It’s becoming standard operating procedure for Buckeye Valley boys cross country senior Zach Kreft to break his own school record. He seems to do it every race.
And the standard was re-set again as Kreft finished the Harding Invitational in 15:09, one-tenth of a second behind Colonial Crawford’s Chad Johnson.
Gavin Shearer finished 19th at the race with a time of 16:52 to help the Barons to a fifth-place finish behind Ashland, Lexington, Canal Winchester and Newark Saturday in Marion.
Cameron Hurt (24th, 17:08), Nathan Heiser (30th, 17:10) and Bill Daily (33rd, 17:16) were among many who had solid races for BV.
Barons coach Nate Ritz had a lot of re-arranging to do on the school’s all-time top 20 leaderboard. Eight boys cracked the list thanks to their performances at Marion.
“This is a notoriously fast course due to being totally flat with very few sharp turns,” Ritz said. “Combining the quick course with ideal running conditions led to some great performances for our group.”
Kreft tops the school’s leaderboard, followed by Shearer in fourth, Hurt eighth, Heiser ninth and Daily 10th.
Nathan Holst (17:17) checked in at number 11, Jacob Zinn (17:22) is now 12th and Luke Parrish (17:29) is 16th following their performances Saturday.
Susie York (35th, 21:07), Lane Graham (37th, 21:10) and Analise Lajeunesse (46th, 21:35) paced the Barons to a ninth-place finish in the girls race behind winner Lexington.
The trio joined teammate Kennedy Cramer, who sat out the race nursing an injury, on the school’s leaderboard.
York is now 12th all-time, followed by Graham in 13th and Lajeunesse 19th, joining Cramer, who was already 15th.
Izzy Parrish (63rd, 22:20) and Emily Ramos (68th, 22:30) each had solid races for BV.
The Barons are back at it in the MOAC races at the same course next Saturday.
EISENHART CROSS COUNTRY INVITATIONAL
Hunter Moore paced the Olentangy Orange boys cross country team to a second-place finish at the Eisnhart Cross Country Invitational with a second-place finish of his own Saturday in Worthington.
The Pioneers’ solid performance was outdone only by the race’s host, Thomas Worthington, which was led by race-winner Arjun Jha with a time of 14:56.
Moore came in two seconds behind, followed by Jackson Schiefelbein (20th, 16:21), Brandon Lane (24th, 16:26), Andrew Schroff (25th, 16:27) and Matt Hartzell (27th, 16:31).
Olentangy Liberty finished fifth at the event led by Joesph Johnson III (16th, 16:14), Nick Ireland (32nd, 16:37), Ryan Milligan (33rd, 16:38), Adam Clark (42nd, 16:50) and Bradley Raymond (49th, 16:53).
Delaware Hayes finished 20th as a team, led by Seth Kern (26th, 16:29), Justin Hernan (108th, 17:47), Marquis Willis (115th, 17:47), Avery Latta (185th, 18:57) and Lucas Pape (192nd, 19:13).
William Hefner (75th, 17:21) had his best time of the season to lead Big Walnut, which finished 24th. Kaleb Disbennett (167th, 18:36), D.J. Werner (174th, 18:44), Matt Halbakkan (189th, 19:06) and Josh McGurer (201st, 19:54) rounded out the team’s top five.
Meanwhile, five county runners peppered the top 15 of the girls race.
Allison Guagenti of Orange finished second (18:05), followed by Liberty’s Emma Bower in third (18:17).
Gracie Sprankle (eighth, 18:41) helped the Patriots secure a fourth-place finish behind Granville, Gahanna Lincoln and Hilliard Davidson, just ahead of host Thomas, which finished fifth.
Colbi Borland of Big Walnut (13th, 18:59), who bested the school record by almost 20 seconds, and Lindsay Ott of Orange (15th 19:00) were the other two county runners in the top 15.
Linnea Kunesh (36th, 19:31), Emily Matta (47th, 19:42) and Emma Shear (61st, 20:06) rounded out Liberty’s top five runners.
The Pioneers had solid performances by Zoe Bond (29th, 19:23), Grace Frye (52nd, 19:52) and Paige Benecke (136th, 21:24) to help them to a sixth-place finish as a team.
Delaware Hayes finished 20th, led by Alicia Rittenour (35th, 19:31), Ashley Woller (40th, 19:38), Emily Gray (146th, 21:38), Jalena Coleman (192nd, 23:05) and Grace Fowler (193rd, 23:09).
Leksi Murnieks (89th, 20:33), Hannah Moroz (151st, 21:44), Jocelyn Lucas (190th, 23:03) and Caroline Craig-Bowden (208th, 23:57) helped the Golden Eagles place 22nd as a team.
DARBY DASH
The Olentangy girls cross country team had eight place in the top 25 to lead it to a second-place finish behind host Hilliard Darby at the Darby Dash Saturday.
Melina Endsley (sixth, 19:36), Lex Brookshire (seventh, 19:42) and Meghan Boggess (10th, 19:56) each finished in the top 10.
Seville Davis (14th, 20:06), Katie Slyh (17th, 20:30), Gracie James (18th, 20:53), Camryn Stobart (20:53) and Olivia Cool (23rd, 20:59) rounded out a solid overall race for Olentangy.
Olentangy’s Anthony Sasso’s time of 15:55 was tops in the boys race at the Darby Dash.
Cullen Sainey (14th, 17:02), Alex Garner (26th, 17:20), Carter Schaefer (29th, 17:22) and Zach Balthaser (49th, 17:39) each cracked the top 50, leading Olentangy to a third-place finish behind Lancaster and host Hilliard Darby.
BOYS SOCCER
Jordan Gantz scored off a penalty kick with about 17 minutes left to send host Bishop Ready to a 1-0 victory over Delaware Christian Saturday in Columbus.
The Eagles controlled things for most of the match, outshooting Ready 22-8. Harrison Van made 10 stops in goal for the Silver Knights.
Curtis Bean stopped three shots in goal for DCS, splitting time with George McRae, who had one save.
The Eagles wrap up the MOCAL schedule with a visit to Gahanna Christian Tuesday at 5:15 p.m.
OLENTANGY LIBERTY 3, COPLEY 1
Oliver Person scored what turned out to be the game-winner in the 49th minute to send the Patriots to a 3-1 victory over ninth-ranked Copley Saturday in Powell.
Wes Collins gave Liberty a 1-0 lead at halftime and Ryan Slawson added the insurance goal in the second half.
Logan Jennings had five saves for the Patriots.
Riley Price scored a late goal for Copley and Thomas Leipold stopped six shots in goal.
GIRLS SOCCER
Bexley 3, Buckeye Valley 2; Delaware Hayes 5, Westerville South 4
