BEAVER — Running roots, whether it is on the grass or on the track, run deep in Scioto County.
And if Saturday afternoon's results were any indication, the South Webster boys cross country program is doing a marvelous job of continuing to build on those roots.
South Webster put on a Southern Ohio Conference Championship-winning masterclass Saturday morning at Eastern Pike High School in Beaver, as the Jeeps' Luke Yarnell, Mason Warner and Aiden Rowland each finished in the top three finishing positions while South Webster's Griffin Allard, Liam Osborne and Cade McGraw finished fifth, sixth and seventh en route to leading the Jeeps to the 2026 Southern Ohio Conference Division I Championship.
The SOC I-winning effort was one that South Webster boys and girls cross country head coach Lindsay Mantell was particularly proud out considering the Jeeps execution on Saturday.
"They worked really hard this season," Mantell said. "(On Saturday), they showed up, and I felt like they've done all the work — they just had to believe in themselves, and they did it."
From beginning to end, South Webster freshman Luke Yarnell was flawless in his form.
The SOC I Runner of the Year, who is the Jeeps' youngest runner, finished with a 16:23 to win ROY honors by nearly 40 seconds over the next-fastest SOC I runner, South Webster's Mason Warner. Yarnell was second overall among both divisions, finishing just over 20 seconds behind the SOC II Runner of the Year in Waverly's Gabe Clifton.
"Luke came in from junior high and was really strong," Mantell said of Yarnell. "I told him that he has to work really hard in high school, because there's a lot of great runners. He showed up and proved that he belongs here, and he's really exceeded expectations as a freshman. He's done awesome."
Along with Yarnell, Warner (17:02), Rowland (17:46) finished third while Allard (17:52) finished in fifth. Osborne's 18:15 and McGraw's 18:33 put the duo sixth and seventh respectively. Osborne is the team's lone senior. Rowland and Warner are juniors while Allard and McGraw are sophomores.
According to the final results, Yarnell, Allard, Osborne and McGraw each ran personal best times in the championship race.
All six South Webster harriers were named to the SOC I First Team as a result. South Webster scored 17 points, just two away from the best score that can possibly be accomplished during a cross country meet.
"It's a really strong group of boys," Mantell said. "You have Mason, Liam, Griffin, Kade, and Aiden along with Luke, and they're all a great group of boys. They have a tight-knit relationship, and having that culture within a team aspect really helps a lot and gets them farther than what they're capable of."
Along with the six South Webster runners who garnered First Team All-SOC I accolades, West's David Brickey and Noah Fannin notched Second-Team All-SOC I billing. Brickey ran a 19:09 while Fannin posted a 19:23 as the duo placed 11th and 12th overall. Both individuals ran personal-best times on Saturday as well.
In the SOC II, Northwest's Alex Cantrell and Wheelersburg's Grant Kallner placed second and third with Cantrell's 17:18 and Kallner's 17:25 heading the charge. Both were among the seven individuals honored as First-Team All-SOC II recipients.
Valley's Landon Bond (eighth, 18:55) and Ty Wilson (11th, 19:38), along with Wheelersburg's Eli Salyers (20:12) and Liam Kirkendall (20:18) were named Second-Team All-SOC II honorees.
Wheelersburg, who had three top-20 finishers (Kallner, Eli Salyers and Ryan Salyers), placed second to Oak Hill in the SOC II team rundown. Luke Sarver and Carter Evans also had top-25 runs for the Pirates in the meet.
GIRLS
In the SOC girls meet, which is one combined division, South Webster's Eden Smith earned the seventh and final spot on the SOC Girls Cross Country First Team, running a 23:12.3.
"Eden has been a phenomenal runner during all four years of her high school career," Mantell said of Smith. "She works really hard, she's confident, and she definitely shows up when we need her. She has done a great job."
Tons of future promise appears to be abound in distance running after Smith, as the entire SOC Girls Cross Country Second Team list was made up of freshmen.
This included five Scioto County female runners, with Wheelersburg's Macie Campbell (eighth, 23:17), South Webster's Addison Lancaster (ninth, 23:22), South Webster's Teagan Allard (11th, 23:54), Wheelersburg's Natalie Kaltenbach (12th, 24:05) and Wheelersburg's Kamryn Billiter (14th, 24:30) all appearing on the list.
Along with the aforementioned SOC honorees, multi-sport athletes in Clay's Elin Shaw (24:40), Green's Sydney Bainer (25:00) and Clay's Mia Lunsford (26:06) finished 16th, 18th and 20th respectively.
Shaw finished just 10 seconds off of the second team, while Bainer finished just 30 seconds back. All three individuals are multi-sport athletes with Shaw and Lunsford both playing volleyball and running in cross country during the same fall season.
Oak Hill's Addy Brown was named the SOC Runner of the Year while Waverly was the SOC team champion.
FUTURE
Building off of the success from the underclassmen runners in the field, the future appears to be quite bright heading down into the middle school ranks as well.
In the SOC boys meet, nine of the top-15 finishers were from Scioto County schools with South Webster sporting three of the top four finishers including the Jeeps' Easton Benner (12:03) and Harper Claxon (12:25), who went one-two overall in the SOC boys two-mile championship race.
In the girls meet, four of the top five overall finishers were from Scioto County programs, including Minford's Addi Lloyd — who won the girls two mile championship race with an incredible 11:47.
While there's young running talent coming through the pipeline currently, Mantell is hoping for big things out of the Jeeps now. Her belief is that South Webster has the ability to contend for a legitimate chance to win a OHSAA Division IV District Championship at Rio Grande University, and advance to regional competition later this month at Pickerington North High School for the potential opportunity to compete at the well-known Fortress Obetz sports complex in Obetz.
"I love coaching at South Webster," Mantell said. "(John) Grimm is an icon in South Webster, and I hope to be half of the coach that he was and is, and keep the tradition going. I believe if the boys run like they did (on Saturday), we'll have no issues making it to regionals. The hope is to win the district title."