TIFFIN — The Perrysburg girls cross country team took the top three spots at the Division I regional meet and won a regional championship at Hedges Boyer Park Saturday.
Perrysburg will get to defend their 2021 state championship on Saturday in Fortress Obetz and Memorial Park in Obetz, Ohio, just south of Columbus. The D-I girls race is scheduled for 3:45 p.m.
At the regional meet, Perrysburg sophomore Ava Beeks won in 18:30.2, Perrysburg sophomore Natalie Sanders was second in 18:41.2 and Perrysburg junior Hannah Kersten was third, finishing in 19:03.4.
Toledo Start junior Sinai Douglas was fourth in 19:05.6, and Perrysburg took the next two spots, taking five of the first six spots.
Perrysburg senior Sage Colon finished fifth in 19:22.4 and Perrysburg senior AnnaSophia Gower was sixth in 19:23.3. This was out of 55 runners who qualified from district meets.
Perrysburg won the team championship, scoring 19 points, followed by Toledo Notre Dame (66), Tiffin Columbian (109), Sylvania Southview (122), Bowling Green (123), Toledo St. Ursula (125) and Fremont Ross (153).
Other Perrysburg runners were Taylor Moody (19:55) and junior Sydney Daudelin (20:16.8).
The top BG runners were sophomore Annie Oberlander, who placed in 12th, finishing in 19:59.9, and sophomore Averie Crawford, who was 14th in 20:19.7.
Other BG runners were sophomore Shelby Janes (21:30.6), sophomore Natalie Neeson (21:45), sophomore Ava Kenyon (22:24.2), senior Londyn Thompson (22:58) and sophomore Ava Peper (23:06.8).
Clark fifth, Novinsky seventh
TIFFIN — Perrysburg sophomore Anthony Clark finished fifth at the Division I regional boys cross country meet out of 54 runners qualifying from district meets.
Clark finished in 16:06.8, behind first place Lima Shawnee junior Noah Williams (15:40.3), Anthony Wayne junior Connor Long (15:45.1), Springfield junior Lucien Flores (16:02.4), and Toledo St. Francis senior Rylan Winkler (16:04.2).
Bowling Green junior Aidan Novinsky was seventh, crossing the finish line in 16:12.5.
St. Francis won the team championship with 35 points, followed by AW (53), Perrysburg (79), BG (102), Ashland (113), Lexington (115) and Findlay (161).
Other Perrysburg runners were senior Andrew Beeks (16:40.6), junior Ethan Laeng (16:47.2), senior Carter Fry (16:55.2), freshman Brody Bauman (16:59.6), senior Zachary Madaras (17:24.9) and sophomore A.J. Bohman (18:07.9).
Other BG runners were senior Evan Romero (16:57.5), sophomore Sam Challu (17:00), sophomore Erek Kendrick (17:05.3), sophomore Ash Fleming (17:14.6), freshman Landon Fry (17:39.8) and freshman Shawn Carney (18:44.2).
Eastwood regional runner-up
TIFFIN — Eastwood sophomore Leah Emch finished in seventh place at the Division II regional girls cross country meet, helping the Eagles to a runner-up team finish.
Emch finished in 18:53 and Eastwood junior Haley Sponaugle finished in 19:17.2, good enough for 13th place.
Lexington won the meet with 75 points, followed by Eastwood (85), Ottawa-Glandorf (107), Lima Shawnee (124), Norwalk (131), Shelby (136), Liberty-Benton (166), Celina (172), Kenton (202), Port Clinton (256) and Upper Sandusky (257).
Other Eastwood runners were senior Talia Baum (19:52.6), junior Z Ramsey (20:06.7), junior Cameron Sechkar (21:09.1), sophomore Emily Payne (21:23.2) and junior Maggie Ramsey (21:45.7).
Lake freshman Tabitha Balsmeyer qualified for the regional meet as an individual, finishing in 21:52.9.
In the D-II regional boys race, Otsego finished seventh as a team and Eastwood was 11th.
Shelby (59) won the boys race, followed by Liberty-Benton (109), Ottawa-Glandorf (112), Lima Bath (116), Van Wert (134), Upper Sandusky (139), Otsego (142), Wauseon (154), Sandusky Perkins (163), Genoa (223) and Eastwood (312).
Otsego runners were senior Joseph Brewster (17:02.1), sophomore Wesley Kellermeier (17:03.2), sophomore Nathan Strahm (17:57.2), sophomore Ben Nusbaum (18:01.8), sophomore Jack Seeger (18:21.6), sophomore R.J. Agosti (18:47.8) and sophomore Jacob Obringer (19:53.7).
Eastwood runners were sophomore John Stewart (18:48.3), sophomore Connor Carroll-Schramm (19:20.2), freshman Henry Howard (19:21.4), junior Andrew Makay (19:31.7), senior Justin Barclay (19:33), and freshman Justin Dawson (19:41.8).
Lake junior Connor McClellan qualified as an individual, finishing in 18:29.1, and Lake sophomore Micah Balsmeyer finished in 18:33.8.
Elmwood junior Jakob Zibbel qualified as an individual in the D-III boys race, finishing in 18:47.8.
