Fish Report: State Cross Country Numbers & Notes

The 95th annual boys and 46th annual girls OHSAA State Cross Country Championships are this Saturday at Fotress Obetz. Division III girls open the meet at 10:00 with D-III boys at 10:45 and awards at 11:15. Following that is D-II at 12:00 and 12:45 with awards at 1:15. D-I races are last at 2:00 and 2:45 with awards at 3:15. Below is a Fish Report preview for local fans interested in what to watch in the small school D-III races.

The girls battle includes 20 teams and 51 individuals for a total of 188 runners. Anyone doing the math should know that three of those teams include only six runners, rather than the maximum of seven. Minster is the two-time defending team state champions. They've also won six of the last seven titles with a total of 15 gold trophies in program history. Last year the Wildcats topped runner-up Ft. Loramie by the score of 63-119. This year head coach Jessie Magoto's team is ranked #1 in the final state poll of the season with all 12 first place votes. At last weekend's loaded 23-team Northwest Regional Championships in Tiffin, Minster won with three girls finishing under 19 minutes. Senior Chaney Cedarleaf was 2nd-place in 18:33, sophomore Maria Niekamp was 5th in 18:45 and senior Maggie Hemmelgarn was 8th in 18:57.

Fans of the Midwest Athletic Conference might also enjoy hearing that Minster isn't the only girls team that will represent their conference. Ft. Recovery punched their tickets at Tiffin with a 6th-place team finish. Topping the Indians this Saturday should be senior Natalie Brunswick who ran a 19:26 for 19th-place.

The smaller Southwest meet qualified three teams and eight individuals this year

Malia Miller

Two traditional area powerhouses from the 11-team Southwest Regional Championships are advancing to Obetz with West Liberty-Salem and Ft. Loramie. The Big Orange beat the Redskins last Saturday on the levee bank of the Great Miami River at Troy. West Liberty head coach Ann Vogel won a state title three years ago in 2020 and is anchored this season by sophomore Malia Miller, who finished runner-up at the regional clocking a 19:09. Not far behind was Malia's classmate Breece Gullet in 9th with a 19:40 and senior Ashley Yoder in 19th with a 20:08.

Ft. Loramie girls & boys head coach Dennis Prenger was an assistant back in 2002 when the Lady Redskins won their only state championship in program history. He was later head coach when the boys program won state titles in 2016 and 2018. Last Saturday Coach Prenger had two girls break 20:00 with sophomore Camille Borchers leading the way in 7th-place with a 19:37 and junior Ariel Heitkamp in 14th with a 19:55. Emerging freshman Carly Holthaus also looked promising after cutting 31 seconds off her district time to finish 21st in 20:30.

Qualifying for state as individual runners were four veteran stars and one rookie. At the head of the class is none other than 2022 state champion Paige Steinke from Anna. Paige topped the podium in Obetz last year with a blazing 17:46. Over the past two weekends the senior has coasted to wins in 18:47 and 18:50. Also from the Shelby County Athletic League, two teammates from Botkins that pushed each other the last three seasons will do it again one more time. Junior Alaina Mann was 3rd-place in Troy with a 19:10.4 and senior Brittany Arnold was 4th in 19:10.5. Alaina's first-ever state meet was last year and she made a splash with a 12th-place finish. For Brittany, the three-time SCAL Runner of the Year will cap a career that includes four individual appearances at the state meet with her previous finishes all in the top 20. Troy Christian freshman Elisabeth Waltz will make her state debut after finishing 11th on her hometown course in 19:43. Finally, Versailles senior Meredith Barga was smiling wide last Saturday in Troy after grabbing the last individual qualifying spot to state, finishing 12th in 19:47. Meredith's final high school race this weekend marks back-to-back appearances for her.

SCAL honorees Brittany Arnold, Paige Steinke, Alaina Mann, Ariel Heitkamp & Camille Borchers were all under 20:00 minutes at the regional meet (Picture via X)

Seniors John Young & Parker Schnippel

After the dust (or mud) settles following the girls race, it's the boys turn. Division III is comprised of 20 teams and 48 individuals for 188 total runners to match the girls number. 20% of those 20 teams will hail from the Midwest Athletic Conference. Qualifying last weekend from the 22-team Northwest Regional is 4th-place New Bremen, 5th Minster and 6th Marion Local. Qualifying from the 12-team Southwest Regional is 2nd-place Versailles. While cross country isn't what most folks think about with MAC boys sports, the conference does have one state championship won by Ft. Recovery back in 1996. Leading each of their teams this Saturday should be New Bremen senior Zach Wiedeman, Versailles sophomore Tony Moorman, Minster senior Ryan Halpin and Marion Local sophomore Trey Goettemoeller. Lastly, one other MAC individual qualifier to keep an eye on is Ft. Recovery senior Trevor Heitkamp. (We'd also like to note that Coldwater junior Mason Ayers will be running as an individual in the D-II race)

The Shelby County Athletic League is sending just one team to Obetz and it's no surprise it's the Botkins Trojans. Head coach Ryan Gutman has a well oiled machine in northern Shelby County with his fifth straight boys team heading to state. Junior Carson Brown, senior Parker Schnippel and junior Collin Doseck are the top Trojans and all 1st-team all-league honorees. Joining the Botkins boys on Saturday will be two-time SCAL Runner of the Year, John Young from Anna. John was the top talent from the league a week ago in Troy finishing 8th overall in 16:20.

We can't forget about about our neighbors from the Western Ohio Athletic Conference and they'll have two individual representatives. Both of those runners happen to come from Ansonia, as senior Matthew Lee finished in 10th-place with a 16:36 and freshman Bennett Lehman qualified in 13th with a 16:51.

Finally, if you're wondering about boys teams or individuals that can win it all? Keep your eye on West Liberty-Salem from the Ohio Heritage Conference led by junior Asher Knox. Head coach Mike Louden's Tigers dominated the Troy Regional. The program also still carries a lot of pride after their four consecutive state titles from 1976-1979 when the Big Orange nickname was invented. As for individual contenders, nobody was hotter in October than Covington senior Asher Long who blazed a 15:46 on the slow levee bank at Troy last Saturday. The course record of 15:32 set in 2011 by a kid named Sam Prakel wasn't that far out of reach and might have been in jeopardy had Asher been challenged at all. By the way, Sam Prakel went on to win state the following week. Should Asher do the same, he'd become the second runner from Covington to win the individual title joining Ron Leach who did it for the Buccaneers in 1970.