A pair of Pickaway County runners will be returning to the state championships following a Division II regional meet held on Saturday on the campus of Pickerington North High School.
Circleville sophomore Maddux Bigam turned in a time of 19:36.68 to finish 10th in the 162-runner field.
The finish was an improvement from when Bigam finished 20th during her freshman season in 21:20.01.
Westfall junior Caitlyn Shipley finished 17th in 19:57.19.
Shipley improved her time by over a minute from when she ran a 21:03.02 as a sophomore in the Division III race. This will be Shipley’s third consecutive appearance at a state meet.
Granville senior Zoee Lehman won the 162-runner race in 18:27.17.
Westfall junior Anay Sierra also ran as an individual in the race and finished 47th in 21:02.93.
Logan Elm participated as a team in the race and finished 18th with a score of 434.
Granville topped the 20-school field with a team score of 65, followed by Minerva (68) and Carrollton (166).
Top runners for the Braves included Kinley Whited (99th, 22:21.68); Tayla Tootle (108th, 22:39.18); Chloe Anderson (115th, 23:00.43); Vera Henderly (118th, 23:02.18) and Ella Borland (123rd, 23:14.69).
The Westfall boys finished 15th out of 20 teams with a team score of 353 in the Division II race.
Mid-State League Buckeye Division and Southeast District champion Fairfield Union added a regional title to its resume with a team tally of 112, followed by Granville (120) and Scioto Valley Conference champion Unioto (127).
Leading runners for the Mustangs included Josh Trapp (44th, 17:16.78); Henry Barnes (68th, 17:49.76); Brody Williams (101st, 18:24.76); Trent Gardner (107th, 18:30.26) and Mason Barnes (112th, 18:34.51).
Bigam and Shipley will travel to Fortress Obetz next Saturday for the Division II state championships, with the race slated to begin at 1:15 p.m.
Sporting Pumpkin will have much more on this story, beginning later this weekend.
