(October 11th, 2014)-Liberty Center: With an Indian Runner winning the race itself, the Wauseon boys took second place overall at the North West Ohio Athletic League Championship Cross Country Meet on Saturday. Their girls took second as well. The boy Locomotives of Montpelier, meanwhile, claimed fifth place on the best performances of many of their runners’ careers.
Quinin Reiser ran a blazing 15:34 to bring first place to the Indians. Teammate Caleb Blanchong clocked in at 16:57, good enough for sixth place on the day. Twelfth place belonged to Indian Aaron Beck at 17:25. Ten seconds later, at 17:35, fellow Wauseon runner Seth Hutchison earned fifteenth place. Last to score for the Indians was Kyle Vernot, who finished the race at 17:43 to claim eighteenth place.
For the Montpelier boys, Jared Rediger was in rare form, finishing in seventh place with a personal best time of 17:03. Michael Blake took home twenty-first place for the Locos, turning in a 17:58 time for a personal record of his own. Just three seconds later, at 18:01, teammate Alec Waterston took twenty-second place on his best time ever. Shawn Ramey and Kolden Uribes also counted toward Montpelier’s total, running a 19:19 and a 19:40 respectively, both of which were personel bests as well.
The girls of Wauseon, like their male counterparts, also laid claim to second place as a unit, powered by the performance of Taylor Vernot, who ran an 18:26 to finish in second place. Fifth and sixth place both belonged to the Lady Indians as well, with Aneesa and Aleea Volkman completing the course at 19:25 and 19:28 respectively. Seneca Wyse was the next Wauseon girl to cross the finish line, doing so at 21:20 to earn a nineteenth place finish. Amanda Stutzman rounded out the Wauseon scoring at the event, taking twenty-first place at 21:38.
With just three girls running at the meet, the Lady Locos couldn’t make an impact on the scoreboard. Yet they ran admirable, with two of the three competitors running personal bests. Jacqueline Carlson gave Montpelier a tenth place finish by running a 20:37, her best time ever. With a 26:23, fellow Locomotive Haley Suffel also ran the fastest time of her career. Jessica Earle ran a 27:41 for the Locos as well.