»RELATED: Tuesday’s high school roundup
»RELATED: Tuesday’s high school scoreboard
The Arrows’ Kylee Mastin was fourth in 12 minutes, 15 seconds over the two-mile course, followed by eighth-place Jaci Rife (13:30) and ninth-place Gena Diller (13:32).
“I’m proud of my team and how they finished,” Mastin said.
The Arrows have 23 girls, but many are first-year runners, Vaughan said.
“It was a good day for them,” Arrows coach Dan Vaughan said. “They ran pretty good on Saturday (at the Buck Creek Jim Murray Memorial race). We’re bringing them up so we have a little bit more depth than we had a year ago.”
Shawnee was without two of its top five runners and the Arrows were able to capitalize, beating the Division II 17th-ranked Braves for the second straight race.
The Arrows hope to keep improving as it looks ahead to the Central Buckeye Conference and D-I districts in the coming weeks. They’ll face stiff competition from Jonathan Alder and Shawnee at the conference meet, as well as Beavercreek and Centerville at the districts.
“We have to keep getting better if we want to get the third or fourth spot at the districts,” Vaughan said.
Shawnee freshman Audrey DeSantis won the race in 11:59, claiming her first individual county title and third victory of the season. The girls race finished in a downpour before storms in the area cleared up in the early evening.
“It feels great because I know I raced against some really good runners,” she said. “Our team loves running in the rain. We were all super excited. It felt pretty good.”
DeSantis was joined in the top 10 by teammates Madi Conley (sixth, 13:21) and Tessa Holcomb (10th, 13:45).
Northwestern’s Kassidy Carpenter finished second in 12:10. Catholic Central’s Addie Engel was third in 12:10, while sister Bridget Engel (fifth, 12:53) and teammate Sydney Yontz (seventh, 13:26) also placed in the top-10 for the host Irish.
BOYS
The D-II 12th-ranked Shawnee boys team saw all five of its runners place in the top 11 as the Braves won their ninth straight county title with 33 points.
Keith Kaiser was second in the two-mile race in 10:35, followed by teammates Alex Dyar (fourth, 10:45), Will Geist (sixth, 10:46), Ethan Griffith (10th, 11:16) and Jordyn Dillavou (11th, 11:19).
“They raced great,” Braves coach Brian DeSantis said. “Depth-wise, to see our fifth man (Dillavou) within three seconds of a kid (Griffith) that’s gone around 17 flat in his career … it’s a huge catapult into the postseason. (Dillavou) is gaining confidence. He called it before the race that he was going to run with him.”
By the time the boys race started, the clouds had faded and the sun was shining. Greenon’s Calvin Wise won his first county title in 10:33, kicking hard at the end to beat both Kaiser and Northwestern’s Drew Blazer (third, 10:37). Wise finished fourth last season.
“I knew I had to be there at the end,” Wise said. “They pulled a little bit farther ahead than I wanted, but I still got them.”
Wise and the Knights hope to make a return trip to the state meet, he said.
“Hopefully, our team can make it if we’re all healthy,” Wise said. “The goal is always to get the team to state.”
Greenon’s Gavin Patrick was fifth in 10:46 for the runner-up Knights (56 points).
Rounding out the top 10 were Tecumseh’s Ethan Adams (seventh, 10:50) and Garrett Gemmaka (ninth, 11:02) and Northeastern’s Payton Chatfield (eighth, 11:00).
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