By KEVIN EIS

cnsports@crescent-news.com

TIFFIN -- It was a bittersweet day for the Defiance High School cross country teams.

Thanks to an 80-point performance, the DHS boys captured their first regional title since 1978 while the girls fell just three points shy of advancing to the state meet, finishing fifth Saturday at Tiffin's Hedges-Boyer Park at the D-II regional meet.

Despite not moving on to Scioto Downs as a team next weekend, Lady Bulldog Megan Vogelsong placed third in the girls' race while teammate Anna Meyer finished fourth to qualify for state competition as individuals.

As with the districts, the top four teams and 16 individuals not already on a qualifying team won the right to advance.

In the boys' meet, Defiance bested second-place Bay Village Bay 80-116 while Elyria Catholic and Toledo Central Catholic claimed the final two team slots.

"It's great," said a pleased DHS boys' mentor Obie Mouser, whose pack will be making its second consecutive trip to Columbus. "We haven't had many of these (regional titles). We've been here a lot of times and not ran well but today we ran pretty well."

Out of a field of 135 runners, Defiance placed five runners in the top 50 to earn the regional title.

Zach Wiles and Trevin Flickinger led the Bulldogs with third and fourth place finishes. Wiles crossed the finish line with a time of 15:56 while Flickinger followed at 16:11.

Marty Coolidge (Elyria Catholic) raced to the victory and recorded a winning time of 15:42.

"I can't express how proud I am of the way we ran today," exclaimed Wiles. "Everybody did what they had to do and we won big, 36 points is more than we won by last weekend. Everybody ran great. I'm at a loss for words, I'm so excited right now."

"It was a great race all around," Flickinger added. "Everybody ran where they were supposed to be. The weather wasn't what we hoped it would be but that's what cross country's all about. You've just got to step it up when the going gets tough."

Senior Sebastion Brown also placed well for DHS, coming in 17th to keep the points low for the Bulldogs.

"I feel so great right now," stated Brown. "We won big time today. It was cold, the wind was pretty harsh but we all ran really well today. We knew what we had to do to win it and I'm surprised we did as well as we did today."

Ben Hackworth took 26th and Mario Ramirez placed 42nd to round out the top five DHS runners.

"We were really solid through four (runners)," noted Mouser. "We faded a little bit at five, that hurt us some. If we don't correct that next week, we're out of luck. I think our top four ran right were they would need to run in the state meet."

Napoleon's Chase Sweeney qualified to advance as an individual in seventh place with a time of 16:22.

"I had a great race," commented the Napoleon junior, who will be making his second straight trip to the state meet as an individual. "I went out there and just kept it in my head that I was going to get there and I did. I got seventh, so it felt pretty good. I want to get in the top 20 and make all-Ohio, that would be great for me."

Also from the area, Jacob Bagley and Kenton Holliday of Van Wert finished 12th and 13th to advance as individuals.

In the girls' race, Wauseon's Holly Baird added a regional runner-up accolade to her Northwest Ohio Athletic League and district championships to lead the Lady Indians back to state with a third-place team finish behind champion Milan Edison and second-place Rocky River.

With a time of 18:58, the Wauseon senior took second to Jessica Zangmeister of Fairview Park, who ran away from the competition with a time of 18:04.

"I just had to go out and do my best," said Baird. "Since I've been on the varsity team we've made it to state all four years. It was a little iffy this year, we just all had to go out and do our best and we did. I'm glad that I'm running with my team."

"Holly ran great," lauded Wauseon head coach Rebecca Stuckey. "That was the first time this year that she's been under 12 minutes at the two-mile mark. We just have to work on the third mile and next week she'll have more competition."

Indians' freshman Bailey Creager broke 20 minutes for the first time this year with a time of 19:49 for 17th place while Marin Baird and Kristen Benschoter came in 39th and 40th for Wauseon. Benschoter, also a freshman, recovered from a fall in the first mile to regain her top-40 standing.

"Overall, their times were very consistent and solid," added Stuckey. "Everyone ran better than they did last week, some by five seconds and some by 15 seconds. No one had a bad race today and that's why we are where we are, I think."

The DHS girls missed out on a trip to Scioto Downs with 148 points, which was three points higher than fourth-place Tiffin Columbian.

"I told them during the week that 140's might get us in, anything above that probably isn't going to," stated DHS girls' coach Scott Saner. "It was that competitive of a field. We were still solid one, two and three (Vogelson, Meyer and Taylor Schultz, who placed 19th) like we've been all season. I love that, but it takes five for a team to go anywhere. But they ran well."

"The competition got a lot better today," admitted Vogelsong. "I think everyone did the best that they could do but it just wasn't quite good enough."

While the Napoleon girls finished eighth as a team, junior Rachel Huddle placed sixth with a time of 19:31 to earn her third straight trip to state as an individual.

"I think that we all ran the best that we could for the weather conditions and everything," said Huddle, who placed eighth a year ago at Scioto Downs. "It's all we can do. I just want to run the best that I can (at state) and try to make the podium again."

At Tiffin

Boys Meet

Defiance 80, Bay Village Bay 116, Elyria Catholic 132, Toledo Central Catholic 134, Rocky River 166, Vermilion 193, Shelby 196, Milan Edison 226, Willard 236, Clyde 236, Van Wert 252, Mansfield Ontario 259, Eastwood 295, Lima Shawnee 313, Bellevue 322, Napoleon 323

Individuals

Marty Coolidge (EC), 15:42; Michael Brajdic (BVB); Zach Wiles (D); Trevin Flickinger (D); Jordan Hawkins (BVB); Kyle Miller (Med. Buckeye); Chase Sweeney (N); Nate Rodriguez (V); Tommy Eldridge (RR); Steve Graver (TCC); Craig Gerber (C); Jacob Bagley (VW); Kenton Holliday (VW); Eric Stoddard (RR); Garrett Diltz (LS); Andy Ventura (Avon).

Girls Meet

Milan Edison 108, Rocky River 121, Wauseon 128, Tiffin Columbian 145, Defiance 148, Maumee 149, Avon 165, Napoleon 201, Bay Village Bay 223, Galion 225, Van Wert 264, Shaker Heights 265, Lexington 272, Oak Harbor 300, Otsego 365, Eastwood 406

Individuals

Jessica Zangmeister (Fairview Park), 18:04; Holly Baird (W); Megan Vogelsong (D); Anna Meyer (D); Brittney Towner (RR); Rachel Huddle (N); Caitlin Clapacs (SH); Mattie Moncayo (L); Erin Schneider (A); Brooke Tullis (M); Michelle Clark (Elyria Catholic); Jessika Volz (L); Abbigail Plunkett (ME); Elyse Bierut (RR); Megan Freeman (M); Haley Lykins (Shelby).