WL-Salem boys team finishes as runner-up
West Liberty-Salem’s Big Orange girls cross country team captured its fifth straight Division III district championship Saturday at Cedarville University.
The race was a combined two-district race, with the top two teams winning district titles and the third and fourth teams receiving runner-up honors.
The Big Orange girls tied Ft. Loramie for the top spot, with Ft. Loramie earning first place on a sixth-runner tiebreaker.
“We knew it would be tight with Ft. Loramie,” said Big Orange coach Ann Vogel. “We actually even said it may come down to the sixth runner tiebreaker, so it ended up pretty much how we expected.”
Both Ft. Loramie and WL-S had 53 points, Anna was third with 106 points, Versailles was fourth with 112 points, Arcanum was fifth with 130 points, Botkins was sixth with 142 points, Cedarville was seventh with 206 points and Russia was eighth with 225 points.
WL-S took the top two individual places in the girls race as Megan Adams finished in first with a personal- best time of 18:26.5 and Ashley Yoder took second in 18:57.8.
“Megan has a lot of confidence and big meet experience,” said Vogel. “She is focused and knows how to execute her game plan.
Ashley ran a phenomenal race. We knew she had this in her. We’ve told her that she can run right up front and she has bought into that.”
Addison McCauley contributed an eighth-place finish for WL-S in 19:55.7.
Taylor Kennedy was 22nd (20:55.8), Mandilyn Weaver was 27th with a personalbest time of 21:10.8, Claire Longshore was 31st (21:19.6) and Anna Knox finished 62nd (22:55.6).
The Big Orange girls, now 115-4 on the season, are ranked fourth in the latest Division III state coaches poll. They will run in the regional meet with a state berth on the line at 9 a.m. Saturday in Troy.
“Our biggest goal is to continue to focus on the process and just get to state,” said Vogel. “That is our mindset going into regionals.”
Big Orange boys finish as runner-up
The West Liberty-Salem Big Orange boys cross country team, despite being without its top runner Dylan Lauck, punched a ticket to the regional meet by finishing third inthe Division II boys district race at Cedarville University.
Two districts are combined into one race, with the top two teams being declared champions and the next two runner-ups.
The top seven teams earned regional berths. Carroll won the meet with 48 points, Oakwood was second with 52 points, the Big Orange had 70 points, Waynesville was fourth with 111 points, Springfield Shawnee took fifth with 155 points, Eaton was sixth with 170 points, Alter was seventh with 269 points and Graham was eighth with 282 points.
The Big Orange boys, who are ranked sixth in this week’s state coaches poll, will run in the regional meet Saturday in Troy.
“This team has been a true blessing to coach and today was a perfect example of why, with the team racing short handed with Dylan Lauck out due to illness,” said WL-S boys coach Mike Louden.
“The team stepped up and ran a phenomenal race qualifying to the regional meet next week.
These kids are gamers with six guys setting career personal bests.
Hopefully, the team will be at full strength next week and will be in a position to compete for a regional title against an extremely talented field.”
Owen Harrison led theBig Orange by finishing fourth with a personal-best time of 16:38.5. Tate Yoder finished seventh in 16:47.2, Troy Bradley was 14th (17:02.5), Asher Knox finished 17th (17:05), Ayden Estep took 28th (17:30.6), Micah Smith took 33rd (17:42.3) and Quentin Rudolph finished 37th (17:56.9).
Six of the seven runners ran personal-best times for the Big Orange.