Perrysburg’s regional runner-up boys cross country team.
OBETZ, Ohio — The Perrysburg boys and girls cross country teams and the Eastwood girls team qualified for the state cross country meet this Saturday at Fortress Obetz and Memorial Park, which is located in Columbus’ southern suburbs.
In Division I, the Perrysburg boys team is seniors A.J. Bohman (16:11.3 seed time), Ethan Laeng (16:32.3), and Alex Sherman (16:58.6), junior Anthony Clark (15:39.6), sophomores Brody Bauman (16:00.9) and Kenny Morgan (NT), and freshman Noah Madden (17:30.9).
At Hedges Boyer Park in Tiffin Saturday, Clark finished second at the regional meet to Anthony Wayne senior Connor Long, who finished in 15:28.1. Bowling Green senior Aidan Novinsky (15:43.4) qualified as an individual after finishing fourth at the regional meet.
This will be Novinsky’s second trip to the state meet. He qualified as a junior in 2022, and placed 68th with a time of 16:36. BG coach Patrick Carney says “he will be looking to improve on that time and place” this Saturday.
The Perrysburg girls team won a regional championship. Perrysburg runners are seniors Anna Dalton (NT), Aubrey Evans (20:07.9), Hannah Kersten (18:25.6), and Taylor Moody (21:15.7), juniors Ava Beeks (18:24.7) and Natalie Sanders (18:54.5) and sophomore Kaelyn Becken (19:47.7).
At the regional meet, Beeks was second to AW senior Hailey Kahl, who finished in 18:16.8.
In D-II, the Eastwood girls team state qualifiers are seniors Maggie Ramsey, Z Ramsey, and Haley Sponaugle, juniors Leah Emch, Emily Payne, and Emerson Sheets, and freshman Raegan Russell.
Qualifying as individuals for the D-II boys meet are Otsego junior Wesley Kellermeier and Lake junior Micah Balsmayer. Qualifying an an individual for the D-III boys meet is Elmwood senior Jakob Zibbel (16:50.9).
Regional champions
At the D-I regional, the Perrysburg girls won a team championship, scoring 28 points to finish ahead of Toledo Notre Dame (69), followed by Tiffin Columbian (95), Sylvania Northview (109), AW (118), Findlay (123) and Toledo St. Ursula (127).
The BG boys team placed fourth out of seven in what Carney called “a very fast and competitive” race on Saturday.
The top two teams qualified to the state meet. Toledo St. Francis won the meet with 54 points, followed by Perryburg with 64. AW edged the Bobcats with 76 and BG finished with 80. Lexington, Sylvania Northview and Lima Shawnee rounded out the field in that order.
Outside of Novinsky, BG sophomore Landon Fry (16:01) and junior Erek Kendrick (16:03) just missed the qualifying mark and finished in 10th and 11th place.
Junior Ash Fleming ran their best race of the season with a time of 16:36. Sam Wiles, Sam Challu, and Garrett Bateson rounded out the Bobcats top seven.
In the girls race, BG junior Annie Oberlander represented the Bobcats in the D-I regional meet. After finishing 16th in the district meet, Carney says “she ran a tremendous race on Saturday,” placing 20th at the regional.
“She remained competitive throughout her race and was in 13th place at the two-mile mark,” Carney said, but the top eight runners qualified to the state meet.
