The starting gun for the final races of the Ohio High School Athletic Association cross country meets will go off on Saturday for the Division I, II and III races meets at Fortress Obetz and Memorial Park.
Here are five story lines for the 2021 boys and girls cross country tournaments.
Zegarski charges in solo
Little Miami senior runner William Zegarski. Zegarski was the best runner in the Eastern Cincinnati Conference and then started his postseason run by winning the district by nearly a minute.
Zegarski's district finish of 14:47.8 qualified him individually for the regional race. He won there too.
In the Division I regional at Troy on Oct. 30, Zegarski ran the race in 16:00.5, making him regional champ while again qualifying individually to the state tournament. Not quite a minute better than the runner-up, Zegarski did still beat runner-up Kiefer Bell from Talawanda by 10 seconds.
How did that time stand out against the entire pack? Across of the four Division I regional boys races, Zegarski had the fastest time. In fact, no other runner in the state eclipsed Bell's finish time either.
Runner-up goes too
Zegarski was the only local to place first in the individual part of the regional races, but Bell was not the only to finish just behind in second place.
In the DII boys meet, Carroll racer Jack Agnew won, but Mariemont's Sam Beeler was the runner-up. Beeler's finish propelled Mariemont to a team fourth place finish, giving it the final qualifying spot to the state meet.
For DIII boys, Cincinnati Christian's Garrett Hesselgesser ran his race in 16:56.4, placing behind only Anna's Hayden Schmidt and his 16:32.5 time.
Hesselgesser's finish sent him to state on the individual slate.
Mason boys score low, place high
The Greater Miami Conference meet sure proved to be a sign of things to come.
At the GMC championship, the Mason boys won with a score of 15: the lowest possible score a team can place.
Aiden Amshoff took first place while Isaac Schachleiter, Jerry Xu, Keith Neuburger and Alex Deroussel took each of the next four positions on the podium.
The Comets didn't score 15 in the district meet on Oct. 23, but their 29 points weren't far off, especially when runner-up Lakota East scored 122 points. Amshoff led the way again, finishing in second place with Neuberger in third. Aidan Markich and Max Liao finished sixth and seventh.
At regionals, Mason won again, scoring 51 points while runner-up St. Xavier had 99 points. Amshoff and Deroussel placed in the top 10 individually.
Loveland lives up to hype
Finishing the regular season as the coaches poll champion in Division I, the Loveland girls have so far lived up to the votes.
The Tigers dominated their district, scoring 19 points. Jessie Gibbins won the race with Kings runner Sara Doughman taking second. After Doughman, Emmy Sager placed third, Sarah Madix in fourth, Ally Colegate in fifth and Madison Conatser in sixth.
Gibbins placed fourth at regionals and was the only Loveland runner to place in the top 10, but the Tigers still won decisively. Loveland scored 69 points to runner-up Beavercreek's 102 points.
The Tigers qualified for state for just the third time in history and first since 2019 when Loveland finished as No. 6 in the state. Loveland had a 13th place finish in 2007, setting up 2021 to be a program-best for the Tigers.
Who else to cheer on?
Cincinnati will be represented well at the state meet, so which schools will be competing? Here's a division-by-division breakdown of which teams will be represented on Saturday.
Division I boys: Mason, St. Xavier, Springboro and Loveland will race as teams at state. Schools sending individual qualifiers are Little Miami, Talawanda, Walnut Hills and Western Brown.
Division I girls: Loveland, Mason and Lebanon finished top five in the regional and will head to state. Individual placers come from Lakota West, Little Miami, Oak Hills, Springboro, Lakota East, Walnut Hills, Ursuline Academy and Turpin.
Division II boys: Mariemont's fourth place finish was just good enough for the Warriors to advance to the state tournament. Badin, Clermont Northeastern, Madeira and Fenwick will send runners as well.
Division II girls: No local teams qualified for Division II girls, but three individuals finished in the top 12 to qualify. Those runners will come from Badin, Indian Hill and FInneytown.
Division III boys: The numbers diminish at the end as only Hesselgesser from Cincinnati Christian heads to state in Division III.
Division III girls: The DIII girls get back on track, starting with Madeira's team qualification. Capping off those going to race at state will be CHCA's Taylor Bacher.
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