West Liberty-Salem, #3 in this week’s OATCCC DII State Poll, won their 2nd consecutive Regional Championship Saturday. This is the Tigers first back-to-back Regional Titles since 1976-1979. This also marks the 7th straight trip to State dating back to 2018 and the program’s 23rd state appearance overall.
Tigers placers and times (top 16 makes the podium):
Sr. Asher Knox 5th 15:59.74 (PR)
Jr. Caleb Larson 6th 16:01.32
Jr. Dylan King 12th 16:32.21
Fr. Asher Cole 17th 16:47.53
Fr. Brayan Gullett 19th 16:49.22
Sr. Troy Bradley 28th 17:06.04 (SB)
Jr. Garrett Wallen 53rd 17:46.87
WL-S will compete in the DII State Cross Country Meet next Saturday at Fortress Orbetz.
Coach Mike Louden had this to say about his team’s performance; “Winning is never easy, especially at the Division II level, so to take home the Regional Championship is an amazing accomplishment. I’m just so proud of the way these young men show up week after week and perform at a high level. Individually, I thought Asher Knox ran his best race of the year, meticulously moving up the entire race. Caleb Larson also had a special performance. Dylan King has put back-to-back solid races together, while Asher Cole and Brayan Gullett, our two freshmen handled themselves well, considering this was their first Regional contest. Troy Bradley and Garrett Wallen also ran solid races, with Troy setting a season-best. We’re very excited to be heading to the state meet next week!”
The West Liberty-Salem Girls Big Orange Cross Country Team qualified for the OHSAA Division 3 State Meet Saturday at Troy. This is their 8th straight year qualifying for the state meet. The girls were 3rd out of 11 teams securing the final qualifying team spot.
Individual Results (out of 87 runners) (The top 12 qualify individually for the state meet.)
Malia Miller 6th 19:20.77
Addi Wallen 7th 19:21.55 personal record
Gwen McCullough 12th 19:38.13 personal record
Isla Leichty 34th 20:56.48
Mariska Smith 43rd 21:21.38
Ivy Matthews 59th 22:13.03
Bella Hughes 77th 23:56.24
The girls will run on Saturday at 10:45 am at Fortress Obetz.
Coach Lauch’s Comments:
“I am so proud of these girls! We were ready for a battle knowing a top-seven OATCCC state-ranked team would not make it out of our region. Based on the district performances, we were the outside team looking in. Our team embraced the challenge, handled the pressure, and came away with a state berth. To be so close to first place was amazing. It is also noteworthy that Malia, Addi, and Gwen all qualified individually. We are encouraged going into state. These girls are battle-tested and ready to compete!”
Bellefontaine’s Grace Brown finished 2nd out of 100 runners in the DII Regional at Troy. Brown finished with a time of 18:41.15.
“We’ve known all week that this race would be a battle up front and Grace wanted to be in the thick of it. She stayed composed, ran a smart race and it paid off with a big runner up finish, qualifying her to a second State meet appearance. This is the kind of momentum you want rolling into the last, and biggest race of the season.” -Coach Wilson
Brown will compete at the DII State Meet next Saturday at Fortress Orbetz.
The Bellefontaine boys team competed at the DII Regional Meet. The Chiefs finished 7th overall (top four teams advance). Hayden Maus qualified for the State Meet by finishing 3rd out of 108 runners with a 15:53.
Chiefs placers and times (top 16 podium):
3rd Hayden Maus 15:53
39th Jake Moreland 17:22
48th Oliver Grandstaff 17:36
52nd Will Myers 17:45 PR
57th Elias Abrego 17:52 PR
68th Landon Gerwels 18:19 PR
86th Brenden Murray 19:05 PR
Head coach Ben Davis had the following comments about his team:
“Hayden had a tremendous strategic race. He improved by 43 seconds from last year’s regional. He enters next week’s state meet with momentum. This was possibly his best career race overall.”
“The team had a good day as nearly everyone ran at a career best. Our 4 sophomores gained valuable experience. Freshman Landon is our 7th fastest regional freshman.”
“We thank seniors Elias and Ryan for their tremendous leadership this season.”