It was the first races of the day, but the area saw a few locals take home medals at the OHSAA State Cross Country meet on Saturday at Fort Obetz.

The top competitors ran in the boys and girls Division III races.

Heartland Christian’s Rebecca Geiss, last season’s state champion, took runner-up honors after running a time of 17:44.44. She was a little over a minute off of Legacy Christian’s Caroline Hamilton, who ran 17:43.25.

The McDonald girls’ team finished ninth with 247 points.

Naomi Sheesley led the Blue Devils with a fourth-place finish and a time of 17:50.63. Kylie Flere (20:01.80) was 71st, Selah Sheesley (20:18.478) was 90th, in 117th was Julianna Krumpak (20:46.64) and rounding out the McDonald scores was Brooke Bosheff (21:30.23) in 139th.

As an individual, Chalker’s Abbey Castle was 22nd, running 18:56.85. Maplewood’s Mackenzie Edgar was 37th (19:11.40), Grand Valley’s Anna Steimle (19:11.65) came in 38th and Mineral Ridge’s Kylee Molnar (19:14.06) was good enough to finish 40th.

The Maplewood boys’ team came in seventh by tallying 226 points.

Ethan Nevinski was the top runner for the Rockets, running 16:30.06 for 54th. In 69th was Andrew Donaldson (16:44.10), Micah Sparks (17:01.38) was 96th, Trevor Shipman (17:04.20) hit the finish line in 103rd and Zach Suba (17:25.53) was 132nd.

South Range’s Emmitt Slabach finished his season strong, taking seventh individually with a time of 15:34.11. Mineral Ridge’s Dominic Pappagallo also recorded a top-10 finish by coming in ninth with a 15:43.61.

Joey Cappuzzello registered a 14th-place finish for McDonald by running 15:52.87 and teammate Carson Klase ran 16:07.32 for 24th. Lowellville’s Nate Yon also finished in the top 50 by clocking a 16:24.71 for 47th, Grand Valley got a 58th-place finish out of Sam Steimle (16:36.32) and Jackson-Milton’s Lucas Skol (17:11.67) was 114th.

DIVISION II

Salem took 11th in the girls’ championship with 279 points.

Maggie Hall finished 25th by clocking 18:48.15. Maggie Hopple (19:12.41) came across in 53rd, Cassidy Wallace (20:14.82) reached the end in 94th, Jill Pieren (20:46.54) was 124th and Klaire Jaquette (20:58.26) was 133rd.

Individually, West Branch’s Clarice Martin was 74th with a time of 19:53.49.

In the boys’ edition, the Lakeview Bulldogs came in 13th in the team results after scoring 315 points.

Jake Langmeyer led the way for the Bulldogs with a 16:24.99 for 79th. Trent Miller wasn’t too far behind, coming in 79th with 16:31.36. Mason Wheeler (16:32.69) was 94th, Griffin Oravec (16:34.21) was 100th and Luke Whitmore (16:45.20) rounded out the Lakeview scores with a 113th-place slot.

Individually, Salem’s Sam Yakubek was the top runner among the locals. He finished in 16:24.17, good enough for 78th.

DIVISION I

Boardman finished 15th on the boys’ side with 321 points.

David D’Altorio picked up an 18th-place finish with a time of 15:40.06. Jacob Turek was 88th (16:13.01), Dylan White was 97th (16:15.98), Chase Moore came in 131st (16:36.90) and Dominic Theodore (16:37.25) finished right behind.

The area only had one competitor in the Division I girls’ race, as Boardman’s Olivia Brady took 46th by recording a 18:53.38.