Galinger 33rd in D1; Bigam 79th in D2; FU boys win state title

OBETZ — Circleville senior Maddux Bigam ran her best time from her four visits to the state championships in the Division II race and Teays Valley’s Reese Galinger was 33rd in her first appearance in the Division I race.

Division I Girls

Teays Valley’s Reese Galinger completed the Fortress Obetz course in 18:47.98 as the sophomore placed 33^rd in her first appearance at the state cross country championships. 

Daniela Scheffler from Uniontown Lake was the Division I state champion as she completed the race in 17:01.29. Brooke Chapman from Olentangy Orange was second in 17:12.12 and Lancaster’s Marisa Heil was third in 17:12.46.

Lancaster won the team championship with a score of 114 and Hilliard Davidson was second with a score of 132.

Divison II Girls

Circleville’s Maddux Bigam placed 79^th Saturday in a field of 179 runners. She ran the Fortress Obetz course in 19:56.21, the first time she broke 20 minutes in her four state championship appearances. 

Athens’ Sophia Szolosi won the state championship with a time of 17:39.61 while Abby Sewell of Mercy McAuley High School (Cincinnati) was second in 18:08.28.

Minerva took the team title with 100 points while Hathaway Brown was second with 110 and Athens took third with a score of 142. Fairfield Union was 17^th out of 20 teams with a score of 390.

Vera Henderly was Fairfield Union’s’ top finisher with a time of 19:09.82 to finish 45^th overall. 

Bigam at the state championships
79^th in 2024 19:56.21
73^rd in 2023 20:07.94
75^th in 2022 20:33.5
85^th in 2021 20:12.8

Division II Boys

Fairfield Union’s Andrew Walton defended his junior year state title as the senior ran the 5,000 meters in 15:09.84 leading the Falcons to the state team title.

FU senior Nathan Phillips was eighth (15:39.73) as the Falcons had a team score of 88 while Lexington was second with 123. 

FU’s Christian Reindle was 15^th (15:42.15), Connor Runkle was 29^th (15:46.99), Cordel Runkle was 71^st (16:19.47), Ryan Boyer was 93^rd (16:32.46) and Andrew Ray was 97^th (16:33.41).

(For scoring purposes, the Falcons finished 1, 7, 12, 23 and 45; 62 and 64.)