By The Examiner Staff
TROY — The West Liberty-Salem boys and girls cross country teams clinched berths at the OHSAA state cross country meet with strong performances at Saturday’s regional meets.
The Big Orange girls took first place in Division IV, while the boys were in a three-way tie and wound up fourth in Division III.
Besides the runners from West Liberty-Salem, also heading to state are Bellefontaine’s Hayden Maus, Oliver Grandstaff, Grace Brown and Kaeleigh Flora in Division II, and John Gaertner of Calvary Christian in Division IV.
Wrapping up their seasons were runners from Indian Lake and Benjamin Logan.
The state meet will take place at Fortress Obetz on Saturday. The Division IV girls will be first at 10 a.m., followed by the Division IV boys at 10:40.
The Division III boys run at 12:30, with Division II at 1:40 and and 2:20 p.m.
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The West Liberty-Salem girls scored 64 points, with the top five runners all scoring in the top 25 and finishing in the top 30.
Fort Loramie was second with 79 and Versailles third with 96 points.
It is the ninth regional title and 15th state appearance for the girls program.
“I am incredibly proud of these girls and the way they competed,” said Coach Aaron Lauck. “Regionals can be very stressful, but our girls all ran composed, tactical races. I liked the way we packed together which shows depth and teamwork. I still think we can be better. Our goal is to be top five at the state meet.”
Senior Malia Miller led the pack with a time of 19:15, taking sixth place. Sophomore Addi Wallen was next, scored ninth (19:55), followed by senior Gwen McCullough (12th, 20:05), sophomore Isla Leichty (13th, 20:08), and and freshman Elia Matthews (24th, 20:48).
Rounding it out were Mariska Smith (25th, 20:50) and Charlee Albers (33rd, 21:10).
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The Big Orange boys finished with 81 points as did Oakwood and Versailles, behind team champion Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, which had 70.
Based on tiebreakers of the sixth runners, Oakwood was second, Versailles third and WL-S fourth.
This will make eight consecutive trips to state, breaking a mark of seven set from 1973 to 1979. It is the 24th overall since 1973.
Sophomore Asher Cole took fourth place with a time of 15:40, and senior Caleb Larson was sixth in 15:41. Next were sophomore Brayan Gullett (21st, 16:36); senior Dylan King (23rd, 16:41) and senior Garrett Wallen (27th, 16:45).
Also in action were Eric Hoover (42nd, 17:27) and Zeke Longshore (57th, 17:52).
“I would be lying if I said we weren’t a little disappointed about not winning the championship; we came into this race with the major goal of winning our third straight regional title, so to come up just short stings a little bit,” said boys coach Mike Louden.
“However, I thought we raced our best collective race of the season against the toughest regional field in the state. This region is absolutely brutal with four of the top six teams in it. We could probably race this race four different times and have four different winners each time; that’s just how similar the top four teams are. Despite just missing out on winning I couldn’t be any prouder of the seven guys that left everything on the course today qualifying us to the state championship next week. We had several outstanding performances today that gives us a lot of confidence going into (state). The fact that we get one more week together is a true blessing and one that we’re truly looking forward to.”
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BELLEFONTAINE
The Bellefontaine boys finished sixth with 154 points, The top five teams qualified for the state meet. Tippecanoe was the champion with 103 points.
Senior Hayden Maus, who was fourth (15:57) and junior Oliver Grandstaff, who was scored 20th (16:38) will take part in the state meet for the Chieftains. It will be Maus’ third trip and the first for Grandstaff.
Junior Jake Moreland (26th, 16:46), junior Will Myers (50th, 17:25), and sophomore Landon Gerwels (54th, 17:33) completed the team score.
Andrew Myers (58th, 17:37) and Brenden Murray (82nd, 18:29) were also in action.
“We put together one of our best overall team races,” said Coach Ben Davis. “Our back end of things certainly bounced back from last week’s district heat race and reeled in some season bests. Oliver sprinted by eight runners the last 70 meters to claim his first state meet berth and a PR. Hayden stamped his state ticket for the 3rd consecutive year. Jake has had a great past month of meets that would’ve gotten him through, just came up short today. Landon and Andrew stuck close to Will giving us our tightest 1-6 of the season.”
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The girls team placed 13th out of 22 teams with 365 points.
Junior Grace Brown finished third in 19:01, and senior Kaeleigh Flora was scored 23rd with a time of 20:03. Both qualified for the state meet.
Rounding out the team scoring were sophomore Cece Reier (108th, 22:46); and freshmen Blakely Vollrath (115th, 23:18); and Leila Hammond (116th, 23:18).
Cameo Greene (119th, 23:29) and Sloan Stolly (126th, 24:00) were also in action.
It is the third time Brown has qualified for state, and the first for Flora, who is also a member of the Lady Chieftains’ volleyball team.
“Grace and Kaeleigh have been incredible leaders for us in different ways — Grace with her experience and consistency, and Kaeleigh with her drive and composure in her first season. I’m so proud of the way this young team has come together and competed as a pack all year. They’ve built something special that gives us great momentum heading into next season,” said Coach Stacey Wilson of BHS.
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Runners from Indian Lake and Ben Logan ran in Division III.
The Indian Lake girls placed 13th with 335 points. The top five finishers were freshman Laura Metzger (33rd, 21:01), senior Reagan Rash (39th, 21:07), senior Evie Wagner (62nd, 21:53), junior Kayleigh Taylor (97th, 23:09) and junior Alicia Brielmaier (104th, 23:28). They were followed by Haley Metzger (114th, 24:26) and Olivia Albert (124th, 26:18).
Rash is third all-time for Indian Lake, Wagner 12th and Metzger 19th.
“It was great to see everyone compete so well today,” said Lakers coach Justin Metzger. “They never gave up and moved well through the field.”
Ben Logan sophomore Gwen Smith (103rd, 22:48), sophomore Lottie Bodin (121st, 23:30), and juniors Lucy Wenger (123rd, 23:34), Mollie Siefring (124th, 23:35), and Elliott Butler (139th, 24:02) ran as individuals.
Lady Raiders coach Mike Coder said, “As we finish today, we look back on the 2025 season. This team has left its mark. We placed second in the Mad River Division of the CBC. Seven athletes ran to all-conference honors. Finishing the season at the regional meet will be one of the highlights that will be remembered. We lose two seniors to graduation; we have five returning athletes with regional experience. We look forward to next season when we add more quality athletes from our junior high program. We will continue to work to build another competitive team.”
Competing for the Lakers boys were juniors Cason Lacher (88th, 18:33.4) and Will Faler (89th, 18:33.5) and freshman Nathan White (108th, 18:54).
The Raiders boys had senior Tyler Shoopman (80th, 18:24), sophomore Greyson Butler (107th, 18:54), junior Oliver Morse (114th, 19:03), and junior Maxwell Troth (125th, 19:19) complete their seasons.
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Calvary Christian
The Spartans boys finished 14th out of 20 teams in Division IV.
Senior John Gaertner finished 20th in a time of 16:58 and got one of the individual qualifying spots for state.
He was followed by freshman Aydan Knox (65th, 18:11), sophomore Beniah Soma (77th, 18:43), senior Gideon Soma (94th, 19:08), and junior Brett Gildow (114th, 21:18), plus junior Elias Peterson (119th, 22:19).
Running for the girls were freshman Avery McCarty (101st, 23:27) and senior Abriley Krabill (142nd, 27:28).
