Hawken junior Ella Gilson took the lead for good in the last 300 meters to defend her Division II OHSAA state cross country championship at National Trail Raceway in Hebron on Saturday.
Gilson finished the race in 17:45, beating second-place Grace Hartman of Oakwood by 13 seconds. She won the 2018 state title with a time of 18:37.
Hawken’s Juliana Metz placed 10th with a time of 18:44 and Lutheran West’s Kristin Groppe was 33rd in 19:23.
Rose Hoelzel finished 37th with a time of 19:27 to lead Chagrin Falls to a 13th place finish as a team. Hannah Clark also finished among the top 50 for the Tigers with a time of 19:34, good for 45th overall.
Geneva’s Elizabeth Joy (42nd, 19:33), West Geauga’s Grace Gyetko (54th, 19:43) and Chagrin Falls’ Azzurra Opperman (58th, 19:47) all placed among the top 100.
Independence’s Emily Skoczen placed 60th with a time of 20:16 in the girls’ Division III race. West Geauga’s Patrick Garrett completed the boys’ Division II race in 17:14 to place 99th and Geneva’s Jacob Mirabell was 85th in Division I with a time of 16:37.
