WOOSTER — Gabi Twedt made history on a chilly Saturday morning.
Twedt finished second at the Ohio Cardinal Conference meet at Wooster, finishing in a personal record 18 minutes, 27.38 seconds.
It’s the eighth fastest time in program history and the fastest-ever showing by a sophomore. Halle Hamilton held the previous sophomore mark of 18:35, set in 2018.
“My PR this season is 18:48 and we’ve been trying to break 18:30,” Twedt said. “It was a really good race coming off of a rough week last week.”
Lexington competed in the prestigious Portage (Mich.) Invitational last week. Twedt finished 24th in the Division II race in 19:25.5, leading Lady Lex to a seventh-place finish in the 43-team field.
Twedt’s strong showing Saturday led Lady Lex to another OCC team title. Lexington finished with a score of 28, well ahead of runner-up West Holmes (53). Ashland (103) was fourth and Madison (216) was seventh.
Lexington has won 18 straight OCC titles and and 20 of 24 since the conference’s inception in 2003.
“I’m so proud of our girls,” Twedt said. “We have a really young team this year. We lost 19 seniors and four of our top seven, I think.
“We had a lot of girls step up this year.”
Jenna Halfhill finished fourth in 19:14.52. Evalynn Adkins (19:32.84) was fifth, while Adria Sharrock (20:38.39) was seventh and Nyra Loy (20:52.88) was 10th.
Arya Fisher led Ashland, finishing ninth in 20:50.89. Livia Grove (23:48.58) finished 36th to lead Madison.
West Holmes freshman Ava Reiheld won the individual title in 17:59.85.
Boys
Will Hooper won Saturday’s boys race in 15:58.11, leading Lexington to its fifth straight OCC title and the 13th in program history.
The Minutemen finished with a score of 23. Dover (77) was a distant second.
Hooper is the third straight Lex runner to claim OCC Runner of the Year honors, joining Chance Basilone (2023) and Latrell Hughes (2024, 2025).
Hooper took control early Saturday and ran by himself at the front of the field.
“I haven’t had a lot of experience being at the front of the race,” Hooper said. “So this was new to me and I enjoyed it.”
The Minutemen swept the top three spots with Christian Estep (16:07.29) taking second and John Bartone (16:13.32) placing third. Mathias Bender (16:38.77) was fifth and Chidalu Ezike (17:26.59) was 12th.
Lexington won the Division II state title last year, but lost several talented runners to graduation.
“We’re a completely new team,” said Hooper, who finished 35th at state last year. “We can’t hold a candle to what we were last year, so we’ve had to deal with that.
“This team knows its strong.”
Dover took runner-up honors with a score of 77. Ashland (120) was fourth, while Madison (138) was sixth and Mansfield Senior (222) was eighth.
Oliver Watson finished sixth overall in 16:48.28 to lead the Arrows, while Evan Larsen (16:56.12) topped Madison with an eighth-place finish. Mansfield Senior’s Prince Converse (18:38.87) was 35th.
