Hilliard Davidson's Connor Ackley, Granville girls win OHSAA cross country state titles

Connor Ackley's pursuit of a cross country state championship was going to end Nov. 5 regardless of where he finished in the Division I boys race at Fortress Obetz.

In his fourth trip to the meet, he finally crossed the finish line first.

The Hilliard Davidson senior pulled away in the final mile to win in 15 minutes, 10.1 seconds and lead the Wildcats to fifth place (197) behind champion Mason (128). Lancaster finished third (155) and Dublin Coffman was fourth (177).

The Davidson girls team closed the day by finishing second (91) to Mason (75) for its second runner-up finish in three years.

Ackley finished second (14:58.1) last season, 11th (15:48.5) as a sophomore and 22nd (15:53) as a freshman.

“There’s a lot people that I look up to that have been through the program, especially like Colin Burdette, Max LeClair and India Johnson,” Ackley said. “Knowing that they (succeeded), so why can’t I? I looked up to them and kept them in my mind every day. It’s really good motivation.”

Dublin Jerome’s Sam Ricchiuti (15:25.6) finished second, using a closing kick to overtake Canton GlenOak’s Tommy Rice (15:26.8).

Lancaster was led by Trevor Lanoy and Kaiden Lanoy, who finished sixth (15:36) and 16th (15:53.1), respectively. Liam Shaughnessy finished 10th (15:45.2) to lead Coffman.

Westerville North’s Ben Gabelman finished fourth (15:31.4), Dublin Scioto’s Weston Day was 17th (15:52.3) and Jerome’s Josh Razor finished 19th (15:54.7).

Olentangy Orange finished 17th (331) and Pickerington North was 20th (389).

For the Davidson girls, Caitlyn Jones finished fourth (18:19) and Dillon Sweetman placed ninth (18:33) to lead the second-place team effort.

“I’ve vowed to myself to never be disappointed with state hardware because it’s so hard to get,” Davidson coach Nate King said. “Only two teams get state hardware. They’ve done it twice in three years, so you can’t ask for too much more.”

Jerome finished sixth (226), with Marysville placing 15th (333), Olentangy Liberty 18th (359) and Orange 19th (372).

Milly Leonard finished 18th (18:44.2) and Helen Randolph was 19th (18:44.3) to lead Jerome.

Coffman’s Olivia Oiler was 10th (18:34.9) and Scioto’s Selah White finished 13th (18:38.6).

The top 30 finishers in each race earned all-state honors.

—Frank DiRenna

Granville girls capture Division II championship

With a handful of runners who did not compete at state a year ago, the Blue Aces did enough to capture the program's first team title since 2014 and second overall.

Ella Johnson's 13th-place finish (19:13.4) led Granville, whose 120 points easily gave it the win ahead of runner-up Chagrin Falls Kenston (155). Also scoring were Zoee Lehman (30th, 19:48.9), Sophia Poling (44th, 20:08.2), Sophia Cotts (47th, 20:08.9) and Lillian Eckels (55th, 20:16.7).

"It's a pretty cool experience. We really emphasize our team and today, I went out and fought for every one of them," said Johnson, who like Cotts was not among the team's top runners at the end of last season. "We didn't know what we were capable of, but we knew we were strong and believed in ourselves."

Led by Eliza Streit's 23rd-place finish (19:28.1), Jonathan Alder was 20th (432). Streit was followed by Ella Luker (111th, 21:07.6), Kalyn Greiner (141st, 21:56.8), Addison Ranly (160th, 22:54.1) and Megan Ahner (163rd, 23:10.9).

Among individual competitors, Fairfield Union's Anna Conrad (21st, 19:24.5) earned all-state honors. Johnstown's Reece Savage was 54th (20:15.5), ahead of Williamsport Westfall's Caitlyn Shipley (64th, 20:26.5), Circleville's Maddux Bigam (75th, 20:33.5), Hartley's Anna Torrell (83rd, 20:38.5) and Fairfield Union's Andrea Phillips (118th, 21:18.7).

In the boys race, Marcus Runkle was third (15:36.3) to lead Fairfield Union to fourth (183) behind Alliance Marlington (56), Dayton Carroll (149) and Peninsula Woodridge (156). Also scoring for the Falcons were Andrew Walton (14th, 16:17.3), Nathan Phillips (70th, 17:14.6), Christian Reindle (73rd, 17:16.2) and Connor Myers (128th, 17:55).

Granville was seventh (215) and Bexley was 18th (358).

Blue Aces scorers were Elias Kretchmar (34th, 16:45.2), Lane Hannahs (49th, 16:59.7), Cohen Stump (52nd, 17:01.8) and Andrew Harms (98th, 17:31.5).

Holden Gohs' 40th-place finish (16:52.7) led Bexley. He was followed by John Laing (90th, 17:27.8), Dylan Horn (109th, 17:40.8), Athanasius Young (129th, 17:55.1) and Daniel Chluda (156th, 18:25.9).

Individually, Lakewood's Corey Rafferty was 19th (16:25.2) and Caleb Rafferty was 53rd (17:03.9). Hartley's Connor Caltrider was 44th (16:55.6), three spots ahead of Liberty Union's Teddy Jencson (16:58.3).

—Dave Purpura

Grandview Heights’ Palmisciano leads central Ohio in Division III

With its top runner unavailable, the Grandview girls made the best of the situation.

Freshman Maci Tew, who led the Bobcats at regional, also is a member of the girls soccer team, which was playing during the state cross country meet.

Grandview finished 18th (415) of 20 teams behind champion Minster (63) as Madeline Palmisciano placed 29th (19:43) to lead the way.

"Our No. 1 runner is at the soccer game playing in the regional final, so it’s really great to be here as a team and really exciting because our program is small and we’ve had a lot of injury issues,” Palmisciano said.

Competing individually from the area were Worthington Christian’s Zoe Ward (63rd, 20:25.1), Columbus School for Girls’ Mira Martin (71st, 20:39.4) and Millersport’s Veronica Rarey (93rd, 21:09.5).

In the boys race, Grandview’s Denison Murphy finished 39th (16:48.3) and teammate Noah Curfman placed 101st (17:38.1).

Berne Union’s Hudson Schultz was 57th (17:08.3) and Fisher Catholic’s Noah Sharp was 69th (17:17.3).

—Jarrod Ulrey

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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Davidson, Granville lead central Ohio at OHSAA cross country