Engel avenged two straight losses to Stapleton at the Ohio Heritage Conference and district championships with a repeat victory at the regional meet in Troy on a cold, wet Saturday afternoon. Engel won the race in 19 minutes, 16.9 seconds.
“I knew I’d have to start out quick,” Engel said. “That’s basically all I thought about.”
While Engel celebrated her individual title, West Liberty-Salem hoisted the team trophy. The Tigers were led by Bieleski in second (19:46.1), Adams in fourth (19:48.0) and Stapleton in fifth (19:53.5). Fort Loramie’s Danielle Berning broke up the trio by coming in third.
Engel and West Liberty-Salem’s team were among a strong group of area runners advancing to next Saturday’s state meet at National Trail Raceway in Hebron.
Greenon’s boys – led by senior Max Pettit’s third-place finish – qualified for the first time in program history. The Knights placed fourth as a team to grab the final spot in D-III.
“It was a great team effort today, very solid effort to secure our state bid,” Greenon coach Eric Brickson said. “I’m really proud of the guys and how tough they ran today.”
Shawnee’s boys qualified for state for the eighth consecutive season and the Braves girls for the fourth straight. The boys finished third in the D-II meet and the girls fourth in D-II.
“We’re pleased to come to this meet as underdogs on the boys side and get out,” Shawnee coach Brian DeSantis said. “It was a heck of a battle on the boys side. I was a nervous wreck because I was trying to do the points in my head. I knew it was going to be tight.”
Shawnee’s boys scored 149 points to tie with Brookville. Shawnee No. 6 runner Noah Shafer finished four spots ahead of Brookville’s No. 6 to break the tie.
“The time we needed it the most, we had amazing efforts and kids stepped it up in big ways today,” DeSantis said.
Juniors Keith Kaiser and Will Geist led the Braves in sixth and 13th place, respectively.
“I thought we were going to make it today. But at the beginning of the summer I was not so sure,” Kaiser said. “This has been a trip of a season. I’m loving it. The guys are great. This is my favorite team I’ve ever been on. It’s less of a team and more of a family.”
Shawnee’s girls were led by sophomore Olivia Warax (fourth) and senior Grace Holmes (10th).
West Liberty-Salem, meanwhile, figured a state trip was pretty much locked up. But the Tigers still wanted to run toward Columbus with some momentum. The Tigers, ranked No. 4 in the D-III state poll, make their second straight trip. They finished 20th last season. The goal this time is top four.
“It definitely feels different this year because we went into the race expecting to get out,” Adams said. “Anything is possible. Last year didn’t know if we’d get out or not.”
West Liberty-Salem beat runner-up Fort Loramie by eight points. That made Bieleski’s effort to beat Berning to the line by 1.6 seconds even more important at the time.
“She knew what it took and she knew what she had to do,” WL-S coach Ann Vogel said. “We couldn’t have have Fort Loramie finishing ahead of our three girls. The girls made a goal all year to be regional champions. We knew Fort Loramie would be right on our tails. It was probably one of the best team races we had all year.”
Also qualifying for state among area runners were Northwestern’s Kassidy Carpenter (D-II girls), Triad’s Holly Cole (D-III girls) and Cedarville’s Ethan Wallis and Trent Koning (D-III boys).
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