West Liberty-Salem’s girls junior high cross country team won the Ohio middle school and elementary cross country state championships Sunday at Dublin Jerome High School.
The Big Orange placed first out of 12 teams in the Division III race with 47 points. St. Sebastian was runner-up with 65 points, Ft. Loramie was third with 83 points and Orange Crush was fourth with 125 points.
Standout Addison McAuley was the individual state champion for WL-Salem’s girls in Division III with a time of 11:42. Her time was the fastest female time in all three divisions, which earned her the honor of Ohio’s Fastest Middle School Girl at the tournament.
Also helping the Big Orange win a state championship were Ashley Yoder in fourth (12:21), Lily Smith in eighth (12:36), Claire Longshore in 24th (13:24), Kerrigan Burgel in 33rd (13:50), Anna Cole in 43rd (14:08), Izzy Wygal in 90th (15:39), Jane Fullenkamp in 116th (18:41), Laney Craig in 117th (18:45) and Nevaeh Lafollette in 123rd (20:28).
WL-Salem’s boys also competed in the Division II state meet. Racing for the Big Orange were Troy Bradley in 35th (12:18), Joey LaRoche in 54th (12:43), Quentin Rudolph in 77th (13:08), Clay McAuley in 117th (14:32) and Max Rudolph in 126th (15:21).