TROY – Runners from Arcanum, Franklin Monroe and Versailles qualified for the Ohio High School Athletic Association state cross country meet on Saturday in Troy.
Versailles finished third as a team in the Division III girls race to qualify for state. Arcanum’s Tanner Delk finished fourth and Franklin Monroe’s Cole Good finished eighth in the Division III boys race while Versailles’ Joe Spitzer won the Division II boys race.
Versailles’ girls, the lone Darke County team to reach the regional meet as a complete unit, finished third behind West Liberty-Salem and Fort Loramie at regionals. Those three teams along with Russia all qualified for the Division III state meet.
Senior Kenia McEldowney led Versailles’ girls as she finished 10th overall in 20:31.39. Also for the Lady Tigers, senior Megan Rismiller finished 18th in 20:44.82, freshman Maria Mangen finished 21st in 21:01.15, senior Dana Rose finished 34th in 21:33.77, freshman Kennedy McEldowney finished 39th in 21:46.01, sophomore Hannah Bey finished 51st in 22:12.40, and junior Liz Watren finished 60th in 22:29.91.
Also in the Division III girls race, Ansonia’s Olivia Wright finished 37th overall in 21:44.03 and Arcanum senior Mara Wetzel finished 59th in 22:29.49 to end their seasons.
In the second race of the day, Greenville’s Isabelle Rammel finished 34th among the Division II girls with a time of 21:06.90 to conclude her season.
Delk finished fourth with a time of 16:38.38 while Good finished eighth in 17:00.10 in the Division III boys race as the Arcanum and Franklin Monroe juniors qualified for state.
Spitzer won the Division II boys race in 16:02.63. The Versailles senior beat Clark Montessori senior Ryan Estes by more than 12 seconds for the regional championship.
The state-qualifiers now advance to the OHSAA state championships, which will be held on Nov. 4 at National Trail Raceway in Hebron. The Versailles girls will run at 11 a.m., Delk and Good will run at 1:30 p.m., and Spitzer will run at 2:15 p.m.
