GENOA — Lake cross country runner Micah Balsmeyer took the Northern Buckeye Conference boys individual cross country championship with a time of 17:13.99, but Otsego won its third straight team race.
Otsego junior Wesley Kellermeier (17:24.97) was second, classmate Nathan Strahm (17:58.04) was third and Lake runner Luke Steep (18:05.23) was fourth.
Also for the Knights, junior Ben Nusbaum (18:15.66) was sixth, junior Jack Seeger (18:48.07) was 11th, junior R.J. Agosti (19:22.52) was 22nd, sophomore Keegan Mentrek (19:35.17) was 24th, and junior Jacob Obringer (20:39.57) was 37th.
Otsego coach Brandon Fitch, now in his 11th year overall, including six years leading the varsity, saw his team take its fourth NBC title overall, and now they are setting their sights on a district title. They were second in the district last year, but took the title in 2021.
This is a veteran team since Kellermeier, Strahm, and Nusbaum were first team All-NBC a year ago, Seeger was second team last year after earning first team as a freshman and Agosti was honorable mention.
“Nathan has looked really strong, showing great speed,” Fitch said. “He qualified for state in the 800 meter race in the spring, and is working hard to develop his endurance.
“Wes is a dual sport athlete, playing golf and running cross country, who tends to make great improvements the last few weeks of the season once golf is over and he is at cross country full time.
“Ben Nusbaum has worked really hard over the summer and is hoping to close the gap on Wes and Nathan. R.J. Agosti and Keegan Mentrek are working really hard and look to be in a competition for our fifth scoring spot.”
Fitch said he has a dedicated group.
“Our core group is now made up of juniors and we’ve had great attendance and effort throughout the summer and practices,” Fitch said.
“Our experience and depth and competition definitely are our strengths this season, with our core group over the last two years now being juniors and having experience running in district and regional meets over the past two seasons.
“We expect great competition within our team at meets and daily at practice with several runners competing to be our top runners, in our scoring five, and in our varsity seven.”
The program has a recent legacy, too, as three-time NBC individual champion Joseph Brewster is now running at Heidelberg University, but Fitch feels like his junior class is filling the gap nicely.
“The team had a goal to win a third league title and qualify for regionals again, but would like to take the next step after finishing seventh at regionals last year,” Fitch said.
