By Hannah Chappell-Dick

CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE

At 6:05 am last Saturday morning, the Bluffton HS cross country team once again loaded up their sports bags, water bottles, (lots of) food, the tent and of course, the power log, and began the hour drive to Tiffin to complete in the Tiffin Cross Country Carnival.

The 6,400 runners who compete there make it the second largest meet in the nation. Events start at 8:30 a.m. and end at 6:10 p.m. with an elementary school race. There are 23 different races throughout the day. The line to buy a tee shirt is consistently a quarter mile long.

The course, though generally considered to be fast, is hilly: something many northwest Ohioans are not used to. It is the same course Bluffton will run on for the regional competition.

Boys High School Div 3 Varsity
Matt Herron once again led the senior-heavy boy's team in the Division 3 Varsity-A race. The boys placed 32nd overall of the 42 teams racing with 781 points. Herron cruised in at 16:41 for Bluffton, placing 12th individually. Next in was Dustin Brinkman who placed 142nd with a time of 18:42.

One of the only two sophomores on the team, Jonathan Nisly, brought in a 196th place finish with 19:41. He has been steadily improving all season.Two seniors were next. Jared Staley placed 203rd with a time of 19:45. Jordan Brinkman came in 238th with a 20:43 effort. Stefan Stechschulte rounded out the Bluffton varsity team coming in 274th with a time of 26:33.

Some of the boys mentioned that, though they had not all run their best times, they were happy with how they ran because of the steep hills throughout the course.

Girls High School Div 3 Varsity
The Bluffton Varsity Girls scored an impressive 16th of the 53 competing teams. West-Liberty Salem won the race with 174 points. Bluffton scored 596.

As a side note, the Bluffton girls are currently ranked as third in the region (a fourth place finish at regionals will punch a ticket to Columbus for the state tournament in November.)

Hannah Chappell-Dick crossed the line first for Bluffton. Her first sub-20 time of 19:48 placed 15th of the 354 runners in the race. Julie Althaus ran well and was next for Bluffton, placing 115th with a personal record (PR) of 21:44.

Freshman Morgan Humphreys arrived third, placing 142nd with a time of 22:09. Lydia Guagenti was close behind in 22:35. Evania Bonifaz and Delaney Reineke battled it out for Bluffton's last scoring spot, both running excellent times.

In the end, Evania pulled ahead to place 177th (22:50) to Delaney's 178th (22:51). Audrey Marshall completed the varsity lineup placing 207th in 23:18.Girls High School

Div 2/3 Open
The remaining high school girls represented Bluffton in the Division 2 and 3 open race. They placed 20th with 486 points. 275 athletes ran in this competition.

Freshman Morgan Shroeder led the way for Bluffton in the open race. She placed 102nd with her fastest-yet time of 24:45. Jene Sommers was close behind in 118th in 25:18.
Amber Bewsey was next with a time of 25:37, placing 130th. Casey Demellweek placed 155th with a 25:58 effort. Andrea Spallinger closed out the scoring in 224th with a time of 28:25.

There is a great sense of teamwork and camaraderie within the team, and many of the girls agreed that competing as a complete team in the same race would be preferred, though it made sense to separate teams because of the extremely large numbers of competitors.

Girls MS Div 3

After the boys race, which started at 11 a.m., the next race for Bluffton wasn't until 2:40 p.m.: the girl's Open Middle School 2-mile. With more than 3 hours to burn, the team had plenty of time for bonding.

Finally, it was Haley Keller's turn to test her speed. The high school runners came up with multiple new cheers to shower the junior higher with as she ran past. They were a bit ridiculous at times, and Haley had to stifle a smile once or twice during her race. She finished in 123rd with a time of 15:58.

Bluffton looks towards Ottawa-Glandorf to race again next Saturday.