Big Orange, Indians lead local teams at 2026 cross country districts

Area high school cross country teams competed in the OHSAA district tournaments Saturday, October 24, with races held at Cedarville University and Hilliard Darby High School.

Several local teams secured regional berths, including the Bellefontaine boys and girls, West Liberty-Salem boys and girls, Urbana boys and girls, Benjamin Logan girls, Triad boys, and Mechanicsburg boys and girls. Individual regional qualifiers also emerged from Graham, Benjamin Logan, Indian Lake, Calvary Christian, and Triad. Bellefontaine’s Oliver Grandstaff and West Liberty-Salem’s Asher Cole both earned third-place finishes in their respective boys divisions, while Bellefontaine’s Grace Brown placed fifth in the Division III girls race.

Cedarville University

Division II Boys

Bellefontaine Chieftains – 4th place (102 points)

Bellefontaine finished fourth as a team to qualify for regionals. Oliver Grandstaff led the Chieftains with a third-place finish in 16:20.8.

• 3rd – Oliver Grandstaff, 12th grade – 16:20.8

• 18th – Will Myers, 12th grade – 17:20.8

• 20th – Brenden Murray, 12th grade – 17:24.5

• 27th – Jackson Maus, 9th grade – 17:46.8

• 34th – Landon Gerwels, 11th grade – 17:58.2

• 42nd – Jake Moreland, 12th grade – 18:03.8

• 49th – Andrew Myers, 10th grade – 18:19.4

Division III Boys

West Liberty-Salem Tigers – 3rd place (81 points)

West Liberty-Salem placed third as a team to qualify for regionals. Asher Cole paced the Tigers with a third-place finish in 15:57.1.

• 3rd – Asher Cole, 11th grade – 15:57.1

• 12th – Brayan Gullett, 11th grade – 16:44.6

• 19th – Zeke Longshore, 11th grade – 17:14.7

• 20th – Eric Hoover, 10th grade – 17:17.7

• 30th – Zeke Lauck, 9th grade – 17:39.0

• 38th – Zeke Sidders, 12th grade – 17:55.1

• 42nd – Gauge Lee, 11th grade – 18:03.2

   

Urbana Hillclimbers – 11th place (357 points)

Urbana finished 11th and qualified for regionals by nine points.

• 51st – Levi Zachrich, 10th grade – 18:38.1

• 63rd – Landon McKellop, 11th grade – 19:05.5

• 71st – Anthony Keeran, 11th grade – 19:24.2

• 95th – Henry Chapman, 10th grade – 20:12.8

• 96th – Alex McCrae, 11th grade – 20:20.7

• 100th – Landon McKenzie, 10th grade – 20:31.0

• 107th – Sawyer Risner, 10th grade – 20:53.4

Graham Falcons – 14th place (393 points)

Graham finished 14th as a team, with Jesse Jenkins and Brandon Lockery qualifying for regionals as individuals.

• 54th – Jesse Jenkins, 12th grade – 18:46.9 (regional qualifier)

• 60th – Brandon Lockery, 9th grade – 18:54.5 (regional qualifier)

• 81st – Hunter Demarco, 12th grade – 19:47.9

• 94th – Maddex Cushard, 11th grade – 20:12.3

• 128th – Alex Daubenspeck, 12th grade – 22:55.8

• 130th – Sully Uhl, 12th grade – 23:03.5

• 134th – Tucker Fenton, 10th grade – 23:18.8

Benjamin Logan Raiders – 17th place (407 points)

Benjamin Logan finished 17th, with Greyson Butler qualifying for regionals as an individual.

• 40th – Greyson Butler, 11th grade – 17:55.7 (regional qualifier)

• 78th – Oliver Morse, 12th grade – 19:36.2

• 92nd – Cason Lacher, 12th grade – 20:05.8

• 103rd – John Tingley, 9th grade – 20:38.0

• 113th – Maxwell Troth, 12th grade – 21:09.5

• 125th – Gavin Jordan, 12th grade – 22:36.4

• 126th – Gabe Elsasser, 12th grade – 22:42.7

Indian Lake Lakers

Indian Lake had two individual regional qualifiers.

• 46th – Nathan White, 10th grade – 18:16.6 (regional qualifier)

• 53rd – Hayden Kuhlke, 9th grade – 18:41.0 (regional qualifier)

Division III Girls

Bellefontaine Chieftains – 4th place (166 points)

Bellefontaine finished fourth as a team to qualify for regionals. Grace Brown led the Chieftains with a fifth-place finish in 19:43.5.

• 5th – Grace Brown, 12th grade – 19:43.5

• 37th – Hannah Wilson, 12th grade – 22:06.3

• 40th – Camila Cely-Hernandez, 11th grade – 22:24.2

• 44th – Sloan Stolly, 11th grade – 22:38.3

• 49th – Cameo Greene, 10th grade – 22:44.8

• 66th – Chloe O’Chocke, 10th grade – 23:24.4

• 72nd – Leila Hammond, 10th grade – 23:45.9

Urbana Hillclimbers – 5th place (179 points)

Urbana placed fifth and qualified for regionals by nine points. Hazel Lightle led the Hillclimbers with a 13th-place finish.

• 13th – Hazel Lightle, 12th grade – 20:19.0

• 22nd – Avery Smith, 11th grade – 21:18.3

• 39th – Sara Hildebrand, 11th grade – 22:15.3

• 50th – Olivia MacKendrick, 12th grade – 22:48.6

• 67th – Meghan Hoskins, 9th grade – 23:26.2

• 108th – Addison Bass, 12th grade – 27:39.6

• 113th – Zaylor Rogan, 10th grade – 31:03.2

Benjamin Logan Raiders – 12th place (308 points)

Benjamin Logan finished 12th as a team and qualified for regionals by 18 points.

• 58th – Mollie Siefring, 12th grade – 23:08.4

• 61st – Shelby Siefring, 9th grade – 23:11.3

• 65th – Lucy Wenger, 12th grade – 23:18.2

• 77th – Gwendolyn Smith, 11th grade – 24:05.6

• 79th – Elliott Butler, 12th grade – 24:09.4

• 86th – Lottie Bodin, 11th grade – 24:32.6

• 92nd – Lauren Kennedy, 12th grade – 25:03.1

Indian Lake Lakers – 14th place (362 points)

Indian Lake finished 14th as a team, with five runners qualifying for regionals as individuals.

• 29th – Laura Metzger, 10th grade – 21:47.9 (regional qualifier)

• 84th – Kayleigh Taylor, 12th grade – 24:27.6 (regional qualifier)

• 89th – Haley Metzger, 12th grade – 24:49.7 (regional qualifier)

• 95th – Caroline Jones, 9th grade – 25:28.2 (regional qualifier)

• 99th – Abby Arnett, 9th grade – 25:40.6 (regional qualifier)

Graham Falcons – 15th place (390 points)

Graham finished 15th as a team, with three runners qualifying for regionals as individuals.

• 20th – Harriet Uhl, 10th grade – 21:02.8 (regional qualifier)

• 93rd – Adelaide Shearer, 11th grade – 25:04.9 (regional qualifier)

• 98th – Kendall Nichols, 10th grade – 25:35.3 (regional qualifier)

• 109th – Tori Ford, 11th grade – 29:15.2

• 112th – Cece Mockbee, 9th grade – 30:18.7

• 116th – Stella Leighty, 10th grade – 35:42.3

Division IV Boys

Triad Cardinals – 12th place (390 points)

Triad finished 12th as a team and qualified for regionals by 18 points. Henry Beaverson led the Cardinals with a 44th-place finish.

• 44th – Henry Beaverson, 12th grade – 17:31.2

• 56th – Daniel Ishida-Garwood, 10th grade – 18:01.0

• 73rd – Jacob Johnson, 9th grade – 18:34.2

• 95th – Noah Humphrey, 10th grade – 19:02.9

• 110th – Hayden Williams, 12th grade – 19:35.6

• 142nd – Chris May, 9th grade – 21:18.8

• 160th – Alex McComas, 9th grade – 23:14.8

Calvary Christian Spartans

Calvary Christian had two runners qualify for regionals as individuals.

• 15th – Adly Knox, 11th grade – 16:53.3 (regional qualifier)

• 30th – Benaiah Soma, 11th grade (regional qualifier; time not provided)

• 48th – Aydan Knox, 10th grade – 17:40.5 (regional qualifier)

• 116th – Will Bender, 10th grade – 19:54.0

Riverside Pirates

• 174th – Brenden Lattimer, 10th grade – 33:08.9

Division IV Girls

West Liberty-Salem Tigers – 3rd place (113 points)

West Liberty-Salem finished third as a team to qualify for regionals. Isla Leichty led the Tigers with a 10th-place finish in 19:57.5.

• 10th – Isla Leichty, 11th grade – 19:57.5

• 16th – Elin Leichty, 9th grade – 20:21.2

• 18th – Addi Wallen, 11th grade – 20:27.1

• 37th – Elia Matthews, 10th grade – 21:29.9

• 58th – Charlee Albers, 10th grade – 22:26.2

• 61st – Hattie Jacobs, 12th grade – 22:33.2

• 63rd – Olive Matthews, 11th grade – 22:38.2

Calvary Christian Spartans

Evie White qualified for regionals as an individual.

• 95th – Evie White, 9th grade – 24:23.1 (regional qualifier)

• 106th – Avery McCarty, 10th grade – 25:30.1

• 122nd – Soma Mayumi, 9th grade – 27:35.5

• 136th – Jocelyn Wylie, 9th grade – 31:23.3

Triad Cardinals

• 24th – Aubrey Johnson, 11th grade – 20:40.6 (regional qualifier)

Riverside Pirates

• 141st – Kristen Thompson, 10th grade – 32:59.2

Hilliard Darby High School

Division IV Boys

Mechanicsburg Indians – 2nd place (90 points)

Mechanicsburg finished second as a team to qualify for regionals. Ben Montgomery led the Indians with a 17th-place finish.

• 17th – Ben Montgomery, 9th grade – 18:44.8

• 18th – Thomas Good, 10th grade – 18:53.8

• 19th – Adrian Miller, 12th grade – 18:59.5

• 20th – Dmitri Pack, 10th grade – 19:02.3

• 44th – Ethan Schaffner, 12th grade – 21:47.9

Division IV Girls

Mechanicsburg Indians – 1st place (37 points)

Mechanicsburg captured the team championship, finishing first to qualify for regionals. Reiner Schaadt led the Indians with a third-place finish in 19:34.6, while Elizabeth Shuryan placed fourth.

• 3rd – Reiner Schaadt, 9th grade – 19:34.6

• 4th – Elizabeth Shuryan, 11th grade – 20:00.3

• 8th – Blake Rausch, 9th grade – 20:25.0

• 9th – Evelyn Schultz, 11th grade – 20:32.8

• 18th – Bailee Eyink, 9th grade – 22:32.8

• 19th – Ayla Picklesimon, 12th grade – 22:48.1

• 30th – Ally Dingey, 11th grade – 24:04.6