MARION – The New Haven boys cross country advanced to its own semi-state cross country meet on Saturday with a fifth place finish as a team in the Marion regional meet.
The Bulldogs nipped another fellow Allen County squad in Heritage for the final semi-state slot by taking fifth with 150 points compared to the Patriots’ sixth place finish with 175 points.
On the girls side, Woodlan freshman Abbey Gentz qualified individually to move on to the semistate by taking 31st in 21:41.6.
In the boys meet, Huntington North (46), Bellmont (61), Wabash (79) and Oak Hill (130) took the top four slots.
Heritage’s Jack Beauchot also just missed moving on as an individual after taking 27th overall with a time of 17:36.4. The last individual advancing to the semistate was Marion’s Joel Barns, who was 26th in 17:32.3.
New Haven was led by Luis Saldana, who posted a time of 17:26.9 for 22nd place. Other Bulldog runners were Cyrus Felger (25th, 17:31.8), Coby Grunden (44th, 18:08.3), T’Quan Bland (53rd, 18:36.0), Jesus Castillo (57th, 18:43.2), Jordan Lahr (59th, 18:51.4) and Daniel Castillo (63rd, 18:59.7).
Rounding out the Patriot participants were Andrew Kohlman (34th, 17:47.2), Devin Schmenk (47th, 18:10.7), Jacob Anderson (56th, 18:42.2), Niklaus Smith (71st, 19:33.5), Corey Foster (72nd, 19:45.1) and Derek Schaadt (75th, 19:50.2).
Woodlan also had a pair of runners see their season come to an end.
Jared Connor closed his year with a 37th place finish in 17:59.7 while Sebastian Wilson was 89th in 22:08.8.
The Lady Warriors’ Zariah Meador wrapped up her season as well by taking 51st in the regional with a time of 22:57.0.
Heritage’s Lilly Biggins posted a 44th place finish in 22:33.4 to close her season at the regional level while Katelyn Sebring was 58th in 23:34.7. The Lady Patriots’ Katie Graham finished 71st in 24:36.2.
New Haven will host the semistate on Saturday with a 1:00 p.m. start time.
