whitmer (255), Toledo Waite (301) and Start (341).
AW junior Connor Long won the race in 15:55.23, Perrysburg sophomore Anthony Clark (16:11.68) was runner-up, Springfield junior Lucien Flores (16:21.27) was third and BG junior Aidan Novinsky (16:23.5) was fourth among 76 runners.
BG sophomore Erek Kendrick was eighth in 16:40.82, and other BG runners were sophomore Sam Challu (16:53.15), sophomore Ash Fleming (17:00.67), freshman Landon Fry (17:32.14), senior Evan Romero (18:20.78) and junior Garrett Bateson (18:44.55).
Perrysburg senior Andrew Beeks was fifth in 16:31.39, and other Yellow Jackets were senior Carter Fry (17:00.07), freshman Brody Bauman (17:23.62), sophomore Nicholas Walton (17:31.42), senior Zachary Madaras (17:53.31) and junior Ethan Laeng (18:42.55).
Otsego boys, Eastwood girls district runners-up
FINDLAY — At Owens Community College Saturday, the Otsego boys cross country team scored 46 points to finish behind champion Liberty-Benton (28).
Genoa (95) was third, followed by Eastwood (157), Toledo Rogers (170), Oak Harbor (182), Maumee (187), Rossford (188), Lake (195), Toledo Central Catholic (275) and Fostoria (277).
Otsego senior Joseph Brewster (17:21.07) was third, Otsego sophomore Nathan Strahm (17:30.23) was fourth and Otsego sophomore Wesley Kellermeier (17:31.03) was fifth.
Other Otsego runners were sophomore Ben Nusbaum (17:58.27), sophomore Jack Seeger (18:18.88), sophomore R.J. Agosti (19:18.98) and sophomore Jacob Obringer (19:50.49).
Eastwood runners were sophomore John Stewart (18:53.22), sophomore Connor Carroll-Schramm (18:56.58), freshman Henry Howard (19:40.36), junior Seth Bisbee (19:43.58), senior Justin Barclay (19:46.3), junior Andrew Makay (20:34.46) and freshman Justin Dawson (21:51.41).
Rossford runners were senior Ian Clark (18:32.18), senior Emmanual Schutte (19:36.27), junior Trevor Schutte (19:42.45), junior Johnny Tokar (19:54.51), sophomore Nicholas Gladiuex (21:33.97), junior Dylan Eckhart (21:34.56) and junior Josh Grix (32:43.75).
Lake sophomore Micah Balsmeyer (17:48.07) was seventh. Other Lake runners were junior Connor McClellan (18:00.28), senior Zach Buschmann 20:24.75), senior Howard Wagner (22:00.71), senior Chris Gurney (22:29.8), sophomore Ethan Brown (25:17.49) and sophomore Nicholas Middleton (29:52.36).
Lexington (34) won the girls team race. Eastwood (67) was second, followed by Norwalk (75), Lima Shawnee (87), Liberty-Benton (95), Maumee (188), Oak Harbor (223), Otsego (226) and Lake (228).
Eastwood junior Haley Sponaugle (19:32.53) was eighth and junior Leah Emch (20:02.05) finished in 10th place.
Other Eastwood runners were senior Talia Baum (20:04.01), junior Z Ramsey (20:23.29), junior Cameron Sechkar (21:37.63), sophomore Emily Payne (21:47.36) and junior Maggie Ramsey (22:50.51).
Otsego runners were sophomore Savannah Villarreal (23:46.7), sophomore Celeste Ellerbrock (24:06.05), sophomore Sophie Dimick (24:31.52), sophomore Lila Seeger (27:14.41), freshman Summer Olson (28:09.25), freshman Britta Simpson (28:38.4) and freshman Brooke Bergman (29:54.02).
Lake runners were freshman Tabitha Balsmeyer (20:42.52), junior Debbie Truman (25:19.2), sophomore Emma Kamann (27:45.21), senior Jessie Materni (31:41.85), freshman Cecilia Raglow (32:59.61), junior Delta O’Neal (33:04.11) and junior Izzy Hosey (33:24.74).
Rossford had four runners participating, not enough for a team score. They were junior Celeste Hughes (26:28.18), sophomore Alanna Leonard (30:19.64), senior Kayden Lewis (31:32.32) and junior Isabelle Underwood (31:57.11).
Perrysburg places six on All-NLL first team
The defending Division I state champion Perrysburg girls cross country team took six of seven spots on the All-Northern Lakes League first team.
Perrysburg senior AnnaSophia Gower, juniors Hannah Kersten, Sydney Daudelin and Taylor Moody, and sophomores Ava Beeks and Natalie Sanders. They are joined by Maumee sophomore Lucy Porter.
Bowling Green sophomores Annie Oberlander and Avery Crawford are joined by Perrysburg senior Sage Colon on the second team.
Other second team selections include Anthony Wayne senior Brandy Outly, Springfield freshman Autumn Sowinski and two Sylvania Southview runners, senior Katie Feller and freshman Lily Duran.
BG sophomore Natalie Neeson is third team. Also, third team are four Sylvania Northview runners, senior Sydney Vandenbrock, sophomores Natalie Genide and Lucy Varoli, and freshman Caroline Lavalette.
Rounding out the third team are Napoleon senior Emily Birkhold and Southview senior Julia Williams.
Perrysburg won the NLL championship, followed by Southview, BG, Northview, AW, Napoleon, Springfield and Maumee.
In All-NLL boys cross country, Perrysburg senior Andrew Beeks and sophomore Anthony Clark, along with BG junior Aidan Novinsky, are first team All-NLL
They are joined on the first team by Northview senior Ben Urbina, AW senior Aiden Lengel, junior Connor Long and freshman Benjamin Gasiorski.
Perrysburg junior Ethan Laeng and freshman Brody Bauman are joined by BG sophomore Erek Kendrick on the second team.
Other second team choices are AW senior Matthew Dittus, Springfield junior Lucien Flores, Sylvania Southview junior Derin Apul and Northview senior Ryne Newnham.
BG senior Evan Romero and sophomore Sam Challu are joined by Perrysburg senior Carty Fry on the third team.
Also third team are Northview junior Broddy Hubbard and sophomores Cameron Manthey and Mamduoh Abukaram, and AW junior Connor Neumeyer.
Perrysburg finished as NLL runner behind AW. Finishing third in the team standings was BG, followed by Northview, Southview, Springfield, Maumee and Napoleon.
