Sidelines: Fall sports review

Liberty Center girls cross county made it two straight state championships

Two trips, two big trophies for the Liberty Center girls cross country team, which gave the school back-to-back state championships.

The Liberty Center conquered the Division III girls competition at the state cross country championships for the second year in a row.

The Tigers, led by sophomore Brittany Atkinson, repeated as champions, although Atkinson came up short of repeating as the individual winner. She finished as runner-up with a time of 18 minutes, 6.67 seconds.

Kelly Haubert (ninth, 18:44.18), Paige Chamberlain (15th, 19:00.68), Olivia Kundo (55th, 19:50.54), and Rachel Pinson (73rd, 20:10.73) did their part to help the Tigers claim another state crown.

In Division I, Northview senior Janelle Noe put together a stellar season that culminated with her placing second overall at the state meet.

Noe's completed the 5,000-meter trail at National Trail Raceway in Hebron, Ohio, in a time of 17:40.88. As a team, the Wildcats finished fourth overall, the best in school history.

Robin Foster (19th, 18:32.59) and Mallory Small (74th, 19:21.21) also helped Northview's cause, while Abigail Masters (29th, 18:46.43) and Rachel Audet (128th, 20:19.71) completed the team's top five.

Clay's Erin Gyurke finished eighth in 18:10.77.

In Division II, Wauseon's Taylor Vernot placed fourth at 18:24.88.

In Division III, Liberty-Benton placed 10th at state with Madi Greiner (40th, 19:36.11) leading the way.

Toledo Christian's Delainey Phelps finished third overall with a time of 18:16.06.

Boys: Raymond wins title; Knights place 9th

In Michigan's Division 3 state meet, Erie Mason's Nick Raymond claimed an individual title.

He ran a time of 15:05.1 and led the Eagles to a 16th-place finish in the team standings.

St. Francis de Sales placed ninth overall at the Division I state meet with David St. John (34th, 15:57.57) setting the pace for the Knights.

Kyle Lach (51st, 16:09.41), Dan Lenart (87th, 16:29.44), Dan Siebenaller (92nd, 16:34.11), and Jason White (105th, 16:40.02) helped with pulling out a top-10 finish.