Russia Taking Care of Unfinished Business

After coming up short a year ago, this past Saturday the Russia boys cross country team won their first regional championship since 2009

Bixler and Bennett. Two of
the best in southwest Ohio.

A year ago last October, I wrote about the possibility of Russia rewriting history. The Raiders were coming off a district championship and appeared to have a legitimate shot at winning their first regional title in 16 years. Unfortunately, things didn't quite go as I thought. Russia finished a distant second to Cedarville at the regional meet and were actually just three points away from third. In hindsight, maybe that experience created some motivation.

Fast forward one year and the Raiders got another chance with their history assignment. This past Saturday, Russia captured the Division IV southwest regional championship in Troy, putting an end to a 17-year drought. They didn't just sneak away with it either.

Head Coach Zach Bell's Raiders posted 57 points, comfortably ahead of state qualifiers Legacy Christian (86), Botkins (89), Cedarville (139), and Lehman Catholic (153). Leading the way was Paxson Bixler, who continued his super sophomore campaign by blazing a school-record 15:32.9. His runner-up individual finish was just 4.9 seconds behind Ansonia senior Bennett Lehman, the 2025 defending state champion. Lehman is also college bound next fall for D-I Youngstown State University. The rest of Bixler's teammates included senior Samuel Phlipot finishing 7th in 16:06, junior Evan Smith 12th in 16:28, senior Owen Sargent 16th in 16:41, and rounding out the top five scorers was senior Keagan Baldridge 27th in 16:58. Freshman Francis Phlipot was 33rd in 17:10 and senior Eli Schmitmeyer 46th in 17:27. 

Something left to accomplish

Back in August when the season began, I wrote that Russia was on course for a big 2026. They returned their entire state roster from 2025 after a 5th-place finish at last year's state meet. That marked the third-highest finish in program history behind 4th-place in 2008 and 3rd-place in 2007. Last year Samuel Phlipot also earned First Team All-Ohio honors, while Paxson Bixler earned All-Ohio recognition. As respectable as all that was, most of Russia's squad will now tell you their 2025 performance felt like unfinished business. Cue up the most important race of the season this weekend where legends are made.

The state-ranked #2 Raiders will perform on Ohio's biggest stage at Fortress Obetz this Saturday in the last race of the day, a 4:10 start time. Their stiffest competitor according to the coaches poll is #1 Mount Gilead. The Indians won the southeast regional in Pickerington last Saturday, placing all five scorers in the top 11 finishers. They are led by junior Henry Bartlett who won the race in 16:04. 

The chart on the right compares last Saturday's regional times from Russia at Troy versus Mount Gilead at Pickerington. It's important to note that course conditions are perhaps the biggest influence on those results. While I didn't get any reports from Pickerington, I attended the race in Troy and it's my opinion that course was fast. Meaning the ground was firm after seven earlier races. There was even dust flying in a few spots behind the ATV leading the race. The runners in Troy had one tough climb up the Great Miami River levee bank at the 2-mile mark, but were otherwise running back-and-forth laps in front of the spectators. Here are links if you'd like to compare Troy's course to Pickerington's course (page 3). It's also worth noting the Pickerington D-IV boys race was the eighth race of the day as well.

As they say in cross country, "all it takes is all you got". And that's what will likely determine the winners on Saturday. There will be 24 teams plus 48 individual qualifiers in the small school boys race. For everything you need to know, check out the OHSAA website here. Enjoy the show race fans.

Russia will be running for a small town celebration on back-to-back Saturdays