Bendo and Biddle lead the local finishers; Barnesville earns runner-up finishes
Union Local’s Connor Bendo finished second and Cambridge’s Brayden Biddle fifth in a 112-runner boys field Saturday, October 17, at Buckeye Local. Barnesville added a girls runner-up finish in the Buckeye 8 championship and two middle-school runner-up finishes in the separate league standings.
The meet brought several of next Saturday’s district opponents into the same race. Bellaire’s Landen Perdue won the boys event in 15:18.60, with Bendo following in 15:51.10. The 32.50-second gap gave Perdue a clear victory, while Bendo finished 13.43 seconds ahead of Beaver Local’s Luke Warrick. Biddle ran 16:32.85, and Barnesville’s Linkoln Jendrusik placed seventeenth in 17:56.46.
Perdue, Bendo, Warrick and Biddle are assigned to the Division III district field at Cambridge. Their shared race at Buckeye Local gives that individual contest a recent point of comparison before regional places are decided October 24.
Barnesville’s girls finish second in Buckeye 8
Bellaire won the Buckeye 8 girls championship with 16 points, one above a perfect score. Barnesville followed with 48, ahead of Cambridge’s 75. The championship used its own scoring field within the larger meet, so those totals differ from the combined team standings.
Makayla Vitale led Barnesville in nineteenth overall at 21:58.76. Addy Reed followed in twenty-third, just one place ahead of Cambridge’s Skye Craft. Reed ran 22:27.76 and Craft 22:32.26, a 4.50-second gap between runners who will share the Division III district field.
Bonita Passmore, Bradie Nixon and Mallory Spence completed Barnesville’s scoring lineup. The Shamrocks had eleven girls finish, giving them options as they choose seven runners for districts. Cambridge had five finishers, with Summer Callahan, Joanna Brown, Emerson Lanning and Isabell Brown joining Craft. Union Local’s Kelsey Mayberry and Ellie Greenwood finished thirty-fourth and thirty-sixth in 23:03.51 and 23:08.26.
Barnesville’s boys finished fifth in both league championships, scoring 114 in Buckeye 8 and 123 in OVCCL. Union Local placed sixth in each, with 130 and 158. The two championship standings scored different sets of schools; the physical race and the runners’ recorded times were the same.
Hanse and Stephen keep Barnesville near the front
Barnesville’s middle-school boys finished second to Martins Ferry in both championships. The Buckeye 8 margin was six points, 38–44; the OVCCL standings put Martins Ferry ahead 44–54.
Dawson Hanse finished second overall in 12:21.14 and Quinn Stephen fourth in 12:38.77. Union Local’s Samuel Garcia followed in fifth at 12:50.76. Cambridge also put two boys among the first ten, with Simon Kanski ninth in 13:09.70 and Johnny Jay Lyons tenth in 13:12.72.
The girls race brought three local runners home together. Cambridge’s Sophie Callahan finished seventh in 14:36.33, Ivy Williams eighth in 14:43.63 and Barnesville’s Maya Stephen ninth in 14:46.50. Just 10.17 seconds covered the three.
Barnesville’s girls were OVCCL runners-up with 44 points behind St. Clairsville’s 26. In Buckeye 8 scoring, St. Clairsville won with 36, Brooke finished second at 52 and Barnesville third with 58.
Original individual and championship team results accompany this week’s results and record notes. The district outlook follows the high-school contenders into next Saturday’s races.