Girls Individuals
Katie Clute enters Saturday's OHSAA State Cross Country Championships as the clear favorite to earn the Division I individual title.
She was seventh as a sophomore in 2020 and then narrowly missed securing the top spot on the podium last year with her runner-up placement to the now graduated Alyssa Shope (Gahanna Lincoln). She's knocked on that door before and 2022 figures to be the year she busts through it.
Clute has been on an absolute tear throughout the course of the fall XC season. She holds an unblemished record with nine wins in as many starts all the while posting some of Ohio's fastest 5-kilometer marks we've seen in years. Her 17:02.68 at Seneca East represents a career best at the distance and places her as state No. 1 and in the twenty-first spot nation-wide.
The Olmsted Falls senior's efforts have not gone unnoticed. She's made appearances on the MileSplit50 subjective rankings lists and has been a fixture on our USA site's newsfeed.
Clute committed, verbally, to the University of Oregon recently and she'd like nothing more than to add a state title on grass to a resume that already boasts titles on the indoor and outdoor ovals before she departs the high school ranks for Eugene.
If someone springs an upset on Clute, it seems likely that'd come from the handiwork of Sarah Peer. Another product of Region 1, Peer knows Clute's game well, as they've gone head-to-head on many occasions over the years. The junior from Westlake was third at last year's state meet and she's carried that momentum into the current campaign. Peer has won four times in 2022 and put down a national level time of 17:10.30 at the Great Lakes Championships. She'll be running on Saturday with the comfort of knowing her Demon teammates are sharing the course due to the team's qualifying effort at Boardman.
Efa Paschka and Evelyn Prodoehl reside at the number three and four spots in Ohio's Division I rankings with 17:30.30 and 17:32.10 season bests. Paschka, a freshman, is on a significant upward trajectory with wins in her latest three contests and when the competition level has been at its highest. Titles at GMC, District Voice of America, Region 4 plus an early season victory at Moeller Primetime anchor her work in 2022.
Prodoehl, a sophomore from Lakota West, has displayed true consistency with no placement lower than third in her nine starts over the fall. She counts a pair of wins and four sub-18 performances as personal highlights heading into Saturday's action.
With similarities to Paschka, Dublin Jerome's Helen Randolph is also trending upward, which indicates her best is likely still to come. She withstood all challenges in the tough Region 3, winning with a personal best time of 18:04.87. Prior to that, Randolph was the Section 1 champion within the Hilliard Darby District.
Girls Teams
The separation between the top teams in Division I is negligible, which makes this race one of the state meet's most difficult to call. Mason, Hilliard Davidson, Westlake and Perrysburg share that same order, one through four, on both the latest OATCCC poll release and the MileSplit XC Scores feature.
The Comets garnered eight 1st place votes in said poll while the Wildcats took the other four, but many others we've spoken to in the coaching in the community of late feel like that order could have easily been reversed. Whatever the case may be, questions will be answered on Saturday when these two perennial contenders meet head-to-head in the final race of the day with a scheduled 3:45 pm start time.
Both rosters offer depth 1 through 7 and have front-runners to rely on for a low number out of their No. 1's. We spoke previously about Mason's Efa Paschka and for Davidson, Caitlyn Jones, a recent Virginia Tech commit, leads the way. She's tallied a season's best of 18:09.80 and has won a pair of races outright.
While not as experienced as Mason or Davidson in high stakes team racing, the group from Westlake made waves at Region 1 with a decisive win. They put up just 63-points and with that a resounding 62-point margin of victory. A pair of sub-19 minute performers in Sydney Peer (18:39.10) and Ellie Irwin (18:57.50) complement Sarah Peer's efforts up front.
A surprise to some last year with their state meet triumph over favored Loveland, Perrysburg no longer flies under anyone's radar. The Yellow Jackets cruised through Region 2 with a perfect 15-point tally and seem to be setting-up for a season's best effort on the Obetz Memorial Park course. Led by underclass runners Ava Beeks and Natalie Sanders, Perrysburg sports a great mix of youth and experience with seniors Sage Colon and AnnaSophia Gower regularly being a part of their scoring unit.
Despite the loss of the key personnel to the NCAA in graduating seniors Jessie Gibbins, Emmy Sager and Sarah Madix, Loveland returned this season without missing a beat. The coaches rank them seventh and they reside at No. 5 by MileSplit with a 19:00.66 team average. Freshman Caroline Murnan and senior Madison Conatser typically set the tone for the Tigers attack.
Dublin Jerome, rated fifth by the coaches and sixth by MileSplit, figures to be a fixture in state meet previews for years to come. Beyond the aforementioned sophomore Helen Randolph, Jerome leans on the contributions of number two and three, both underclass runners, sophomore Milly Leonard and freshman Natalie Fouts. The squad placed second to Davidson at Region 3.