By Cort Reynolds
COLUMBUS GROVE - The Ada cross country teams competed in the annual Northwest Conference championship meet Saturday at Columbus Grove.
Host CG won the boys team title with 29 points to easily out-distance second-place Lincolnview (58). Crestview nosed out Bluffton for third-place, 91-93.
The Ada boys finished seventh in the seven-team league meet with 183 points, 31 behind Allen East in sixth with 152.
"We had a great meet," said Ada veteran head coach Josh Klein. "We had several personal records among the group with Melia, Jacob, Robby and Cole and a season personal record from Connor.
"I had hoped to out-run Allen East but was glad to have the PR's across the board and run all nine of my athletes at the same meet. I couldn't be prouder of the kids," added Klein.
The Ada boys were led by senior Jacob Morgan, who finished 23rd out of 85 runners in a season-best time of 18:14.
Junior Riley Ferguson finished 61st in 20:47. Sophomore Robby Waters came home 68th in 21:52.
Senior Cole Anspaugh and sophomore Connor Daugherty hit hit the chute within three seconds of one another.
Anspaugh came in 73rd in 22:55, while Daugherty finished 74th in 22:58.
Junior Caleb Stechschulte of Columbus Grove won the boys individual race in a time of 16:33. Sophomore Trent Koch of Grove finished second, nine seconds behind his winning teammate in 16:42.
Bluffton sophomore Erik Nygaard came in third in 16:49.
Boys NWC team results
1 Columbus Grove 29 points
Average time: 17:07.80
2 Lincolnview 58
Average time: 17:43.20
3 Crestview 91
Average time: 18:07.80
4 Bluffton 93
Average time: 18:12.10
5 Paulding 141
Average: 19:27.70
6 Allen East 152
Average: 21:26.20
7 Ada 183
Total Time: 1:46:46.00
Average: 21:21.20
Senior Melissa Langdon of Lincolnview won the girls individual race in a time of 19:33. Junior Lillee Stewart of Spencerville finished seconds at 20:01.
For Ada, sophomore Amelia Alexander finished 26th out of 39 runners in 25:27 to pace the Lady Bulldogs.
The other three Bulldog girl runners hit the finish line consecutively within 21 seconds of one another.
Freshman Melia Santillanez came in 34th in 29:14. Freshman Jillian Hazelton ended up 35th in 29:30. Classmate Elsie Allen finished right behind her in 36th with a time of 29:35.
Only three schools had enough female runners to record a team score at the league meet. Crestview nipped second-place Grove 36-39 to win the girls team crown. Lincolnview finished third with 56 points.
Ada was one runner short of the requisite five to register a girls team score.
Girls NWC Team Results
1 Crestview 36 points
Average: 21:59.20
2 Columbus Grove 39
Average: 22:07.60
3 Lincolnview 56
Average: 22:57.80
The Bulldogs run next in the district meet Saturday, October 24 at Columbus Grove.
"I don't expect anyone to make it out of the district meet, but I am challenging the kids to improve their time for next weekend as we run the same course at Grove next week," Klein added.
