Campbell wins by a whisker; Indian Valley girls leave little doubt

Vinny Campbell’s latest victory came down to four hundredths of a second. Indian Valley’s girls settled their race with a team score just one point above perfect.

Those very different wins led a busy Saturday for area cross country. Campbell, Meadowbrook’s sophomore, edged Portsmouth’s Ian Putnam at Watkins Memorial, while Indian Valley put five girls among the first six finishers at Carrollton. At Seneca East, John Glenn senior Ashlynn Kuklica finished within eight seconds of the winner. At Fort Frye, Shenandoah’s young boys offered another reason to follow the team as closely as its front runner.

September is beginning to reveal more than a collection of fast times. Several local runners are beating strong competition, and some of the most promising teams have plenty of years left together.

Campbell keeps finding ways to win

Campbell ran 15:45.88 in the Watkins race labeled Division 1, with Putnam at 15:45.92. New Albany’s Austin Benedict followed in 15:55.79 and Woodridge’s Remington Griffiths in 15:56.14. There were 198 timed finishers in that race.

Campbell’s earlier 15:25 at Claymont remains his season best. Saturday matters for a different reason: he beat the runners beside him in an exceptionally close finish. That adds to his win at Newcomerstown and gives his early state prospects a stronger foundation than a fast time from one course alone.

Meadowbrook finished 18th among 23 scoring teams with 463 points. Luke Norman was the Colts’ second runner in 17:40.87. Campbell gives the team an outstanding first scorer; the next part of Meadowbrook’s story is how much ground the runners behind Norman can gain. The first five were separated by 5:35.46 on Saturday.

The invitational’s Division 1 race name should not be confused with an OHSAA assignment. Meadowbrook’s boys will compete in Division III at districts.

Five scorers make Indian Valley’s case

At Carrollton, Rowan Harshey led Indian Valley’s girls in 20:18.10. Bridget Pittis, Bailey Herbert and Jillian Welch followed in the next three places. Blaire Harshey finished sixth to complete a 16-point team win.

There is more to that result than one runner winning a race. The Braves covered their five scoring positions in 2:02.10, and four of those five runners are freshmen, sophomores or juniors. Pittis is a freshman; Rowan Harshey and Herbert are sophomores. Indian Valley is building depth that could matter well beyond this fall.

The next test will come in deeper fields, where a few seconds between teammates can hold several opposing runners. Indian Valley takes a convincing win and a strong scoring group into that challenge.

Union Local’s Connor Bendo won the Carrollton boys race in 16:49.32. Cambridge’s Brayden Biddle was second in 17:27.05, followed among the area leaders by Indian Valley’s Nolan Patacca, fourth in 17:41.42, and Mason Curran, seventh in 18:24.24. Indian Valley finished sixth as a team with 134 points.

Newcomerstown’s Clara Allen took tenth in the girls race in 23:05.80, and Solee Garland was twelfth in 23:57.20. Cambridge’s Skye Craft placed fifteenth in 24:08.40. Cambridge finished fifth with 151 points and Newcomerstown sixth with 156, giving those teams a five-point margin to revisit when they meet again.

Kuklica stays with the front at Seneca East

Kuklica ran 19:21.81 for third in her Seneca East race. Berkshire freshman Claire Passow won in 19:13.94, and Minerva junior Tateum Richard was second in 19:18.40. Kuklica finished 7.87 seconds behind Passow and 3.41 behind Richard.

That puts the John Glenn senior third on the area’s current season-best list, behind Claymont’s Kali Wallace at 18:38 and Shenandoah’s Ida Estadt at 19:07. Indian Valley’s Rowan Harshey, at 19:44, makes four area girls under 20 minutes on the list.

Kuklica has run faster in a previous season: her career record includes 18:24.17 from November 2, 2024. Saturday’s result tells us where she stands now, with several weeks still available to build toward the postseason.

John Glenn’s girls were sixteenth among 22 scoring teams with 412 points; the boys were twentieth with 486. Kaid Ritchey led the Muskies’ boys in 19:09.88. Garaway junior Dominic Schlabach finished nineteenth in that boys race in 17:33.84, moving into the area boys top ten.

Shenandoah’s depth deserves a closer look

Shenandoah sophomore Joel Tewksbary finished second at Fort Frye in 16:19.50. Bellaire senior Landen Perdue won in 15:32.80, a useful reminder of the level at the front of that race.

Caldwell sophomore Zane Boyd was fifth in 17:19.00, and Shenandoah sophomore Brant Stottsberry was tenth in 17:52.10. Behind Tewksbary, the Zeps’ second through seventh runners finished within 47 seconds of one another. All seven were home by 18:39.10.

Tewksbary gave Shenandoah a runner near the front, with six teammates close together behind him. That depth makes the Zeps a team to follow as districts approach. Fort Frye's official team totals were unavailable.

Estadt finished third in the girls race in 19:49.90. Caldwell’s Emma Hayes was tenth in 22:00.70. Buckeye Trail’s Kloie Eagon placed twentieth in 23:14.40, while Carter Johnson led the Warriors’ boys in 19:54.20.

The next group is already making itself known

Indian Valley’s TJ Linerode ran 11:26.34 for second at Carrollton and now leads the area middle-school boys list. Teammate Todd Fillman ran 11:50.05, and Gage Kreinbihl’s 12:20.47 gives Indian Valley three boys in the area top ten.

The Braves and Edison each scored 67 points, with Aiden McMillen giving Indian Valley third place on the sixth-runner tiebreak.

At Fort Frye, Caldwell’s Conner Wilson ran 11:53.10 for second, Buckeye Trail’s Emmett Taylor 12:04.90 for third and Shenandoah’s Bennett Hendershot 12:06.40 for fourth. Taylor’s earlier 12:00 at Marietta remains his season best.

Garaway’s Bristol Angel leads the area middle-school girls list after running 13:35.18 for eighth among 144 finishers at Seneca East. Cambridge teammates Sophie Callahan and Ivy Williams ran 13:58.06 and 14:15.96 at Carrollton. Ten of the twelve programs are represented across the boys and girls middle-school top tens, an encouraging spread of talent across the area.

Barnesville and Claymont's Watkins races were canceled. Wallace keeps the girls' area lead with her earlier 18:38, while both teams look to their next scheduled meets.

October is coming into view

The September 13 district outlook puts the Division IV individual estimates around 20:00 for boys and 23:15 for girls. The final team qualifiers will also shape those individual places. The full report follows all twelve schools and John Glenn's promising girls team route.

The next weekend brings Buckeye Trail to Dover, Meadowbrook to Fairfield Union and Claymont to Boardman, according to their current schedules. For the teams that lost a race to weather, it is another opportunity to get back on a start line. For the runners who won on Saturday, it is a chance to show that their results are becoming a pattern.

Results: Watkins, Carrollton, Fort Frye, Seneca East high school and middle school, September 12, 2026. Earlier season races remain in the area lists. The middle-school lists include two-mile and 3,200m results, with the original distance shown. The source notes cover missing results and distance questions.

This week’s full update · Results and record notes · Home

Correction, September 13: an earlier version misstated Kloie Eagon’s surname. Her name is corrected; her time and placing are unchanged.