PREBLE COUNTY —Seth Gard from Eaton High School has been named The Register-Herald’s 2015 boys runner of the year for the fall Cross Country season, after being the only male to advance to the state tournament in Preble County.
Gard was an OHSAA Division II state qualifier and posted the fasted time in the SWBL, and of all Preble County runners this season with a time of 16:32.
Gard improved on his regular season time when it counted the most, and ran a 16:13 in the Regional Qualifier to place him sixth out of 136 runners and advance to the state finals.
He was named first-team All-Regional, first-team All-District and first-team All-SWBL. He also earned the title of SWBL Overall Individual Champion and the SWBL Southwestern Champion after winning the SWBL meet.
Gard also won the Preble County Individual Championships.
Gard is joined by five other teammates from the Preble County Champion Eaton Eagles, with Mac Altom, Benjamin Bassler, Cole Bulach, Wyatt Cox and Tanner Titkemeyer all receiving recognition as members of the All-Preble County Team.
All six runners being represented from Eaton ran in the OHSAA regional qualifying races after advancing in the district qualifiers.
Cox was also recognized as an Honorable Mention All Regional member and was a Southwest District second-team member. Cox was also honored as a SWBL first-team member and finished second in the Preble County meet.
Titkemeyer was a second-team member of the OHSAA Southwest District Team and was named a second-team member of the All-SWBL team. He finished eighth in the county meet.
Benjamin Bassler received second-team All-District honors and was also a member of the second-team All-SWBL and was the third place finisher in the county meet.
Cole Bulach was also a member of the Southwest District All-District second team and was a second-team member of the SWBL. Bulach finished seventh in the county meet.
Altom was received honorable mention for the All-SWBL team.
Joining the six members from Eaton are three members from National Trail: Adam Eyler, Weston Haws and Peyton Harrison.
Eyler was a first team All-Cross County Conference member after placing sixth in the Cross County Conference meet with a time of 17:07. Eyler finished sixth in the county meet with a time of 18:36.
Haws finished fourth in the Preble County meet after a time of 18:25 to earn All-County honors. He missed out on All-Conference honors by one place after finishing 16th in the CCC meet with a time of 17:48.
Harrison finished ninth in the Preble County meet with a time of 18:52 and came in three seconds behind Haws at the CCC meet for a 17th place finish.
National Trail head coach James Byrd spoke about his three All-County representatives: “Weston and Adam both stepped up big this year with the losses we had to replace. Peyton was again consistent in his races throughout the season. With all of them returning and all but one from our team returning, they will look to better the end results — as none of them were satisfied with how the season ended.”
Rounding out the top male runners in Preble County is Aidan Tomlin of Tri-County North, who finished tenth at the Preble County meet with a time of 18:53.
Tomlin was also a first-team All-CCC member, after placing 13th in the conference meet with a time of 17:28.
