GALION — Ryan Johnston had mixed emotions about racing up a division Saturday at the Galion Cross Country Festival.
On the one hand, Lexington’s senior standout wanted the Minutemen to test themselves against the best big-school competition in the state. On the other, Johnston wanted to see how top-ranked Lex stacked up against the Division II teams it will likely run into at the state meet in early-November.
“I wanted to (race in the Division I race) but then again I didn’t want to,” said Johnston, who finished third in 15 minutes, 38.9 seconds. “The D2 race had a bunch of the top teams in the state. The competition was great here, but a couple of us wanted to run D2 just to get the competition with the teams in our division.”
The Minutemen acquitted themselves admirably, finishing fifth in the 37-team Division I race. Lex and Pickerington North both finished with 197 points, but the Panthers wound up in fourth based on a tiebreaker.
“On the boys side, it’s just so fast at the front and you worry about your younger runners who were trying to close the gap and to have them feel that pressure,” Lex coach Denise Benson said. “I would say we were solid. It wasn’t, one-to-five, our best effort but for the heat and (racing) Division I, I think we had a fine showing.
“Our top three, they were where I expected them.”
Johnston’s younger brother, junior Kyle, finished seventh in 16:01.9. Senior Forest Volz was 17th in 16:31.4.
“I was hoping to be in the 15:20s or lower today,” the elder Johnston said. “I didn’t know how I was going to react to this heat. I wasn’t too disappointed with it.”
Ashland finished ninth in the Division I race with 279 points. Reid McFrederick led the Arrows, finishing 18th in 16:32. Mason Smith (16:52.3) was 36th.
Madison and Mansfield Senior finished 36th and 37th, respectively. Connor Ladd led the Rams, finishing in 19:01.8. Aiden Crider (20:21.3) paced the Tygers.
Division II: Shelby finished fourth in the Division II race with 133 points. Sophomore Caleb Brown led the way for the Whippets, finishing third in 16:04.3, while Sam Logan (16:44.2) was 15th.
Galion was 20th with 505 points, while Ontario (557) was 24th and Clear Fork (878) was 27th. Braxton Tate led the Tigers, finishing in 16:40.6. Carson Walters (18:19.6) topped the Warriors and Isaiah Swihart (20:29.9) led the Colts.
Division III: Colonel Crawford’s Chad Johnson, the defending Division III state champ, ran away and hid in the Division III race. The senior won in 15:14.4, more than 75 seconds ahead of the runner-up.
Lucas junior Gavin Shindeldecker was 10th in 17:18. The Cubs finished 19th in the team standings with 569 points.
“It’s pretty cool running with somebody that fast,” Shindeldecker said. “I couldn’t do much in this heat.”
Crestview was 10th with 266 points. Leo Ringler finished 29th for the Cougars in 17:51.6.
Plymouth was 14th with 337 points. Levi Robinson paced the Big Red with a 24th-place finish (17:47.4).
St. Peter’s (610) finished 20th. Nathaniel Schemine (19:40) was the top finisher for the Spartans.
