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By Hannah Chappell-Dick
Last Saturday, the Pirates travelled to the Ottawa-Glandorf Blue/Gold CC Invitational, the site of their district competition in October. It's a confusing course in some ways, with crossing paths and tight turns.
In the Gold division race (Bluffton was in Blue), a few girls finishing in the top ten were disqualified for unknowingly cutting a portion of the course.
In the boys' Gold division, the four front runners took a wrong turn in the first 400m of the race, but were quickly corrected.
Luckily, Bluffton encountered no difficulties of the type.
Boy's Blue Division
For a change of scenery, the boys' race was first at 9:00. The boys finished 8th of 15 teams. Leading the way was Matthew Herron. He ran an impressive time on a difficult course: 16:38.51. He came in fourth overall. Next across the line for Bluffton was Dustin Brinkman, who finished in 35th with a PR of 18:28.03.Jonathan Nisly and Jared Staley came in 63rd and 64th with remarkably close times: 19:23 and 19:24 respectively. The last scoring place went to Jordan Brinkman, who finished 70th in 19:31: also very close to Nisly and Staley.
David Moser was next for Bluffton, placing 81st with a time of 19:46. He missed a few days of practice due to illness and was still recovering. Stefan Stechschulte improved his time and finished in 24:53.
Girl's Blue Division
The Girl's Blue Division race began at 10:00. Bluffton finished 3rd as a team and had four individuals crack the top 25.
Hannah Chappell-Dick took an early lead, but fell back to finish 6th. She finished first for Bluffton in 20:32. Morgan Humphreys was Bluffton's number two, placing 18th in 21:38.Julie Althaus and Lydia Guagenti finished very close together, as usual. Althaus placed 20th with 21:36.58. Guagenti ran her quickest first mile ever which carried her to a PR performance of 21:37.08, placing 21st. Evania Bonifaz was Bluffton's fifth. She had twisted her ankle on the uneven ground during warm-ups, but ran through the pain to finish 36th in 22:46 regardless.
Audrey Marshall rolled in next, placing 45th in 23:29. Delaney Reineke continues to improve and finished 53rd in 23:44. In 76th was Morgan Shroeder with 24:53. Courtney Barnett placed 88th with a time of 25:52. Jene Sommers finished 96th in 26:34. Casey Demellweek placed 100th in 26:50. Amber Bewsey ran a 27:02, good for 103rd, and Andrea Spallinger placed 116th with a time of 28:38.
MS Open
Haley Keller was Bluffton Middle School's sole representative in the 2-mile race Saturday. She ran very well, finishing 60th with a time of 15:34.
The Pirates will travel next to the Bath Invitational on Thursday.
For full results, check out http://www.baumspage.com/cc/ottawa/2010/index.htm.
