Crescent-News.com - Flickinger, Baird lead way at Early Bird Open

The Defiance High School boys and girls cross country teams made an impressive showing Saturday at the Defiance Early Bird Open.

While no team scores were kept among the 11 area schools participating, runners from Defiance and Napoleon were dominant in both races while Wauseon placed several in the front of the pack in the girls meet.

DHS junior Trevin Flickinger had the fastest time of 16:44.7 to win the boys event, followed by senior Zach Wiles with a second-place time of 16:52.6. In total, Defiance had four runners in the top-10 and eight in the top-20. Senior Sebastian Brown and junior Ben Hackworth rounded out the top-10 runners for Defiance with finishes of fifth and eighth, respectively.

"We had some bright spots in Trevin and Sebastian Brown but overall we did not run well," said DHS boys mentor Obie Mouser, whose team will run next at the Tiffin Invitational on Sept. 6. "I really thought we would put seven runners below 17:50. That did not happen. I think we need to toughen up."

Holly Baird of Wauseon ran away from the pack in the girls meet and captured a first-place finish with a time of 19:55.5 to lead a trio of top-10 placements for the Lady Indians, including Marin Baird (5th) and Bailey Creager (8th).

The DHS girls were equally as impressive with a trio of runners making the top 10. Junior Megan Vogelsong led the way with a second-place finish of 20:08.2 while senior Taylor Schultz took fourth place and junior Anna Meyer placed seventh.

"I was pleased with how we handled ourselves today," lauded DHS girls' coach Scott Saner. "We are a very young team with several girls running their first cross country race ever and I thought we were pretty solid. Megan Vogelsong looked very impressive for the first meet of the year and I thought both Taylor Schultz and Anna Meyer had really good efforts as well."

Next up for the Defiance girls is the Treat City Invitational Saturday at Greenville.

"We will definitely experience a jump in competition next Saturday," noted Saner. "Our race should feature some outstanding Division I and II teams from around the state, so I am hoping to see a nice jump forward from everyone next week."

Rachel Huddle of Napoleon placed third with a time of 20:48.8.

At Defiance

Boys Meet

Participating Teams

Defiance, Napoleon, Fayette, Antwerp, Hudson, Fairview, Hicksville, Archbold, Wauseon, Edgerton, Paulding, Ayersville

Individuals

Trevin Flickinger (D), 16:44.70; Zach Wiles (D); Chase Sweeney (N); Darrell Randall (Fay); Sebastion Brown (D); Hayden Krick (An); Stephen Tennis (Hug); Ben Hackworth (D); Dakota Brooks (Fay); Martin Singer (Fair); Mario Ramirez (D); Dakota Reid (H); Michael Schlatter (D); Josh Hilton (An); Ryan Zeller (D); Hunter Colegrove (Fay); Kenny Small (D); Jake Reinhart (A); Adrian Rodriguez (Ar); Sebastian Rue (Ay).

Girls Meet

Participating Teams

Defiance, Napoleon, Wauseon, Fayette, Antwerp, Edgerton, Ayersville, Fairview, Archbold, Hudson, Paulding

Individuals

Holly Baird (W), 19:55.50; Megan Vogelsong (D); Rachel Huddle (N); Taylor Schultz (D); Marin Baird (W); Erica Goeltzenleuchter (Fay); Anna Meyer (D); Bailey Creager (W); Alexis Godeke (An); Erica Monni (N); Sara Lauf (N); Bethany Wilson (W); Rachel Lutz (N); Sadie Daeger (D); Kelly Kuser (N); Danielle Wyse (Fay); Alex Ramirez (D); Kaitlyn Henricks (E); Ellise Wetli (An); Elizabeth Brink (W).