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.
