The Olentangy Berlin girls cross country team finished second and Olentangy Orange’s boys closed third to lead county teams at Saturday’s Berlin Bear Den Dash in Delaware.
The Bears nabbed runner-up honors at their host event with a team total of 110 — a mark second only to Dublin Coffman’s 49. Upper Arlington was also steady, smoothing out the top three with a team total of 124.
Grace Dahlke, just a sophomore, led Berlin. She finished 10th among individuals with a time of 19:59. The Bears also got solid showings from Ava Vaught and Ella Ziegler, who finished 15th and 23rd in respective times of 20:09.7 and 20:29.
Olentangy Orange, Big Walnut and Olentangy were also in action. The Pioneers finished fifth with a team total of 141, the Golden Eagles were ninth with a score of 188 and the Braves closed 10th with a 254.
Orange was led by freshman Mairin O’Brien, who closed ninth in 19:55. Kayla Sucharski was also steady, finishing 13th in 20:05.8.
Madi Yano led Big Walnut (20th in 20:22.4) while Grace Holt (18th in 20:20) was the top runner for Olentangy.
On the boys’ side, Orange earned a spot in the top three with a score of 109. Dublin Jerome and Dublin Coffman took the top two spots, respectively, with scores of 63 and 77.
The Pioneers were powered by senior Jake Ethridge, who crossed the finish line 11th among individuals with a time of 16:06.1. His teammates, Bryan King and Saketh Rudraraju, weren’t far behind. King finished 13th in 16:17.4 and Rudraraju was 14th in 16:17.7.
Berlin, led by senior Corey Rinehart’s 17th-place effort (16:19.2), finished sixth with a team total of 152, Olentangy was eighth with a score of 187 and Big Walnut finished 11th among the 15 teams in action with a score of 306.
Jack Dunlop and Cooper Citro smoothed out the host Bears’ top three, finishing with respective efforts of 16:30.5 (20th overall) and 16:48.5 (30th). Olentangy, meanwhile, got solid showings from Luke Galloway (26th in 16:40.9), Taye Gonzalez (37th in 16:56.7) and Roman Crobett (40th in 17:04.2) while Big Walnut was boosted by Christopher Lee (24th in 16:33.3), Eli Lengl (64th in 17:48.9) and Ryan Cummins (68th in 17:54.1).
