Quaker boys, Kylie Smith earn state cross-country berths after strong regional showing

New Philadelphia’s boys cross country team is looking to prove the voters were right all along. And who knows, maybe a run at a state title isn’t out of the question.

The Quakers head to Obetz in Central Ohio on the heels of a runner-up performance in the Division II Race at the Pickerington Regional on Oct. 25. They finished with 156 points, behind only Columbus Bishop Watterson, which had 117 points, and just ahead of Chillicothe (163) and Jonathan Alder (166).

Ranked atop the coaches poll earlier this season, the Quakers have dropped to a still-very-solid No. 8 heading into the state meet. Ohio Cardinal Conference rival Lexington is a unanimous No. 1 heading into final meet of the year. Watterson is No. 4.

Marcus Adelman, looking to improve on a 33rd-place finish in Division I last year, placed fourth in the regional in 15:39.44, just 13 seconds behind winner Grant Hamilton of Canal Winchester. Alec Adelman crossed in 11th place in 16:02.47.

Senior Kyle Beaber came in 18th in 16:16.25, junior Kevin Smith was 31st in 16:40.56, with junior Branson Pringle checking in 107th in 17:56.21. Also running were junior Austin Pringle and freshman Luka Rotunno.

New Philadelphia’s girls team made a run at a trip to Columbus, placing 11th among 21 teams. The top six finishing teams qualified for state.

Leading the Quakers was junior Kylie Smith, who finished 16th in 19:09.39, which put her among the top 10 finishers not on qualifying teams, good enough to earn Smith a trip to the state meet.

Next was Katlyn Doughty, placing 67th in 21:17.11, followed by freshman Angel Kaufman (91st, 22:14.65), sophomore Kamri Patterson (94th, 22:20.88), and senior Faith Swaldo (98th, 22:24.09). Junior Devlin Herrington (115th, 23:00.79) and senior Ruby Byers (132nd, 23:43.03) also competed and finished well far ahead of the latter finishers.

Athens senior Sophia Szolosi won in a blazing 16:43.59, more than 80 seconds ahead of her closest competitor.

Boys soccer

With a stunning 4-3 victory over top-seeded John Glenn on Oct. 21, the Quakers earned a trip to the Eastern Division II District championship game. They saw their run end there with a 3-0 loss to No. 2 Dover on Oct. 25. The fourth-seeded Quakers ended their season 11-8-1.

In the upset of John Glenn, the Quakers got a goal and two assists from Elvin Herrera-Lopez and single tallies from Cade Jones, Luis Herrera-Lopez and Ryan Suaser. Nathan Siegler added an assist. Miles Beitzel had four saves in goal.