The Bowling Green boys cross country team capped a weekend of firsts by winning the State Division II championships Saturday (11-7-2026) at Fortress Obetz in Obetz. This is the first time the Bobcat boys cross country program has won a state championship. It was also the first year that both the girls and boys teams qualified for the state meet.
The girls registered an impressive performance placing 8th out of 10 teams, just one point behind Granville.
Coach Pat Carney said that the state race poses special challenges for runners. While having fields of more that 200 runners is not unusual having a field that consists of all the top runners in the state is unusual. That results in runners packed even at the front.
Boys take the crown
The boys team claimed the victory with a score of 181 just one point better than last year’s champs Lexington.
That field included two teams The race featured 24 teams of seven runners and 49 individual qualifiers.
Every team member has a job, Carney said.
Runners who are used to leading in the race found themselves in congestion. “Senior Sam Wiles and Junior Lloyd Waldron set the pace for BG early while Sophomore Rece Simon and Junior Adam Proulx joined together not far behind,” Carney reported. “These top four ran very tough throughout the race.”
Simon continued to surge his way through the pack, joining Wiles and Waldron. They pushed each other and placed 25th, 26th, and 27th within four seconds of each other.
Proulx lost contact with Simon as the sophomore rose through the ranks, but Proulx continued to press, placing 56th. “Sophomore Ashton Loomis and Senior Levi Bateson knew that the spread from our fourth to fifth place was a focal point for not only us, but our competitors as well,” Carney noted. “Ashton and Levi fought for every spot and it paid off! The gap was kept close enough for the BG to pull off the 1 point victory. “
Freshman Isaac Wiles, the team’s seventh runner placed 185th.
“Everyone has a job to do and the BG guys did their jobs very well on Saturday,” Carney said.
BG scores were:
- Lloyd Waldron(Jr.) – 25th place overall 15:58 (13th – team score)
- Rece Simon (So.) – 26th place overall 15:59 (14th – team score)
- Sam Wiles (Sr.) – 27th place overall 16:02 (15th – team score)
- Adam Proulx (Jr.) – 56th place overall 16:18 (35th – team score)
- Ashton Loomis (So.) 152nd place overall 17:15 (104th team score)
- Levi Bateson (Sr.) 159th place overall 17:18 (111th team score)
- Isaac Wiles (Fr.) 185th place overall 17:35 (137th team score
Girls team earns top 10 finish
The girls team placed 8th with 294 points in a field of 24 seven-member teams and 48 individual qualifiers.
That field included rivals Lexington and Anthony Wayne, who topped the Bobcats in last weekend’s regional meet.
This week the Bobcats left them in the dust with Lexington finishing 16th and Anthony Wayne finishing 21st.
“BG Did a terrific job finding each other in the crowd and working together as they have done all season,” Carney reported.
“What made this team special,” he continued. “was the way our upperclassman welcomed a large, talented group of freshmen onto the team and encouraged them. It is not an easy thing to do. To encourage a teammate knowing that the very teammate you are encouraging might ‘take your spot.’”
The team’s second, third, and fourth runners were freshmen.
Coach Lisa Carney emphasizes the concept of “Team before self.”
“This is what it takes to compete at the highest level,” Pat Carney reported.
Bobcat scores were:
- Lilly Downey(Jr.) – 27th place overall (19th place team score) 18:56 2nd Team All-Ohio (1st team is 1-20, 2nd team is 21-40)
- Avery Wrighten(Fr.) – 101st place overall (66th team score) 19:57
- Sara Carr(Fr.) – 108th place overall (68th team score) 20:00
- Nora Vanneman(Fr.) – 111th place overall (70th team score) 20:01
- Kate Scarletto-Scholl(Sr.) – 113th place overall (71st team score) 20:02
- Maddie Evans(Sr.) – 147th place overall (102nd team score) 20:22
- Madison Carney(Jr.) – 153rd place overall (108th team score) – 20:25
Two teams, one program
At BGHS both the boys and girls teams train together. “Many teams have separate girls and boys teams with separate coaches,” he said. “We have always enjoyed the family environment that the combined team creates. We have extremely encouraging practices and all of the athletes develop an ‘All In’ attitude.”
The teams’ success at the state meet “is a result of the collective efforts of 50 boys and girls working for months together with one common goal – make ourselves the best runners and best people we can be for each other!”
