Lancers, Phillips win titles at CC Invite

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

Several interesting storylines came out of Saturday’s 40th annual Van Wert Health Cross Country Invitational, held on the north campus of the hospital.

With three racers in the top nine, the Lincolnview Lancers won the boys’ team title, followed by Parkway and Van Wert, while the Lady Lancers finished second. Van Wert’s Caylee Phillips won an individual title, while the Crestview Lady Knights finished fifth out of 17 teams. Crestview also had a fifth place winner – Wyatt Richardson – on the boys’ side.

On the boys side, Lincolnview finished with 59 team points to easily outdistanced Parkway (94 points) to capture the team championship. Van Wert finished third with 107 points and Crestview finished sixth with 73 points. (See final standings below)

Parkway’s Matt Gaerke won the individual title with a time of 16:50, edging Lincolnview’s Alek Bowersock who finished second with a time of 16:52. Parkway’s Kyle Roth finished third (16:59), Lincolnview’s Karter Tow finishied fourth (16:59) and Jacob Keysor finished ninth (17:26). Crestview’s Wyatt Richardson finished fifth (17:05), and Gage Chiles was Van Wert’s highest placer, finishing eighth (17:23).

Other Crestview finishers included Dayton Schuerman (28th, 18:51), Danil Lichtensteiger (42nd, 19:02), Brian Myers (52nd, 19:23), Hayden Tomlinson (54th, 19:26), Cameron Cearns (62nd, 19:52), Jacob Forwerck (63rd, 19:53) and Jacob Renner (99th, 21:28).

“We had four boys and four girls set personal records on Saturday,” Crestview head coach Jeff Bagley said. “Our teams are headed in the right direction in terms of taking care of all the little things that are vital to being successful. Our athletes are working hard at moving from running 5000 meters to racing 5000 meters.”

After Bowersock, Tow and Keysor, Linconlview’s finishers were Devon Bill (20th, 18:00), Joe Sadowski (27th, 18:23), Collin Puckett (45th, 19:08), Sam Wolfrum (48th, 19:18), Jackson Robinson (57th, 19:39), Connor Johnson (67th, 19:59), Brad Korte (73rd, 20:13), Camden Miller (77th, 20:29), Austin Welker (79th, 20:31), Colton Trenkamp (82nd, 20:42), Alex Wyatt (93rd, 21:02), Avery Slusher (95th, 21:27), Dillon Ellerbrock (98th, 21:26), Elijah Peterson (101st, 21:29), Kyle Hamilton (124th, 22:42), Grant Slusher (143rd, 25:20) and Isaiah Peterson (144th, 25:29).

“The boys ran well today, and we got a particularly strong race from Joe (Sadowksi), Lincolnview head coach Matt Langdon said. “We were down one of our top seven, so it was nice to see Joe respond and run a season best.

“We had 14 season bests on the day, so I was really thrilled with our middle and back group,” Langdon added. “They really are showing improvement and that is a lot of fun.”

After Chiles, other Van Wert finishers were Hunter Sherer (11th, 17:35), Jacob Wasson (22nd, 18:05), Gage Wannemacher (31st, 18:31), Noah Carter (41st, 18:55), Jacob Sealscott (46th, 19:09), James Hagaman (51st, 19:20), Anthony Borack (1st, 19:50), Killian Suddith (78th, 20:30), Bobby Spath (125th, 22:28) and Octavius Tucker 146th, 26:19)

“Today was our best collective races of the year, both on the guys and girls side,” Van Wert head coach Ryan Holliday said. “We brought the effort and the racing strategy that we were hoping to, and we had 14 of 17 racers set their season personal record.”

On the girls side, Lincolnview (69 points) finished second behind Coldwater (46), and it was the third individual title this season for Van Wert’s Caylee Phillips, who finished with a time of 19:50.5. Phillips previously won titles at the Marion (IN) Invitational and the Delphos St. John’s Invite. She also placed second at the Wayne Trace Invitational.

Lincolnview’s Madison Langdon and Crestview’s Ragen Harting finished third and fourth with times of 20:24 and 20:34. Lincolnview freshman Julia Stetler finished 15th (21:43), followed by Crestview freshman Emily Greulach (16th) 21:47, Lincolnview’s Madeline Snyder (18th, 21:49), Victoria Snyder (20th, 22:02), and Brayden Langdon (21st, 22:05).

“I was very proud of our girls today,” Langdon said. “We did not race well last weekend and as a team, we have not been fighting as hard as we should.”

“We talked about those things this week and it was rewarding to see them respond. We owned the last mile and probably got ahead of Shawnee and St. John’s the last mile. All of the girls finished with passion and fight.”

Other local finishers included Crestview’s Lauren Walls (26th, 22:17), Lizzie Bowen (35th, 23:03), Lauren Schumm (89th, 27:43), Jenessa Sparks (98th, 28:56), Hannah Weaver (99th, 29:26), Makenna Tice (103rd, 35:11) and Kiara Anderson ( 104th, 40:55); Lincolnview’s Rylee Byrne (39th, 23:20, Dylann Carey (41st, 23:35), Hannah Zickefoose (61st, 24:54), Kenna Mason (73rd, 26:15), Heather Beair (81st, 26:53), Izzy Donnelly (96th, 28:50); Van Wert’s Rachel Spath (31st, 22:29), Ali Gemmer (32nd, 22:45), Caton Williamson (55th, 24:34), Shayna Dull (62nd, 25:08) and Hannah Kraner (90th, 28:06).

Final boys standings: 1. Lincolnview (59) 2. Parkway (94) 3. Van Wert (107)
4. Shawnee (117) 5. Ottawa-Glandorf (135) 6. Crestview (173) 7. Coldwater (220) 8. Elida (230) 9. North Central (253) 10. Bluffton (283); 11. Ottoville (292) 12. Delphos St. John’s (298) 13. Paulding (317) 14. Ada (335) 15. Spencerville (344)

Final girls standings: 1. Coldwater (46) 2. Lincolnview (69) 3. Shawnee (77) 4. Delphos St. John’s (92) 5. Crestview (129) 6. Van Wert (149) 7. Parkway (149) 8. Ottawa-Glandorf (211) 9. Paulding (237)