TIFFIN — Lex flexed again at Saturday’s Tiffin regional cross country meet.

The boys program won its seventh team championship under longtime coach Denise Benson while the girls captured regional title No. 13 on a sun-soaked afternoon at Hedges-Boyer Park.

It was a tour de force performance by Lexington. The girls won with a score of 56 — well ahead of runner-up Toledo St. Ursula (122). The boys finished with a score of 34, easily outdistancing runner-up Anthony Wayne (71).

“We wanted to come out here and show what we got,” said senior Latrell Hughes, who won the individual regional title in 15 minutes, 14.69 seconds — slightly more than a second off his school-record time of 15:13.46. “Our goal was to come here and win a team trophy.”

Hughes had plenty of company on the awards podium. All five of Lexington’s scoring runners finished in the top 12 and the split between Lex’s top finisher and No. 5 man was 64 seconds.

Lincoln Rice was fourth in 15:41.13, while Will Hooper was eighth in 16:11.98. Finn Devaney (16:12.28) and Luke Haring (16:18.72) rounded out the scoring for the Minutemen.

The girls were every bit as dominant. 

Katya Prykhodko led the way for Lady Lex, finishing third in a new personal-record 18:17.44. She was followed by Gabi Twedt in seventh (18:48.98), Brailey Slone in eighth (18:53.17), Adria Sharrock in 19th (19:46.15) and Jenna Halfhill in 21st (19:50.76).

“It’s a longstanding tradition to come here and win this (team) title,” Prykhodko said. “It’s not easy to do by any means. 

“Each team that came before us worked so hard. Every year we set the goal to work just as hard, if not harder than, the teams before us.”

State-Bound

The Ontario boys and Crestview girls each earned team state berths in their respective races Saturday. 

The Warriors finished fourth in the Division III race to grab the final team qualifying spot for next week’s state meet. Xavier Trent led the Warriors, finishing third overall in 16:05.83. He was followed across the finish line by Rylan Baker in 28th (17:12.02), Ashton Drozda in 31st (17:14.13), Alex Simmering in 50th (17:47.98) and Michael Ward in 51st (17:50.94).

“It’s a huge accomplishment for the team,” said Trent, a senior and three-time state qualifier. “I’m so excited for next week.”

Crestview finished ninth in the Division IV race with a score of 336.

Emmie Kemp led the Cougars, finishing 22nd in 20:00.67. She was followed by Alina Durbin in 43rd (20:39.92), Laynie Kemp in 57th (21:06.51), Audrey Wolford in 122nd (22:17.38) and Alexandra Cutlip in 163rd (23:00.79).

Best of the Rest

Several area athletes earned individual berths to next week’s state meet.

In the Division IV girls race, Mansfield Christian’s Riley Patrick was third in 18:40.38. 

A senior who finished 14th at state last year, Patrick led after the opening mile.

“I was pretty far ahead of everyone. I possibly went out too fast,” Patrick said. “But we accomplished the goal and will move on.”

Patrick will be joined at state by Crestline’s Nevaeh Hill (16th, 19:47.76) and Lucas’ Riley Trumpower (20:29.74).

Clear Fork’s Katrina Neal punched her ticket to state with a third-place showing win the Division III race. Neal finished in a PR 18:33.54.

“I was just happy to be given this opportunity because these are really good runners,” Neal said. “I’m looking forward to next week.”

Shelby’s Anna Will placed 10th in the Division II girls race to earn a state bid. Will finished in 18:57.14.