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.