GREENE COUNTY — Twenty area high school cross country runners will be competing Saturday, Nov. 4 in the state cross country championships at National Trail Raceway in Hebron.
The girls cross country teams from Beavercreek (Division I) and Bellbrook (Division II) qualified for their respective events, and there are six individual state qualifiers from the Greene County area as well.
In the first scheduled event of the 40th annual girls state championship races, Legacy Christian’s Tori Estepp will run in the Division III race. She placed 15th overall in the regional championships with a time of 20:41.58 last weekend.
The Bellbrook team of Avarie Faulkner, Elise Kemper, Minami Ford, Cara Fine, Emily Pelfrey, Amira Faulkner and Kayla Paul will run in the day’s second event. Freshman Avarie Faulkner led the Golden Eagles with a 19:56.03 time, good for ninth place in the D-II regional event last week in Troy.
Then Beavercreek’s girls contingent of Taylor Ewert, Juliann Williams, Jodie and Stephanie Pierce, Kendall Hobbs, Bently Barrett and Molly Bernhard will compete in the girls Division I race. Ewert led the Beavers with her third-place finishing regional time of 18:04.85.
The boys events then get under way, with a trio of Greene County area runners — Legacy Christian’s Isaac Erlandson, and the Cedarville freshman pair of Ethan Wallis and Trent Koning — competing in the Division III event. Erlandson was the area’s top regional placer. The LCA senior finished fifth in Troy with a time of 16:40.14, with Wallis and Koning finishing sixth and seventh respectively.
There were no boys from the area who qualified in Division II, but a pair of area runners will be on hand to compete in the D-I race. Karl Grossman of Carroll and Riley Buchholz of Beavercreek will be in Saturday’s final event. Last week, Grossman placed seventh at the Troy regional with an area-best qualifying time of 16:17.41.
The state cross country championships will be held at the National Trail Raceway drag strip, located near Hebron. For those traveling from the west on Interstate 70, take Exit 122 Outville Road (State Route 158), then in one mile turn right onto National Road (State Route 40). The drag strip will be on your left.
RACE SCHEDULE
GIRLS
Division III (Estepp, LCA) — 11 a.m.
Division II (Bellbrook team) — 11:45 a.m.
Division I (Beavercreek team) — 12:30 p.m.
BOYS
Division III (Isaac Erlandson, LCA; Ethan Wallis, Cedarville; Trent Koning, Cedarville) — 1:30 p.m.
Division II (No local competitors) — 2:15 p.m.
Division I (Karl Grossman, Carroll; Riley Buchholz, Beavercreek) — 3 p.m.