Gahanna, Davidson take titles in cross country

Gahanna’s boys and Hilliard Davidson’s girls won Division I championships in the regional cross country championships in rainy, blustery conditions Saturday at Pickerington North.

With 100 points, Gahanna won its first regional title, beating two-time defending champion Hilliard Davidson by 30 points. Riley Jackson placed 10th and Benjamin Towler 14th to pace Gahanna.

Matt Duvall of Pickerington North repeated as individual champion (15:33.8), winning by 15.8 seconds over Elliott Cook of Dublin Jerome. Cook had beaten Duvall in the district race.

With its top five runners all placing in the top 15 overall, Davidson posted a record score of 36 points tocrush the girls field. Runner-up Thomas Worthington finished 113 points behind. Led by secondplace Lindsay Stull and fifth-place Sophia Hoersten, Davidson compiled a spread of just 59 seconds among its five scorers.

The individual winner was Daniella Santos of Hilliard Darby, who won in 17:48.7. She beat Stull by more than 22 seconds.

In Division II, Chillicothe Unioto outscored Heath 65-99 for the boys title. Xavier Foehl of Heath was the top individual (15:46.2).

Led by winner Reilly Zink, Granville, ranked second in the state poll, easily won the girls title with 50 points. Zink ran 18:25.2 with Madison Eyman of Fairfield Union taking runner-up (18:37.2).

Mount Gilead swept the team titles in Division III, with the boys scoring 54 points and the girls 57. Derek Amicon of Grandview was the boys winner (15:50.2). Mount Gilead teammates Allison Johnson (19:02.7) and Baylee Hack (19:05.7) went one-two for the second straight year in the girls race.