A large contingent of runners from Champaign County schools will be running in the state cross country meet on Saturday at Fortress Obetz.
The West Liberty-Salem girls team is coming off its fourth consecutive Division III regional title last week and will be looking for its second straight state title.
This will be the sixth consecutive trip to the state meet for the Big Orange.
The Tigers placed three runners in the top 10 in last week’s regional meet with Megan Adams leading the way in first place (19:09.0). Ashley Yoder finished in third place (19:51.7) and Addison McAuley was seventh (20:37.5).
Taylor Kennedy cracked the top 30, finishing 29th (21:45.1) and was followed by teammates Claire Longshore 40th place (22:24.2) and Mandilyn Weaver 41st place (22:24.4). Anna Knox rounded out the WL-S placers finishing 72nd (24:18.5).
The Tigers will run at state at 9 a.m.
At the Division II girls regional last week, Graham’s Hailey Nash qualified for state by placing 12th in 20:39.7.
Nash will run at noon.
The West Liberty-Salem boys cross country team placed second at the Division II regional meet to qualify for the state meet.
It was the best finish by the Big Orange since 1989 and it will be the program’s 20th state appearance and the fourth straight. It also marks the team’s seventh trip to state since 2011.
Results for WL-S at last week’s regional meet were Dylan Lauck 17:01.6 3rd (4th straight year finishing as a state qualifier), Tate Yoder 17:12.9 9th (3rd straight year finishing as a state qualifier), Owen Harrison 17:33.1 19th, Asher Knox 17:40.9 25th, Ayden Estep 17:59.1 35th, Troy Bradley 18:01.1 37th and Michael Jones 18:57.2 63rd.
The Tigers will run at 1 p.m.
The Mechanicsburg boys cross country team placed third at the Division III regional and qualified for the state meet for the first time in school history.
For the Indians at the regional, Will Negley was 11th in 17:45.6, Matthew Westfall was 23rd in 18:19, Sean Shultz was 28th in 18:25.9, Joshua Porter was 35th in 18:35.1, Luke Bryant was 48th in 18:52.1, Garrett Durham was 88th in 20:05.0 and Tyler Hennigan was 102nd in 21:41.3.
The Indians will run at 10 a.m.
