Waynedale, Wooster dominate W/H Invite; Knights 2nd, 4th
The Lady Knights take off at the starting line at the Wayne/Holmes Invitational at Orrville on Saturday, Oct. 9. It was an impressive showing, with West Holmes placing second behind champion Waynedale.
In traveling to the annual Wayne/Holmes County Invitational in Orrville on Saturday, Oct. 9, it was all “W” placing well in the high school girls race with Waynedale winning the title with 40 points, West Holmes placing second at 66 and Wooster coming in third with 69. Dalton, Norwayne, Chippewa, Orrville and Smithville rounded out the competition.
While the Ws were running wild in the team competition, it was a pair of Norwayne runners who took the top-two spots. Winning in 19:02 was Annabel Stanley while teammate Jaylee Wingate finished runner-up in 19:14. Waynedale’s Kylee Gray was third in 20:03, Wooster’s Rachel Cornelius was fourth in 20:11 and fifth went to Waynedale’s Clara Sundberg in 20:14.
Rounding out the top 10 were Zora Starner of West Holmes (20:50), Dalton’s Janae Hostetler (20:51), Wooster’s Marion Dix (20:57), Waynedale’s Allison Moore (21:02) and Lexy Starner of West Holmes (21:06).
Waynedale’s Sydney Reber (21:15) and Kylie Nussbaum (21:20) placed 11th and 12th while West Holmes’ Noelle Smith (21:23) and Brenna Myers (21:27) ended up 13th and 14th. For West Holmes, Carolyn Miller (23:04) finished 24th in the field of 90 runners while Emily Truax and Autumn Conner rounded out the varsity.
Hiland’s Allison Hershberger competed as an individual and ran 21st in 22:21.
With 111 runners toeing the starting line in the boys race, it would be Wooster claiming the top team prize with a dominant 31-point effort. Smithville and Dalton tied for second with 93 points while West Holmes was fourth at 139 and Chippewa was fifth at 150. Rounding out the field were Northwestern, Central Christian, Orrville and Norwayne.
Wooster’a Ashton Dunlap (16:22) fended off hard-charging Johnathan Varner of Waynedale (16:37) to claim the top prize. Placing third was Zeke Galbraith of West Holmes, who ran a 16:55, while Wooster’s Ethan Keating (17:08) and Northwestern’s Kade Tegtmeier (17:17) rounded out the top five.
Wooster owned spots seven, nine and 10 with Gabe Thompson (17:28), Luke Hootman (17:37) and Owen Buchholz (17:47), helping the Generals dominate. Orrville’s Josh Rittgers ran sixth in 17:24, with Dalton’s Carson Steiner (17:33) eighth.
For West Holmes, Hunter Uptain (35th/19:19), Jacob Miller (42nd/19:33) Braydyn Lemon (45th/19:48) and Mac Miller (46th/19:52) scored for the team. Nathan Young (47th/19:54) and Blazedyn Mullins (57th/20:25) rounded out the varsity.
Hiland’s George Malicky also competed as an individual and placed 34th in 19:18.