HEBRON — West Liberty-Salem’s boys cross country team showed they more than belonged here with the Division II field Saturday at the state meet.
Competing in Division II for the first time after previously being in Division III, the Big Orange boys placed 10th out of 20 teams. They improved on their 13th-place finish in last year’s Division III state meet.
“The guys have handled this transition with class and I am very proud of them,” said head coach Mike Louden. “They competed at a high level all season.
“It played out pretty much the way I thought it would today. We were shooting for somewhere between fourth and 10th, but we knew it would take a really special race to get within that top five. I feel really good about the way the guys ran.”
Woodridge won the Division II boys title at National Trail Raceway with 37 points, easily beating second-place Unioto (115). Heath finished in third with 160, Bay was fourth with 166 and Defiance finished fifth (187).
Filling out the top 10 were Carroll in sixth (229), Waynesville in seventh (232), Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary in eighth (236) and Poland Seminary (256).
Leading the Big Orange was standout sophomore Dylan Lauck, who placed 16th in a time of 16:18.4 to earn all-Ohio honors for the second straight season. He placed 17th as a freshman in the Division III meet a year ago.
“I went out a little too fast, but overall I felt like I ran a good race,” said Lauck. “I am never satisfied, though. I could have done better. I want to just keep improving and keep building on this.
“As a team, I felt like we did our best. We wanted to get between fourth and 10th, and we were able to do that, so it feels good to accomplish that goal.”
In just two seasons, Lauck has placed himself among the top runners in the storied history of the Big Orange boys program.
“To get back-to-back all-Ohio honors is a great accomplishment for Dylan,” said Louden. “He is a special runner. He moved up the whole race. He is a very mature runner and it’s a luxury as a coach to have a runner like that. He is always pushing himself.”
Supporting Lauck on Saturday were Tate Yoder in 42nd (16:40.8), Cade Clerico in 113th (17:23), Noah Smith in 114th (17:23.5), Gavin Harrison in 135th (17:50.2), Hayden Kennedy in 139th (17:53.7) and Andrew Kimball in 158th (18:08.4).
Running their last races for the Big Orange were Smith, Harrison and Clerico.
“Those three guys have meant everything to us,” said Louden. “They have been very instrumental to our success over the last four years. They are all very good leaders.”
There is also a lot to look forward to for the Big Orange as they return a strong core for next season.
“We bring back four of the guys that ran today, so to have that much of our team coming back will be huge,” said Louden. “We are very excited about the future.”
The individual winner in Division II was Shelby’s Caleb Brown in 15:05.1. Mhalicki Bronson of Defiance was second (15:13.3), Galion’s Braxton Tate finished third (15:45.8), Xavier Foehl was fourth (15:48.7) and Woodridge’s Micah Blair took fifth (15:50).