For the third straight year, the Ohio state cross-country meet will be held at Fortress Obetz, a sports complex and event center on the south side of Columbus. Southwest Ohio is always present at the season's final race, and that is no exception this year.
Twenty-four schools will be represented throughout Saturday. Sixteen schools have individual runners on the starting line, eight teams will be vying for a podium spot, and five schools (Loveland, Mason, Madeira, Waynesville and Wyoming) have participants in both the boys and girls races.
Before the gun goes off on Saturday morning, here are five storylines to keep an eye on.
More:OHSAA state pathways for Southwest Ohio soccer, volleyball, field hockey
Vote:Greater Cincinnati high school athletes of the week, Oct. 31
Greater Miami, Eastern Cincinnati Conferences lead the way in Division I
When discussing Cincinnati high school cross-country, Mason is always one of the first schools mentioned. Both teams have won two state titles in the past 10 years, the boys in 2014 and 2021, and the girls in 2012 and 2013. They have each placed in the top five at state eight of the past 10 years.
The men bring a wealth of experience to the starting line with seniors Isaac Schachleiter, James Mroczka and Braeden Fedders and juniors Max Lioa and Jerry Xu. The girls are led by freshman Efa Paschka, who already owns the school record, and senior Grace McKay. A mix of youth and experience should help the Lady Comets improve on an eighth-place finish at last year's meet.
The Loveland Tigers qualified both their girls' and boys' teams for the second year in a row. The girls placed second in 2021, narrowly missing out on the team title. Seniors Madison Conatser and Ally Colegate were on last year's team, but it is freshman Caroline Murnan leading the way for the Tigers.
The boys are making their third straight appearance in the season's final race. Led by Cayden Dyer and Grant Hanson, they will be looking to improve on a 12th-place finish in 2021.
Jocelyn Willis will represent the Lakota East Thunderhawks. It is the senior's fourth trip to Obetz. She qualified individually last year and ran with her team in 2019 and 2020. Willis also has the 16th-fastest time in Ohio this year.
Walnut Hills' Gianni Allwein has the fifth fastest time in Ohio this year after running 15 minutes, 11 seconds at Voice of America Park. He placed ninth at last year's finale and will be looking to improve on that result in his final high school race.
Noah Yamaguchi is the third Turpin runner to appear at the state meet in the last five years, joining Peter Morton in 2018 and 2019, and Jack Bentley in 2020. He ran a personal best of 16:26 in 2021, and his season-best is 16:38.
Oak Hills and Little Miami both have two individual girls running on Saturday. Eva Hensley is making her third appearance for the Highlanders while Alyssa Hammond advanced to state for the first time. For Little Miami, Grace Biddle is also making her second appearance. Teammate Mackenzie Evans advanced to Obetz for the first time after a top-15 finish in Troy.
Lebanon's Jacob Fleig is the first Warrior to appear as an individual since Sam Duncan in 2018. His season and personal best is 15:51.
Re-writing the history books
Lakota West is making its first appearance since the district split into two high schools. Evelyn Prodoehl was the lone Firebird to run this race last year; she placed eighth overall as a freshman. She was on a quest to break the school record this year and did just that on Oct. 8. Head coach Sean Hart hoped that as Prodoehl got faster, so would her teammates. Lauren Mang and Kaitlin Kaszubski clocked their best times in the postseason, leading to an inaugural appearance at Obetz.
Charlie Vause is the first Milford runner to run at the state meet since Matt Belliston in 2007. He is also the third sophomore in school history to accomplish the feat. He has a personal best of 16:03 and will be a name to watch in the next two years.
Joyeuse Muhorakeye has had a career to be proud of at Aiken. The four-time Cincinnati Metro Athletic Conference Runner of the Year is capping her career as the first Aiken girl to ever appear at the state meet. Her personal best is 19:27, and she is coming off a seventh-place finish at the regional meet.
Monroe's Andrew Wilcox is appearing in his first state meet this year after running 16:07 at the Troy regional meet. He also won the Southwest Buckeye League meet with a time of 15:59
St. Xavier cross country dynasty continues
The St. Xavier Bombers are a perennial power. They have won 12 straight Greater Conference League South championships and 14 straight district titles. Aside from last year's sixth-place team finish, the Bombers have been in the top five of every state meet since 2012, and have qualified as a team every year since 2006. They took home the team title in 2012, 2013 and 2019, and Michael Vittuci won the 2014 race.
Six of the Bombers' top seven are upperclassmen, led by junior Evan Trapp and senior Colin Sams. Trapp's personal best of 15:29 is top 10 in school history and is the 20th fastest time in Division I this year.
Fast times, fast teams in Division II
The Cincinnati Hills League will be well-represented at Obetz with three teams and six individuals. Indian Hill's Liam Morris has the 11th-fastest time in Division II this year as he leads the Braves to the starting line.
Right behind Morris is Mariemont's Bennett Turan. He has the 12th-fastest Division II time (15:56) and is making his third straight appearance in the season finale.
Rounding out the boys' portion of the CHL is Nico Arraje. The Wyoming senior has the 18th-fastest time in Division II, running 16:00 on Sep. 17. Arraje is the first Cowboy to toe the starting line in Obetz since Jack Schwartz in 2018.
Lauren Hudepohl and Meredith Guest will also run Saturday afternoon for Wyoming. Hudepohl's time of 19:16 is 43rd in the state this year, while Guest is not far behind with a time of 19:20 that is good for 50th fastest in Division II.
Outside of the CHL, the Waynesville Spartans are making their third straight team appearance. They are led by Samantha Erbach, who owns the third-fastest time in Division II at 17:57. The senior two-sport star will have a busy day Saturday; the girls start at 3 p.m., and the Spartans soccer team plays Summit Country Day at 7 p.m. in Beavercreek.
Badin's Abby Mathews enters the state meet with the 46th-fastest time in DII at 19:18. She ran 18:57 at last year's state meet, good for 18th place. This is the fourth-straight year Badin has been represented in the girls' race.
The Mercy McAuley Wolves were the fastest team at the regional meet, placing three runners in the top 15. Julia Verhoff and May Humpert led the way with times of 19:36 and 19:48.
Three schools represent Division III
The Madeira Amazons placed sixth as a team at last year's state meet with 218 points. They graduated one senior (Hannah Lutes) and return a bevy of talent. Cate LeRoy was the highest-ranking finisher last year at 67th, but senior Izzy Arredondo has made the biggest improvement, lowering her personal best from 20:37 to 19:48.
The 'Zons were the third and final team to qualify in Division III, finishing a comfortable 44 points ahead of fourth-place Botkins.
Summit Country Day is the lone team on the men's side. The Silver Knights won the regional meet by placing their top five runners in the top 25. Liam and Larkin Woodward lead SCD into the finale after both placing in the top 10 at Troy.
The Silver Knights have had recent success at the season's final race. They have three second-place finishes (2014, 2018, 2020) and won the title in 2019.
Micah Katz is the lone individual runner representing Division III. The Cincinnati Christian junior has the fastest time in the Miami Valley Conference this season at 17:00. He got second place at the district meet before crossing the line in 14th at regionals and getting the sixth of seven individual spots.
The first race of the day is the Division I boys, starting at 11 a.m. The girls get underway at 11:45 a.m., with individual and team awards handed out at 12:15 p.m. The Division II gun goes off for the boys at 1 p.m. The girls will follow at 1:45 p.m., with the awards ceremony at 2:15 p.m. The Division III races conclude the state meet, starting with the boys at 3 p.m. Following a similar schedule as the first two divisions, the girls will run the final race of the day at 3:45 p.m., with awards given out at 4:15 p.m.
Source link
