Pictures from Lebanon
Freshman Tsehaye Hiluf of Reynoldsburg is making a statement early in the season that he is going to be a player come November. Tsehaye finished 7th at the Hot Summer Bash last weekend with a time of 16:23 in his first high school 5k of his career, and now can add a runner up finish at Lebanon this weekend to his short, but impressive, resume.
Tsehaye guided the Raiders to a first place finish at the Lebanon Warrior Invitational by finishing second in a time of 16:34, just ten seconds behind winner Daniel Garleb of Pickerington North. The rest of his teamates started to come in about thirty seconds later as Reynoldsbug, who was ranked 8th in the OATCCC Preseason Poll, place five runners in the top 15 to hold off Pickerington North, Dublin Jerome, and St. Xavier.
On the girl's side at Lebanon, Mason (7th in the Preseason Poll) easily won the team race, placing six runners in the top 15, and distancing itself by nearly 70 points over runner up Lakota West.
Freshman Amanda Shelby of Lakota West looks to be a player in Southwest Ohio as she finished in 19:43, nearly thirty seconds ahead of runner up Lizzie Gleason of Chaminade-Julienne.
The Wildcats of St. Ignatius almost pulled an early season upset here, losing 52-54 to the defending state champions, Medina. Ignatius' strength lies in their pack, as their top five runners all crossed the finish line in a span of a just over twenty seconds. Ignatius was also able to place three runners in the top 10, but that was not quite enough to hold off Medina, who had two runners in the top 5. Both teams top five runners were all in top 20 overall.
Look for St. Ignatius to make a big jump in the OATCCC poll. Currently they are tied for 11th in the Preseason Poll, but they may break into the top 5 by the time the next poll comes out due to their third place finish at the Hot Summer Bash, and their runner up finish at Avon Lake.
Donny Roys of Medina rolled to the individual championship with a time of 16:07 on the boys side, and on the girls side, Hannah Neczypor of North Royalton finished well ahead of the field in a time of 18:46.
Magnificat showed that it belonged as the favorite in the OATCCC Division I Preseason Poll as they cruised to the team title despite the strong field, winning 58-86 over runner up Medina (ranked 11th). Other notable teams in the team race were: Division I 12th ranked Jackson (149 team points) and 17th ranked Brunswick (126 pts.); Division II 3rd ranked Beaumont (228 points); and Division III 4th ranked Gilmour Academy (203 pts.)
The Lady Panthers of Springboro, ranked fourth in the OATCCC Division I Preseason Poll, were able to hold off a tough field to take home the team title in the White Division race. Minster (ranked 2nd in DIII) actually had five girls across the line before Springboro, but was not able to overcome Springboro's 1-2 punch of individual champion Carly Hamilton (19:01) and fifth place runner Alex Mahle (19:33). Minster finished runner up with a score of 83 to Sprinboro's 73 team points. 8th ranked Alter in Division II, was able to finish third, twenty points ahead of Milton-Union (7th in DII).
The Division III top ranked girls team, Versailles, was easily able to win the Green Division, placing all seven of their runners in the top 20, outdistancing themselves from runner up Russia by a score of 35 to 88.
The Boys Varsity White had a great battle for the individual title. Travis Hawes (16:07.01) of LaSalle finished less than a second ahead of Danny Neff (16:07.64, Vandalia-Butler). Jason Salyer of Tippecanoe finished third, just steps behind Hawes and Neff in a time of 16:08.88) LaSalle went on to win the team title, 69-106 over Tippecanoe.
The Preseason number two team in Division III, Russia, won the Green Division 63-85 over the Preseason DIII 7th ranked team of New Bremen. Russia was able to put their five scores all in the top 25.