TIFFIN — Denise Benson is going to be busy during the upcoming week, but Lexington’s cross country coach wouldn’t want it any other way.
Benson will be preparing two teams for the state cross country meet at National Trail Raceway in Hebron after both her boys and girls teams earned berths at Saturday’s Division II Tiffin regional meet at Hedges Boyer Park. The boys grabbed the fourth and final qualifying spot while the girls team took runner-up honors.
The top four teams qualified for state. Benson and the boys team had to cross their fingers as they awaited the final results.
“We were kind of holding our breath,” Benson said. “We knew it was going to be close.”
Defiance won the team championship with 71 points, followed by Van Wert (104) and Bryan (108). The Minutemen had 127, stunning Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches Division II runner-up Bay.
Zane Sturts led the charge, finishing second in 16:05.98. Nick Stricklin was fourth in 16:12.58, followed by Kyle Frey (17:17.51), Quinton Glenn (17:32.73), Mitch Bastin (17:35.24), Austin O’Diam (17:50.20) and Dustin Lumadue (18:12.86).
“It was really windy and that slowed our times down, but I’m really proud of the way they competed,” Benson said.
The Lexington girls finished with 68 points, behind regional champ Bay (46).
“A lot of people asked me where Bay came from,” Benson said. “They were Division I last year, so they dropped down from Division I.”
Lexington’s Lillian Freundlich was second in 18:32.97, while Mackenna Curtis-Collins was sixth (19:07.47) and Susan Fain was sixth (19:08.70). Emily Taylor (20:10.86) was 26th, while Whitney Wendling (20:13.89) was 29th, Abby Miller (20:18.35) was 34th and Ashley Basham (20:20.00) was 36th.
“We are a proud runner-up. We did everything we could do,” Benson said. “We definitely earned it.”
Several other area athletes competed Saturday but did not qualify for the state meet.
In Division I, Mansfield Senior’s Matt Brown ran a 17:28.96. In Division II, Ontario’s Brett Cortelletti finished in 18:00.81.
The Shelby girls finished 11th in Division II, led by Jordie Garrett (2006.52). Macy Lynch finished in 21:10.10, followed by Kaitlyn Evans (21:13.74) Macie Korbas (21:59.53), Haley Evans (22:15.71), Miranda Shaffer (22:17.51) and Dani Hoffman (22:24.02).
In the Division III boys race at Youngstown Boardman, Crestview was 13th in the team standings, while St. Peter’s Sean Stockmaster was 25th overall in 17:15.89. Crestview was led by A.J. Trent (17:26.41), Alex Rowe (17:39.56), Brennen Nalley (18:26.07), Michael Kochenderfer (18:42.68), Eli Sauder (18:56.04), Keegan Graybeal (19:19.93) and Aaron Mohr (19:24.01).
In the Division III girls race, Plymouth was 14th. Kendall Sanders (21:14.47) led the way, followed by Halei Lunceford (22:53.83), Mattie Lunceford (23:27.48), Leah Eldridge (23:36.74), Hailey Barber (23:45.29), Courtney Barber (25:25.28) and Mikka Messmore (26:46.18).
Individually, Mansfield Christian’s Claire Reynolds (23:14.95) and Crestview’s Emily Fulk ()23:39.66) also competed.
Follow Curt Conrad on Twitter @curtjconrad.
“We are a proud runner-up. We did everything we could do,” Coach Denise Benson said. “We definitely earned it.”
