IMA SPORTS

Teagan Kennedy and the Maumee girls cross country team continued their remarkable season on Saturday, capturing both the individual and team titles at the Northern Buckeye Conference championship meet at Whiteford Valley in Ottawa Lake, Michigan.

Kennedy was dominant from start to finish, winning the race in a personal-best time of 17 minutes, 56.94 seconds — the second-fastest girls time in northwest Ohio this fall. Only Napoleon’s Gwen Huddle has posted a faster mark, edging Kennedy by three seconds.

The Panthers won the team championship with 26 points, placing all five scoring runners among the top 12 finishers. They finished well ahead of runner-up Genoa (57 points), followed by Eastwood (94) and Rossford (104). It marks Maumee’s first girls cross country conference title since 1982.

Kennedy led the way, while teammate Arriana Dugan claimed the runner-up spot in 19:39.88. Cienna Fraley placed fourth in 20:21.30, followed by Bentley Stewart in seventh (20:54.76) and Chloe Perez in 12th (21:40.00).

Kylie Brown (26:05.45), Penny Farley (27:08.30) and Lydia Liwo (28:51.91) rounded out the Maumee contingent.

Kennedy was named the NBC runner of the year as well as holding the NBC record. Dugan, Fraley and Stewart were also first team All-NBC, and Perez was second team.

On the boys side, Maumee placed third in the team standings with 80 points. Genoa took the title with 26 points and Eastwood was second with 56.

Bryson Danielski led the Panthers with a fourth-place finish in 17:49.21, while Noah Wagner was ninth in 18:16.85. David Ybarra finished 17th (18:45.19), Luke Reeves was 24th (19:02.26), Aaron Powell placed 31st (19:43.19), and Eithan Curson came in 47th (21:53.63).

The Panthers now turn their attention to the Division II district meet on Saturday, Oct. 18 at Liberty Center. The top eight teams and top 16 individuals not on qualifying teams will advance to the regional meet in Tiffin the following weekend.

Photo courtesy of Pride of the Panthers
Reach IMA at insidemaumeeathletics@gmail.com