DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
In a field of nearly 100 runners, it was really a race between two young men for the individual title at Norwell’s kickoff event Saturday as Wyatt Turner of Yorktown High School beat out Bluffton’s Tyler Godwin by a tenth of a second to take home the title.
Turner’s Tigers went on to claim the title, winning comfortably over Norwell and Bluffton, who were neck and neck for second place.
The young Bellmont Braves gave several runners their first taste of varsity competition and came back home with a seventh-place finish, coming in just ahead of the Adams Central Jets.
“We are young and it showed,” said head coach Randy Hisner after the meet, “but we had a lot of bright spots.”
Chief among them was the performance of Hayden Whittenbarger, who took his career best from his freshman year and cut 30 seconds off in the season’s first 5K, making a big impression on his coach.
“To see him come in as our third runner, it’s very gratifying to see Hayden reap the benefits of his year-round dedication to training. He had a great race.”
Saturday’s race was also the first for Hisner’s highly-talented freshman, Hudson Krull.
“He finished second on the team and I liked his competitiveness,” said Hisner.
Another debut came from freshman Logan Whitacre, who had never run a 5K before Saturday. He finished as the team’s sixth runner.
“I was impressed at how he handled the pressure of a big invitational. His time on the slow Norwell course was a good opening time for him.”
Team captain Harry Gunsett was the team’s best.
“He had a solid race for us. He did a nice job of setting the pace early for our younger runners.”
Hisner noted that the times were especially slow for everyone with 94% humidity at race time Saturday morning.
Team Scores
1. Yorktown 48
2. Norwell 93
3. Bluffton 100
4. Garrett 108
5. Lakewood Park Christian 126
6. Eastbrook 130
7. Bellmont 153
8. Adams Central 163
9. Southern Wells 224
Top 10 Runners
1. Wyatt Turner-Yorktown 17:17.9
2. Tyler Godwin-Bluffton 17:18.0
3. Zander Ritenour-Lakewood Park 17:50
4. Jonathan Loney-Yorktown 17:56
5. Gavin Weller-Garrett 18:07
6. Andrew Bryant-Eastbrook 18:19
7. Levi Johns-Bluffton 18:23
8. Jackson VandeVelde-Lakewood Park 18:34
9. Trevor Schwartz-AC 18:36
10. Gage Reinhard-Norwell 19:00
Other local times
16. Gavin Threewits-Norwell 19:12
19. Jude Baumgartner-Bluffton 19:25
21. Elijah Jacob-Norwell 19:45
22. Luke Johnson-Norwell 19:58
23. Harry Gunsett-Bellmont 19:58
24. Lukas Mashuda-Norwell 20:00
27. Hudson Krull-Bellmont 20:09
28. Hayden Whittenbarger-Bellmont 20:10
29. Jarin Frauhiger-SW 20:15
30. Maddux Miller-Bellmont 20:17
32. Tyler Schwartz-Adams Central 20:18
34. Griffin Linderwell-Bluffton 20:25
36. Ethan Crockett-Adams Central 20:32
37. Kane Jenkins-Southern Wells 20:33
38. Ayden Teeple-Bluffton 20:35
39. Peyton Ellis-Southern Wells 20:54
40. Jackson Rockwell-Bluffton 20:56
41. Aidan Graves-Bluffton 20:57
42. Carter Steele-Adams Central 21:00
44. Jackson Shoaf-Adams Central 21:03
45. Landon Rich-Bellmont 21:04
52. Logan Clark-Adams Central 21:24
54. Brett Kuhlenbeck-Bluffton 21:33
60. Logan Whitacre-Bellmont 21:42
61. Zathan Westfall-Norwell 21:46
62. Branson Claghorn-Bluffton 21:48
66. Kelton Barr-Southern Wells 22:10
67. Miles Garrett-Southern Wells 22:10
70. Caleb Adams-Bellmont 22:17
71. Parker McCartney-Norwell 22:25
73. Aidan Carroll-Southern Wells 22:52
75. Cayden Rauch-Bellmont 23:04
76. Bryson Edgell-Adams Central 23:08
78. Manning Nash-Bluffton 23:16
83. Vince Laukhuf-Adams Central 24:44
84. Owen Adams-Bellmont 24:48
93. Braden Yencer-Southern Wells 32:24
94. Phillip Bayer-Adams Central 32:33
96. Ty Loshe-Bellmont 33:47
Top Junior Varsity Times
Ryan Schlagenhauf-Bluffton 22:10.7 (top overall in JV race)
Rhett Gerber-Bluffton 23:05
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