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River Valley soccer, Mount Gilead cross country highlight last week of boys sports action

Rob McCurdy, Marion Star
·4 min read

CALEDONIA — River Valley earned its first boys soccer victory over Buckeye Valley since 2012 when it came from behind for a 2-1 win at home.

RV's Hudson Pollock scored a goal and assist, while Christian Knight had a goal, and Gabe Douce had an assist. J.R. Bates saved 10 shots on goal for River Valley. The Vikings are 6-3-1 overall and 2-1 in the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference.

● Horizon Science got by Marion Harding 1-0 in another soccer match. Trenton Leonard saved eight shots for the Presidents.

Golf

● Graham edged North Union 173-177 as Jaxon Jolliff led the Wildcats with a 41. Miles Hall added a 43, Ethan Monroe a 45 and Wyatt Davis a 48.

Mount Gilead's Will Baker runs to the finish line during the Division III boys race at the Galion Cross Country Festival on Saturday.
Mount Gilead's Will Baker runs to the finish line during the Division III boys race at the Galion Cross Country Festival on Saturday.

Cross Country

● Defending state champion and Division III's No. 1 team in the latest state coaches poll, Mount Gilead kept its reputation with a dominating performance at the Galion Cross Country Festival, scoring 61 points to win the 24-team D-III race. Will Baker won the race individually with a 15:56 and was followed by Parker Bartlett (third, 16:01), Owen Hershner (sixth, 16:33), Tommy Emberg (22nd, 17:33), Nolan Hershner (34th, 17:56), Nathan Smith (44th, 18:11) and Joshua Davis (46th, 18:14).

Look Back to 2022: State Cross Country: Mount Gilead takes home championship

● Northmor was third at Galion with 135 points. Ryan Lehman posted a fourth in 16:19, while David Blunk was 12th in 16:58. Behind them was the pack of Thomas Keen (37th, 18:02), Levi Hunter (37th, 18:09), Vinton Naylor (45th, 18:13), Dane Creswell (49th, 18:18) and Owen Yunker (72nd, 18:54).

● Ridgedale's Brogan Weston was ninth in 16:46 at Galion, while Isaac Lust ran 47th in 18:16 and Michael Richmond 119th in 20:17.

● Pleasant took fourth at Galion with 133 points. Will Lichtenberger (15th, 17:08), Nick Swartz (18th, 17:18) and Caleb Cameron (23rd, 17:34) led the Spartans, while also running were Elijah McGinniss (36th, 18:00), Liam Curtis (56th, 18:25), Joey Dietsch (92nd, 19:25) and Jacob Meyers (111th, 20:04).

● Gilead Christian was 22nd as a team with Joseph Bossard pacing them at 91st in 19:25.

● River Valley competed in the Division II race at Galion with Kael Swartz getting 93rd in 22:11, Iain Linville 103rd in 22:47 and Jaden Slone 105th in 22:59.

● Highland finished eighth out of 14 teams at Fairfield Union's Falcon Invitational. Matthew Miller was 11th in 17:11 and Brendan Lester 42nd in 18:21 to pace the Scots.

● North Union competed at the Triad Invitational, and Tyler Huff was runner-up in 17:10, while also making the top 20 were Felix Plouck (16th, 19:12) and Zach Meyer (18th, 19:50).

● Marion Harding was eighth at the Central Ohio Invitational. Carter Ferguson and Kade Sutherland led the Presidents with 19th in 16:48 and 22nd in 16:54 respectively, while Sebastian Swihart was 49th in 17:48, Peyton Ward 57th in 17:56, Andrew Tackett 89th in 19:04 and Jaidin Ramirez 93rd in 19:09.

Coaches and statisticians are encouraged to send their results to the Marion Star's Rob McCurdy at rmccurdy@gannett.com, 419-610-0998, X (formerly Twitter) @McMotorsport and Instagram @rob_mccurdy_star.

River Valley's Hudson Pollock runs down a ball during a boys soccer match with Marion Harding earlier this season at RV.
River Valley's Hudson Pollock runs down a ball during a boys soccer match with Marion Harding earlier this season at RV.

Marion Star Boys Best of the Week Performer Poll, vote:

  • River Valley soccer's Hudson Pollock scored a goal and an assist in helping the Vikings to a win over Buckeye Valley for the first time since 2012.

  • Marion Harding soccer goalkeeper Trenton Leonard saved eight shots in a 1-0 loss to Horizon Science.

  • North Union cross country's Tyler Huff was second at the Triad Invitational with a 17:10.

  • Mount Gilead cross country runner Will Baker won the Galion Festival's Division III race in 15:56.

  • Ridgedale runner Brogan Weston was ninth in 16:46 in the D-III race at the Galion Cross Country Festival.

  • Voting continues through early Sunday morning at MarionStar.com and its app.

  • In last week's poll, Pleasant golfer Dylan Moore, who shot a 36 during a tri-match at Wyandot, won with 452 votes (41 percent). Other nominees were River Valley soccer's Gabe Douce, Cardington cross country's Aidan Reitmire, Marion Harding cross country's Carter Ferguson, Mount Gilead cross country's Parker Bartlett and Northmor cross country's Ryan Lehman.

Rob McCurdy, USA Today Network-Ohio and Marion Star
Rob McCurdy, USA Today Network-Ohio and Marion Star

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Boys Best of the Week: River Valley soccer earns sixth win