One point decided the Division II boys title on Saturday at Fortress Obetz.
Bowling Green scored 181. Lexington, the defending champion, scored 182. A week earlier at the Tiffin regional, Lexington had beaten Bowling Green by two.
The rest of the division was nearly as close. Six boys were within 0.8 seconds of each other at 3,200 meters. The top four girls were all sophomores. And the girls team title went to an Aurora team that scored with four sophomores and a freshman.
Bowling Green by one
Bowling Green didn't have a runner in the top 24. It won with three in a row. Junior Lloyd Waldron was 25th, sophomore Rece Simon 26th and senior Sam Wiles 27th, all within 2.2 seconds of each other. Junior Adam Proulx was 56th and sophomore Ashton Loomis 152nd. In team scoring that came to 13, 14, 15, 35 and 104.
By Podium Watch's count from the timing splits, Bowling Green led the team race at 3,200 meters by 58 points over Lexington, which was fourth. Lexington spent the last 1,800 meters closing. Junior Christian Estep moved from 24th to 18th, senior John Bartone from 40th to 33rd, sophomore Mathias Bender from 94th to 73rd and junior Chidalu Ezike from 151st to 126th. It came up one point short.
A year ago it went the other way. Lexington won the 2025 title with 110 points and Bowling Green was second with 190, the best state finish in Bowling Green history at the time, according to BG Independent Media. That makes Saturday's title the first in program history. Waldron was 127th in last year's race. Wiles was 40th.
The coaches had these two at the top all season, just not in that order. Bowling Green was No. 1 in Week 1 and again in the Pre-District and Pre-Regional polls. Lexington reached No. 1 for the first time in the Pre-State poll, 275 points to Bowling Green's 271.
Hoover's climb, and a crowded top 10
Five different teams were No. 1 in the Division II boys poll this season: Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy (CVCA), Bowling Green, Hoover, Uniontown Lake and Lexington.
Hoover held the top spot in Weeks 2, 3 and 4. Then it slid, finished sixth at the Boardman regional on a tiebreaker with Shaker Heights and entered state ranked 14th. On Saturday it finished third with 217 points. Junior Samuel Baker ran a personal best 15:46.9 for 10th, and senior Alex Hobe was right behind him in 11th, also with a personal best.
Kenston, the Boardman regional champion, was fourth. CVCA, the preseason No. 1, led the team race at 1,600 meters and finished fifth. Uniontown Lake, No. 1 in Weeks 5 through 7, was 12th.
Res goes from sixth to first
Mount Vernon sophomore Calvin Heithaus led at 1,600 meters in 4:50.4, 2.6 seconds clear. By 3,200 meters the race had swallowed him. Big Walnut junior Ethan Shultz (9:54.7), Findlay senior Russell Stine (9:54.8), West Geauga senior Ian Res (9:55.0), Nordonia junior Anderson Seredick (9:55.1), Tallmadge junior Donevan Noah (9:55.2) and Turpin junior Carson Spencer (9:55.5) were separated by 0.8 seconds.
Res ran the last 1,800 meters in 5:27.8, the fastest closing segment in the lead group, and won in 15:22.8. Noah was second in 15:24.7, 1.9 seconds back. Seredick was third, Shultz fourth, Spencer fifth and Stine, the Tiffin regional champion, sixth. The top six finished within eight seconds. Heithaus was 14th.
Res was sixth at state last year in 15:37.06, his first state meet. He had transferred schools and sat out earlier postseasons, according to Chagrin Valley Today. That sixth place tied for the best state finish in West Geauga history. Saturday's title is a new one.
The sophomores
The first four girls across the line were sophomores.
Sylvania Southview's Julia Bocik won in 17:37.7. Celina's Elle Miesse was second in 17:44.5, Bay's Maya Gonzalez third in a personal best 17:45.6 and Aurora's Audrey Miller fourth in 17:49.5. Fremont Ross sophomore Lily Kiser was sixth. Green senior Lucia Sveda, fifth in a personal best 17:52.8, was the only non-sophomore in the top six. Six of the top 10 were sophomores, and so were 12 of the 24 first-team All-Ohio finishers.
At 3,200 meters, Miesse, Bocik, Miller and Kiser were within 0.5 seconds of each other. Bocik ran the last 1,800 meters in 6:21.7, seven seconds faster than Miesse, and won by 6.8 seconds.
It flipped the Tiffin regional, where Miesse beat Bocik by 1.3 seconds. A year ago Bocik was 18th at state as a freshman. Kiser was 96th. Sveda was 78th.
Aurora's young pack
Watterson came in as the defending champion and the favorite. It was the unanimous preseason No. 1, held the top spot in 10 of the season's 11 polls and drew 11 of the 12 first-place votes in the Pre-State poll. Aurora drew the other one. At the Pickerington regional, Watterson scored 35.
Aurora led at every split. By Podium Watch's count, it was ahead at 1,600 meters and, by a single point, 90 to 91, at 3,200 meters.
The last 1,800 meters decided it. Aurora sophomore Mia Paech moved from 52nd to 40th, and sophomores Claire Jenkins and Evelyn Jenkins each gained a place, to 12th and 14th. Watterson's third and fourth runners, junior Berkley LaCount and sophomore Karine Bhowmick, slipped three places each. Aurora won 80 to 99.
Miller was fourth, the Jenkins sophomores 12th and 14th, Paech 40th and freshman Makayla Cicero 60th. Last fall Aurora was sixth at state with six freshmen in its top seven, according to The Weekly Villager. Paech was 130th in that race.
Watterson junior Kaitlyn Van Zandt led the runner-up team in seventh. Watterson won its first state title in 2025, rallying from 12th, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Behind them, Big Walnut was third with 192 and Avon fourth with 202. Avon was 23rd in the preseason poll. Fremont Ross, unranked in the preseason, was fifth, and Westlake was sixth with two freshmen in the top 21, Sheila Snyder (19th) and Jayna Less (21st), both in personal bests.
What the polls got right, and what they didn't
The coaches had the right two boys teams on top and the right two girls teams on top. They just had both pairs in the wrong order.
The biggest misses were Hoover, 14th in the Pre-State poll and third on Saturday, and Toledo St. Francis de Sales, No. 2 in the three polls before the Pre-State poll and ninth at state.
On the girls side, Avon climbed from 23rd in the preseason to fourth, and Canal Winchester, No. 3 in the preseason, finished ninth.
Boys: polls vs. finish
| Team | Preseason | Pre-State | State finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bowling Green | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| Lexington | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| Hoover | 2 | 14 | 3 |
| Kenston | 9 | 4 | 4 |
| CVCA | 1 | 10 | 5 |
| Big Walnut | 8 | 3 | 6 |
| Massillon Perry | 3 | 9 | 7 |
| Salem | 15 | 18 | 8 |
| Toledo St. Francis de Sales | NR | 5 | 9 |
| Nordonia | NR | 16 | 10 |
Girls: polls vs. finish
| Team | Preseason | Pre-State | State finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aurora | 5 | 2 | 1 |
| Watterson | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Big Walnut | 7 | 3 | 3 |
| Avon | 23 | 6 | 4 |
| Fremont Ross | NR | 4 | 5 |
| Westlake | NR | 13 | 6 |
| Granville | 8 | 5 | 7 |
| Bowling Green | 20 | 16 | 8 |
| Canal Winchester | 3 | 7 | 9 |
| Cleveland St. Joseph Academy | 32 | 11 | 10 |
NR: not ranked. Source: OATCCC Division 2 coaches' polls, Preseason (Aug. 27) and Pre-State (Nov. 5).
The last race
Res was one of three seniors in the boys top seven, with Stine and Nordonia's Aiden Flynn, who was seventh in a personal best. Boardman's Dylan White was 13th after finishing 94th last year, and University School's Brennan Coley was 16th after finishing 130th. Bowling Green's Wiles goes out as a state champion.
On the girls side, Sveda led the seniors in fifth. Boardman's Olivia Brady was eighth in a personal best, Medina Highland's Katherine Schuler was 10th and Canal Winchester's Peyton Hughey was 13th.
Who's back
Almost everyone at the front of the girls race. Bocik, Miesse, Gonzalez, Miller and Kiser are sophomores, and Van Zandt is a junior. Aurora returns all five of its scorers.
On the boys side, Noah, Seredick, Shultz and Spencer are juniors and Heithaus is a sophomore. Bowling Green returns four of its five scorers in Waldron, Simon, Proulx and Loomis. Lexington returns Estep, Bender and Ezike.
Division II results
Boys teams: 1. Bowling Green 181; 2. Lexington 182; 3. Hoover 217; 4. Kenston 220; 5. CVCA 228; 6. Big Walnut 247; 7. Massillon Perry 255; 8. Salem 258; 9. Toledo St. Francis de Sales 266; 10. Nordonia 288.
Boys individuals: 1. Ian Res (West Geauga) 15:22.8; 2. Donevan Noah (Tallmadge) 15:24.7; 3. Anderson Seredick (Nordonia) 15:27.8; 4. Ethan Shultz (Big Walnut) 15:30.1; 5. Carson Spencer (Turpin) 15:30.7; 6. Russell Stine (Findlay) 15:30.8; 7. Aiden Flynn (Nordonia) 15:38.4; 8. Elijah Trickey (Anderson) 15:43.6; 9. Owen Comes (Bexley) 15:44.4; 10. Samuel Baker (Hoover) 15:46.9.
Girls teams: 1. Aurora 80; 2. Watterson 99; 3. Big Walnut 192; 4. Avon 202; 5. Fremont Ross 234; 6. Westlake 247; 7. Granville 293; 8. Bowling Green 294; 9. Canal Winchester 304; 10. Cleveland St. Joseph Academy 305.
Girls individuals: 1. Julia Bocik (Sylvania Southview) 17:37.7; 2. Elle Miesse (Celina) 17:44.5; 3. Maya Gonzalez (Bay) 17:45.6; 4. Audrey Miller (Aurora) 17:49.5; 5. Lucia Sveda (Green) 17:52.8; 6. Lily Kiser (Fremont Ross) 17:55.1; 7. Kaitlyn Van Zandt (Watterson) 18:01.1; 8. Olivia Brady (Boardman) 18:01.6; 9. Kaylee Ingratta (Copley) 18:03.7; 10. Katherine Schuler (Medina Highland) 18:05.4.
Full results and splits for every Division II runner are at podiumwatch.org.
