The Olentangy Orange boys cross country team made a little history over the weekend, nabbing regional runner-up honors — the highest regional finish the program’s ever had — Saturday at Pickerington North.
Saketh Rudraraju, Matthew Schroff and Bradyn Allender led the charge, each finishing with all-region honors. Rudraraju crossed the finish line sixth overall in 15:18.39, Schroff closed 14th in 15:44.19 and Allender was 17th in 15:47.28.
The Pioneers, who had 129 points — second only to Dublin Coffman’s 112 — also got steady contributions from Sahil Kandhari (44th in 16:23.75) and Brannon Moser (68th in 16:39.76).
Olentangy and Olentangy Liberty were also in action, finishing eighth and 11th with respective point totals of 191 and 255.
The Braves were boosted by Roman Corbett (20th in 15:53.42) and Manas Tripathi (28th in 16:09.90) while Hani Deen (25th in 16:06.24) and Noah Miller (58th in 16:30.50) powered the Patriots.
Big Walnut’s Emil Stanford and Eli Lengl, competing as individuals, finished 19th and 22nd, respectively, in 15:49.65 and 16:01.82.
Delaware Hayes’ Luke Brown and Olentangy Berlin’s Eli Baxter also competed as individuals. Brown finished 30th in 16:10.63 while Baxter closed 103rd in 17:26.57.
In the Division I girls race, Liberty (113 points) earned regional runner-up honors while Orange (193) closed sixth, Big Walnut (274) finished 11th and Hayes (325) closed 15th.
The Pioneers’ Brooke Chapman had the best individual performance of any area runner, finishing fourth among the field of more than 120 runners in 18:05.58.
Julia Bockenstette led the Patriots, finishing sixth overall in 18:21.61, while Berlin’s Grace Heitkamp finished 11th in the region with an effort of 18:33.39.
Other top-20 showings belonged to Liberty’s Elena Aldrink (13th in 18:39.76) and Orange’s Mairin O’Brien (16th in 18:43.79).
Cali Kent led the Pacers, finishing 27th in 19:21.57, while Leighton Coey boosted the Eagles with a team-best 41st-place finish in 19:40.30.
