The Bluffton boys cross country team finished a solid 12th in the Div. III state meet at Memorial Park and Fortress Obetz Saturday morning, November 6.
Pirate junior Landon Armstrong came in 15th out of 182 runners with a personal-best time of 16:16.1 to pace the Bluffton harriers and be presented on the podium.
Armstrong consistently made up ground amid the big field as the race wore on. He was 25th after 1.1 miles (5:02 split) and 18th at the 2.1-mile mark (10:22.3). He then passed three runners in the final mile to come home 15th.
Junior teammate Erik Nygaard ended up 38th in 16:46.8. He moved up from 58th to 38th place between the first and second miles.
Running third for the Pirates was junior Sam Derstine, who finished 119th with a time of 17:47.2.
Senior Trey Boblitt finished in 143rd in a time of 18:20.7. Boblitt picked up 27 places from the first tenth of a mile marker to the end of the race.
Sophomore Liam Jordan ended up 147th in 18:24.4 to round out the five Bluffton scorers. Jordan passed 25 runners from the first split to the finish line.
Junior Isaiah Conley finished 168th in 19:02.5.
Pirate sophomore John Yoder crossed the finish line 174th in 19:30.2.
Perry senior Braden Yingst won the boys Div. III state title in a time of 15:29.4, comfortably ahead of second-place runner Hayden Schmidt of Anna by 15.3 seconds.
East Canton won the boys Div. III state team title with 93 points as their runners averaged a time of 16:31. Mt. Gilead was second with 108, just a point ahead of third-place Ft. Loramie (109).
Northwest Conference and district champion Columbus Grove ended up fourth (140).
Bluffton finished just behind 11th-place Minster with 313 points. Most of the Pirates ran season-best times on the fast course.
Bluffton's combined team time was 1:27.36. The average Pirate finish time was 17:32, with an average mile time of 5:39.
Six of the top seven Bluffton runners are back next season for another potential return to the state meet.
Div. III CC Boys Team Scores (for online results, visit http://live.finishtiming.com/meets/439016/events)
1 East Canton 93
2 Mount Gilead 108
3 Ft. Loramie 109
4 Columbus Grove 140
5 Holgate 181
6 Botkins 238
7 South Range 243
8 Ottawa Hills 275
9 St. Paul 281
10 Black River 285
11 Minster 289
12 Bluffton 313
13 New Riegel 321
14 Anna 330
15 Whiteoak 336
16 Fisher Catholic 367
17 Maplewood 369
18 Fredericktown 395
19 Mechanicsburg 410
20 Centerburg 425
A total of 37 other teams were represented at the Div. III state meet that did not have enough runners to compile a team score.
