Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

PICKERINGTON — Ladies first.

The Fairland Lady Dragons captured first place in the girls Division II regional cross country meet held Saturday at Pickerington North High School.

The Lady Dragons came away with a team championship and the Fairland boys claimed second place in the Division II meet. Both teams advance to the state meet next week at National Trail Raceway in Hebron.

The Lady Dragons had 99 points to edge Granville by three points. Athens was third with 118 points and Sheridan was fourth at 119.

Leading the Lady Dragons once again were Megan and Shanan Ashton.

Megan Ashton was No. 18 overall with a 19;59.37 time while Shanan Ashton ran a 20:05.33 to place No 21.

Taylor Perry was at No. 26 (20:2158), Sydney Pettit (20:28.19) was No. 30 and Jessica Price (20:40.79) finished No. 35 to complete the Fairland scoring.

Also running were Mariah Chaffin (21:49.62) and Paige Looney (22:19.09). Teams may use up to seven runners and the top five scores are counted in the points standings.

The top four teams and 16 individuals qualify for the state meet. The Division II boys run at 11:45 a.m. and the Division II girls meet is at 2:15 p.m.

Granville was the boys’ Division III team champion with 44 points. Fairland was the runner-up with 137 points followed by Unioto with 147 and West Holmes and Sheridan tied with 149 points.

Fairland’s Raine Wireman was second overall with a 16:31.24 clocking.

Chad McComas was No. 22 (17:18.13), Logan Rowe finished No. 27 (17:26. 31), No. 53 was Josh Sifford (18:00.98), and Conner Flynn (18:07.41) was No. 62 to round out the team scoring.

Also running for the Dragons were No. 72 Taylor Lewis (18:20.23) and Adam Taylor (18:50.14) at No. 98.

In Division III boys’ Rock Hill had a 327 team score to place No. 14 overall. Sugarcreek Garaway had 53 points to win the meet.

Aaron Dalton ran an 18:10.12 to place No. 42 overall and lead the Redmen.

Seth Miller was at No. 50 with an 18:19.92 time. Brandon Burditt at No. 93 ran a 19:41.04 followed by Alston Haas (20:21.24) at No. 104, Austin Smith (20:23.73) two spots back, Tim Secoy (20:31.26), followed by Dustin Akers who ran a 21:43.69.

In the Division III girls, Ironton’s Ariel Schweickart was No. 72 overall in the field of 124 with a 22:35.22 clocking.