The Beavercreek and Bellbrook girls cross country teams, and six individuals all qualified to their respective state championship races, Oct. 28 at the regional cross country championships at Troy Memorial Stadium.
Carroll senior Karl Grossman placed seventh overrall with a time of 16 minutes, 17.41 seconds, and Beavercreek junior Riley Buchholz was 12th (16:23.76) as both qualified to this week’s state cross country championships as individual entries in Division I.
The top five teams, and individuals finishing in the top 20, moved on to the state meet in D I. The famed National Trail Raceway drag strip in Hebron will once again be the host site for the state championship.
National Trail is the former host to the National Hot Rod Association’s Springnationals drag race. Shirley Muldowney became the first woman to win a national NHRA event with a Springnationals win there in 1976. The state course has the runners crossing over the famed quarter-mile drag strip twice during each division event.
In the D-I girls race, the Beavercreek girls team of Taylor Evert, Juliann Williams, Jodie Pierce, Stephanie Pierce, Kendall Hobbs and Bently Barrett finished fourth as a unit to qualify to state. In Girls D I, the top six teams and top 24 individuals advanced.
There were no local Greene County area qualifiers to advance in the boys Division II race, but the entire Bellbrook girls team (with runners Avarie Faulkner, Elise Kemper, Minami Ford, Cara Fine, Emily Pelfrey, Amira Faulkner and Kayla Paul) placed third to reserve a spot at National Trail.
Four individual runners will represent their schools and Greene County in the Division III races.
Legacy Christian senior Isaac Erlundson, and Cedarville freshmen Ethan Wallis and Trent Koning, placed fifth, sixth and seventh respectively in the boys D-III race to advance to state.
In the girls D-III race, Legacy senior Tori Estepp was the second quickest individual runner, earning herself a spot in the state championship.
The address for National Trail Raceway is 2650 National Road SW in Hebron, just east of Columbus.
The state championships start with the D-III girls race at 11 a.m., followed by D-II girls (11:45 a.m.), D-I girls (12:30 p.m.). Boys races start with D-III at 1:30 p.m., followed by D-II (2:15 p.m.) and D-I (3 p.m.).