Roth, Will claim county crowns

MARIA STEIN - The conditions, both atmospheric and on the course, perfectly suited Parkway's Kyle Roth and Fort Recovery's Chloe Will at the Mercer County Cross Country meet held at Marion Township Park in Maria Stein.

Roth and Panther teammate Matt Gaerke got out to a quick pace and never looked back as they finished 1-2 in the high school boys' race. Roth crossed the line in 18:31.02 with Gaerke close behind at 18:48.51.

"We talked earlier in the week about wanting to go 1-2 just to get the top two guys out there and finish up with a good team score," said Roth, who along with other area runners put time in during the summer with the Mercer Health 5K Challenge. "The good thing about the Challenge is you don't get as stressed out as you do in these races. You can just run to get a feel for the distance and build a pace."

St. Henry's Blake Ontrop finished third followed by brothers Andrew and Isaac Schoen of Coldwater in fourth and fifth. Rounding out the top 10 were St. Henry's Seth Brookhart, Fort Recovery's Drew Muhlenkamp, St. Henry's Matthew Rindler, Celina's Jacob Klosterman and Parkway's Aaron Bruns.

The top finishes for Roth and Gaerke helped the Panthers win the team title, edging St. Henry 49-56. Celina was third with 69 with Coldwater fourth (95), Fort Recovery fifth (106) and Marion Local sixth (117).

Will, who had had a strong showing along with her Fort Recovery teammates at the OHSAA Preseason Meet at National Trail Raceway on Saturday, fought off some early challenges before pulling away for the victory in the high school girls' race with a time of 21:42.80.

The wet, muddy course seemed to be to Will's liking.

"I like the muddier, sloppier weather," Will said. "I thought going in, it would be pretty good.

"(Being) my senior season, I wanted to go out with a bang. My goal for today was to win the Mercer County (championship)."

Coldwater freshman Haley Alig finished second. St. Henry came in third and fourth with Lauren Hemmelgarn and Katie Kunkler. Marion's Kelsey Broering, last year's county winner at Celina, took fifth on her home course. The top 10 was completed by Coldwater's Brittany Walterbusch and Courtney Bye, St. Henry's Ashley Bruns and Celina's Caleigh Ross and Joscelyn Dameron.

Coldwater, with its first five runners placing in the top 12, won the girls' team title with 38 points. St. Henry was second with 56 with Fort Recovery third with 79. Celina (99), Marion Local (113) and Parkway (141) rounded out the team standings.

St. Henry's Josh Rindler won the middle school boys' title by running the two-mile course in 13:12.97. Marion Local's Troy Stucke and Tony Kremer finished second and third with Celina's Griffin Luebke taking fourth and Marion's Preston Kemper in fifth. The solid showing allowed Marion to win the team title with 27 points. Coldwater, Parkway and Fort Recovery rounded out the team standings.

Celina's Kaylie Dameron, sister to Joscelyn, won the girls' middle school race in 13:52.02, nearly a minute ahead of runner-up Ally Heath of St. Henry. Fort Recovery's Ellie Will, Megan Metzger and Miranda Metzger finished third through fifth, helping the Indians win the team title with 31 points followed by St. Henry, Coldwater, Celina and Marion Local.

All of the county teams will travel to the Lake Campus on Saturday for the annual Celina Rotary Invitational.