Which Southwest Ohio schools qualified for the state cross country meet?

The penultimate week of the Ohio high school cross country season took place at four meets across the state. The Southwest Region converged on Troy High School on the banks of the Great Miami River for a day of fierce competition across all three divisions.

Cincinnati is sending four boys teams and 16 individuals to next week's state meet. For the girls, six teams and 12 individuals see their season extended one more week.

Here are six storylines, as well as all the state qualifiers, from a day full of running.

More: Greater Cincinnati high school sports scores, Oct. 23-Oct. 29

Madeira girls place 3rd

Led by Cate LeRoy's sixth-place finish, the Amazons matched their 2022 finish at Division III regionals to qualify for the state meet for the third straight year.

"I'm really looking forward to see how we'll do. I think there's a lot of opportunity to make some moves next weekend," LeRoy said.

Ava Henry and Ella Garza crossed the finish line in 15th and 16th, respectively. Annie Meyer and Brooke Ashton rounded out the top five that scored 76 points. Madeira actually equaled Ft. Loramie's point total but lost a tiebreaker determined by each team's fifth runner.

Other qualifiers: Allie Reuter, Summit Country Day

Cincinnati Christian sends 2 to DIII state

Senior Micah Katz is no stranger to the state meet. He qualified for the season's final weekend last year, placing 102nd at Fortress Obetz in Columbus. But this year, the Cougars are making their presence known at the Division III state championships.

One week after running a personal best at Voice of America Park, senior Christian Olson set another personal best with a time of 16:39.50 and a 12th-place finish to join Katz at next week's meet.

"I'm so happy. I'm just beaming with pride for both of them," Cincinnati Christian head coach Kelly Katz said.

Other qualifiers: Liam Woodward, Summit Country Day

Waynesville girls lead the way in Division II

Samantha Erbach took the lead in the DII girls race less than half a mile in and never looked back. With a determined look on her face and a steady cadence, the senior crossed the line with a time of 18:05.40, more than 50 seconds ahead of the second-place runner. Despite being sick in the last week, Erbach controlled her race from start to finish.

"My coaches told me just to go out and control the first mile because sometimes I go too fast in the first mile and then I die in the next two. But I did a good job today maintaining throughout the whole thing," Erbach said.

Kendal Erbach, Emme Greely, Maria Gill and Kyla Harvey all finished in the top 30, leading to a second-place team finish. Waynesville finished one point behind fellow Southwestern Buckeye League team Oakwood, a battle that has gone on all season and will continue at the state meet.

The Spartans credit a number of their runners also playing soccer for their success.

"They are dedicated. They get their runs and they're in real good shape to be able to do both sports," Waynesville head coach Jimmy Barton said.

Other qualifiers: Brady Sterbling, Bethel-Tate; Meredith Guest, Wyoming; Mercy McAuley (Ashley Williams, May Humpert, Grace Saylor, Anna Heitz, Sarah Blessing, Katie Senger, Natalie Jostworth)

Ohio high school football: Who's next? Which Greater Cincinnati teams will battle it out in Week 12?

Exciting finish headlines boys' Division II race

Mariemont senior Ben Fahnestock was determined to improve after finishing in fourth place at last week's district meet. Fahnestock, who was with the lead pack for the whole race, seized the individual title by passing Madeira's J.T. Hamstra in the final meters to win in a time of 16:14.90.

"I tried to push as hard as I could and I got through, so I'm just happy with that," Fahnestock said.

His win led the way for a deluge of Cincinnati-area schools to qualify for the state meet. Cincinnati claimed 11 of the top 16 spots, headlined by three runners from Madeira and two each from Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy and Indian Hill. The Mustangs won their first team title since 2017 by one point over Carroll, while CHCA took fourth place in the team standings to qualify for state.

"Our first three were really stellar today, and then four and five had to fight a little bit in that big group that most people finish in," Madeira head coach Josh Dooley said.

Other qualifiers: Christian Burt, McNicholas; Jonas King, Waynesville; David Flandermeyer, Batavia; James McGrath and R.J. Poffenberger, Indian Hill

Lakota West overcomes challenges for 2nd-place finish

The DI girls race played out just like the DII girls race. Lakota West junior Evelyn Prodoehl, who broke the state record and was the first girl to break the 17-minute barrier two weeks ago, stormed to the front. She got stronger and ran faster as the race went on, winning with a time of 17:22, a whopping 58 seconds ahead of Talawanda's Lucia Rodbro, who finished second.

"I feel a lot more confident in my ability to pace with only a mile and a half or a mile to go versus just starting off the race, and I feel more confident in my ability to surge at the end if there's someone nearby," Prodoehl said.

The Firebirds were dealing with adversity entering the meet. Johanna Spetz is out with an injury. Another team member had been battling pneumonia entering the postseason. Still, Lakota West found a way to finish second in the team standings, just seven points behind team champion Mason.

"They have been amazing. They have been outstanding. They just keep fighting through it," Lakota West head coach Sean Hart said.

There were also a number of first-time state qualifiers in the top 16. Ursuline senior Bentley Thomas finished in third place and Goshen sophomore Peyton Dooloukas took 11th place. Rodbro's surge in the last half-mile helped her earn a berth in her first cross-country state championship.

"It feels so good. I definitely feel the relief that I have this race over and I qualified because last year I was really close," Rodbro said.

Other qualifiers: Mackenzie Evans, Little Miami; Alynna Wilson, Lebanon; Ava Dickinson and Molly Deardorf, Lakota East; Aleah Coster and Eva Hensley, Oak Hills; Mason (Efa Paschka, Bella Teply, Carlie Condit, Sharanya Nair, Atalie Hawkins, Abby Slife, Nadia Markich); and Loveland (Caroline Murnan, Delaney Cilley, Suzie Cramer, Bethany Griffin, Savanna Conliff, Allie Kimnach, Anna Feeney)

Mason, St. Xavier duke it out for DI title

The battle for supremacy in Division I, Region 4, and even at the state meet, has often come down to Mason and St. Xavier. The Bombers have six state titles to the Comets' four, but Mason has been the top dog recently.

St. Xavier's Evan Trapp (fourth place) was the top individual finisher between the two schools, but Mason had a smaller dispersion between its runners. Max Liao, Jerry Xu, Will Buckalew, Brendan Roe and Alex Follmer all finished in the top 30 to score 82 points, beating St. Xavier by 15 points.

"(Alex Follmer) ran a great race, probably the best race of his life, and that might've saved us," Mason head coach Tom Rapp said.

The Bombers' top five of Trapp, Alex Bruns, David Franz, Luke Fox and Scott Schwetschenau will look to get revenge next week at Fortress Obetz, where they were the runner-up to Mason last year.

Other qualifiers: Andrew Wilcox, Monroe; Ronan Wolfer, Loveland; Lucas Towne, Turpin; Reilly Meyer, Lakota East; Calvin Kilgallon, Lebanon; Max Bixler, Talawanda; Samuel Thomas, Kings

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio high school cross country: Cincinnati storylines, Troy regional