Marion Harding was pointing to Oct. 17 all season. The Presidents felt they could win a Mid Ohio Athletic Conference boys cross country championship on their own course.
"Honestly we’ve raced really good this season," Marion Harding coach Bob Peters said. "We made it a point to win the conference this year. I felt like we were racing well against the conference throughout the year when we saw somebody. The guys wanted this. They came in locked-in on this meet."
As they envisioned, the Presidents won the title with 46 points to edge Ontairio's 55 and Shelby's 78. Pleasant was fourth with 103 followed by Highland at 105, River Valley at 110 and Galion at 215. It is Harding's first league crown in boys XC in 21 years and its first in the MOAC.
"There was a lot of stress coming into this meet because they wanted it so bad," Peters said. "Starting off the day, we were talking that this is just another race. It’s the next race so let’s go out here and do our best and whatever happens, happens. They really worked this whole season for this moment."
For Harding, Andrew Tackett was third in 16 minutes, 48 seconds, Jackson Peters fourth in 16:58, Owen McCombs sixth in 17;15, Franklin Weaver 13th in 17:50, Deacon Durain 22nd in 18:34, Luke Estrada 29th in 19:00 and Trenton Estrada 30th in 19:01.
"We were at the awards area where they were announcing the teams, and they got to second place. I was watching them and you could see the reaction when they announce Ontario second so they knew they won it. It was really good to see them get rewarded for their work they’ve done for this year," the coach said.
For Harding's girls, Noel Stidham was the runner-up in 19:45 behind Shelby's Anna Will in 19:19 and just ahead of Pleasant's Madisyn Ruhe in third at 19:47 and Highland's Veronica Ballard in fourth at 19:53.
"This is my 10th year of coaching and that was one of the best races I’ve seen in all the years," Coach Peters said. "It was a great race to watch what she did there and come back like that and run as good as she did. It’s exciting to know she’s got two more years."
More from the MOAC boys race
Pleasant's Joey Dietsch was the boys individual champion with a 16:20, and River Valley's Kael Swartz was the runner-up in 16:35.
Also for Pleasant were Turner Wilson (12th, 17:49), Jacob Meyers (19th, 18:14), Nathan Wagenblast (38th, 19:37) and Adam Stevens (42nd, 19:44).
Behind Swartz for RV were Hager Adams (17th, 18:06), William Koon (23rd, 18:37), Harrison Lee (36th, 19:33), Iain Linville (41st, 19:42), Markus Parsons (44th, 19:55) and Brocktyn Caudill (51st, 20:13).
For Highland, Jayden Marcum was 11th in 17:44 followed by Maddox Weiss (18th, 18:07), Ciaran Gilmore (25th, 18:40), Bodee Byler (26th, 18:48), Ben Sorrell (31st, 19:08), Carson Young (33rd, 19:15) and Sebastian Seaux (34th, 19:16)..
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More from the MOAC girls race
Shelby nipped Galion 57-58 for the girls team championship, while Pleasant was third with 76, Highland fourth with 77, Ontario fifth with 90 and Clear Fork sixth with 143.
After Ruhe for the Spartans, Valerie Shetler was seventh in 20:53, Sarah Jordan eighth in 21:06, Hayley Bentley 34th in 23:55 and Kylie Berry 40th in 25:11.
For Highland after Ballard were Braylin Romshak ninth in 21:10, Emily Stevens 19th in 22:15, Makayla Rhea 27th in 23:02, Cailey Chamberlain 31st in 23:35, Grace Earnsberger 37th in 24:31 and Italia Leadbetter 38th in 24:37.
Running for RV were Madison Lust (11th, 21:18), Avril Mason (12th, 21:20) and Katherine Beineke (36th, 24:10).
After Stidham for the Prexies, Kennley Cruz was 41st in 25:28, Arianna Williams 46th in 26:25 and Addalyn Elsasser 50th in 29:41.
NWCC at North Baltimore
Ridgedale's Elliot Weston won the Northwest Central Conference boys title in a time of 16:46, and teammate Riley Keller was 22nd in 21:48. Elgin's Jake Creviston was 10th in 18:45, and Benaiah Cox was 18th in 20:23.
The Elgin girls were runners-up as a team with 56 points, two points ahead of Waynesfield-Goshen as North Baltimore won it with 34 points.
Elgin's Isabelle Mathews turned in the second-best girls time in school history with a third-place of 21:09. Teammate Bailey Abbott was eighth at 23:00 followed by Reece Lanier in 10th at 23:23, Reagan Schnipke in 19th at 25:32, Kaylee Greene in 24th at 27:26 and Skyla Brammer in 29th at 28:24.
For Ridgedale's girls, Alena Villavicencio was 11th in 23:25, Adalyn Morgan 25th in 27:39 and Elyza Tucker 31st in 28:32.
KMAC boys at Frederricktown
Mount Gilead, ranked No. 1 in Division IV in the state coaches poll, dominated the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference boys race with just 17 points. Centerburg and Fredericktown were next with 79 points apiece, and Northmor had 91 and Cardington-Lincoln 113.
For MG, Henry Bartlett, Brycen Gabriel and Aiden McLain went 1-2-3 in times of 16:24, 16:29 and 16:37, while Liam Stalnaker was fifth in 16:56, Ethan Turner sixth in 16:57, Grayson Smith eighth in 17:01 and Andrew Gannon 10th in 17:08.
For Northmor, Jack Dean was fourth in 16:49 followed by Carter Thomas (17th, 17:49), Oliver Huddleston (24th, 18:33), Colton Randolph (25th, 18:38), Andreh Abdelmassih (37th, 19:48) and Colby Kent (42nd, 20:08).
For C-L, Brayden Alwood was ninth in 17:01 followed by Kaeden Bossard (14th, 17:29), Hunter Jones (36th, 19:34), Nathan Bossard (49th, 21:12), Gabriel Webb (57th, 22:27) and Jacob Webb (63rd, 24:22).
KMAC girls at Fredericktown
Northmor got by Mount Gilead 27-36 to win the KMAC girls team championship at Kokosing Dam in Fredericktown.
Vada Walters of Northmor also won the individual title with a 19:06 to edge Cardington-Lincoln's Mickenzie White by four seconds.
Also for the Golden Knights after Walters were Bella Smith (third, 20:27), Macie Witherell (sixth, 20:42), Janey Creswell (10th, 21:13), Delaney Landin (11th, 21:30), Kathryn Naylor (12th, 21:47) and Veronica Kanagy (15th, 22:05).
For MG, Hayden Combs was fourth in 20:37 followed by Gwen Hershner (fifth, 20:37), Sophie Mosher (seventh, 20:47), Leona Schwartz (ninth, 21:07), Paisley Douglas (19th, 22:27), Callie Ziemba (21st, 22:35) and Jazmyne Floyd (27th, 24:02).
McKenzie West was 44th in 26:04 for Cardington-Lincoln.
Central Buckeye Conference Mad River Division at Urbana
North Union's boys won its division as Felix Plouck was runner-up in 17:03 followed by Mack Marlette (seventh, 18:20), Joseph Wiley (eighth, 18:21), Colton Smith (19th, 20:29), Phillip Ardrey (20th, 20:32) and Wyatt Roby (38th, 26:04).
The girls also won their division behind the winning time of Kailin McElroy in 20:00 and runner-up Layney Wilds in 20:04. Allana Smith was ninth in 22:38, Analeigh Kelson 22nd in 24:07, Adalee Hunt 23rd in 24:08, Josie Held 35th in 26:47 and Leah Conrad 46th in 29:21.
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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Marion Harding boys win a championship, plus more league XC results