PICKERINGTON, Ohio — For the third consecutive fall, Meigs County will not be represented at the OHSAA cross country meet after all seven regional qualifiers from the area failed to advance to the state championships last Saturday during the Division III regional meets held at Pickerington North High School.

Neither the Southern boys’ team nor Eastern’s Emeri Connery were able to place in the top-16 individually in their respective races. The Tornadoes also did not place as one of the top four teams that would be moving on.

Connery, a junior, came the closest to advancing, placing 19th overall in the girls’ race with a time of 21:55.33. There were a total of 127 competitors in the D-3 girls race, with Hannah Stefanoff of Columbus Grandview Heights winning the event with a time of 21:55.33. Johnstown-Monroe won the team title with 79 points.

On the boys’ side of things, Southern placed 14th overall with 342 points. There were a total of 129 competitors in the boys event, which was won by Luke Holubeck of Bellaire St. John Central with a mark of 17:19.42.

Freshman Kody Wolfe — who won the individual district title the week earlier in Rio Grande — led the Tornadoes with a time of 18:56.08, placing 36th overall. Dylan Roush (19:49.50) was next in 63rd, followed by Colby Roseberry (21:51.39) and Justin Hettinger (21:52.33) with respective efforts of 110th and 111th.

Andrew Ginther (22:37.82) rounded out the team scoring in 117th overall. Chase Graham also placed 124th with a mark of 25:07.50.

Meigs County’s last representative at the state cross country meet was Eastern’s Michael Owen, who placed 14th overall in 2006.

Complete results of the 2009 Division III regional cross country meets at Pickerington are available on the web at www.baumspage.com