The East Clinton High School cross country teams, from left to right, front row, Autumn Joseph, Brody Hoff, Jason Manning, Carter Kaun, Wyatt Oberschlake, Eion Hackmann, Landen Kaun, Sawyer Foose, Konnor Roth; back row, Allyson George, Dru Simmons, Jacob George, Ben Gates, Kaiden Roth, Elyon Hackmann, Jackson Seabaugh.
Submitted Photo
New Richmond and Georgetown were the girls champions in the SBAAC last season.
On the boys side, Western Brown and Clermont Northeastern made it three straight league titles last season with the Broncos winning their fourth straight championship.
The Clinton-Massie girls were runnersup in the SBAAC last season.
BLANCHESTER
As this went to press, Blanchester was not going to have a cross country program this fall, athletic director Brad Ballinger said.
CLINTON-MASSIE
There are eight returning runners for the Clinton-Massie cross country program this season as Dean Richardson enters his 28th season as a coach at Clinton-Massie.
Malea Beam was first team all-league as a sophomore last year and qualified for the regional cross country meet. Hailey Myers earned first team honors as a freshman. Beam is returning along with Georgia Black, Shelby Robinson, Jillian Arledge and Dakota Cartner.
Kaylee Ramsey, who in addition to cross country was a standout wrestler and pole vaulter, was the only graduate from the team this past spring but Myers was also not listed on the team’s roster.
On the boys side, Laith Latif graduated in May but Mack Hensley, Trent Bennett and Bryson Geyer return for the Falcons. Richardson said newcomers to note are Joey Sweet and Cayden Patton.
The veteran coach said he has a good group of young runners that must continue to work their way in to running shape. Also, he hopes to recruit more runners once school starts, a rite of passage for just about every cross country program.
Richardson said New Richmond and Western Brown are the teams to be in the SBAAC American Division.
EAST CLINTON
Josh Simmons begins his third season as the East Clinton cross country coach and he must find replacements for four spring graduates who have been with the high school program four years.
Molly Seabaugh and Kaylyn Deaton both earned first team all-league honors last season for the East Clinton girls but both graduated, concluding stellar careers for EC. Deaton plans to run at Wright State University this season, Simmons said.
For the boys, Jackson Seabaugh was first team All-SBAAC last season. Dylan Arnold and Nick Gates were seniors last spring.
Anthony Joseph is the middle school coach.
Seabaugh will be joined by Landen Kaun on the boys side. Simmons said Kaiden Roth is a newcomer to the program that should “be a big help.”
In all seven runners return to Lees Creek this fall. Senior leaders, according to Simmons, are Jacob George, Elyon Hackmann and Colton Brockman on the boys side and Carman Brown on the girls side.
“They are close to each other and push each other to be better,” Simmons said of his team. “We are still short-numbered on girls teams.”
Simmons believes, if healthy, his boys can contend for the SBAAC championship this season.
WILMINGTON
Madilyn Brausch was first team all-league in her final cross county campaign in the orange and black. She is off to Wright State to run for the Raiders.
In addition to Brausch, 2024 graduates off the team are Kennedy Moore and Hannah Scott.
For the boys, the top runners from last year for the Hurricane in the SBAAC were Max McCoy and Oliver McDermott who were both second team. McDermott graduated.
May graduates in addition to McDermott were Preston Ziegler, Conner Walters, Aiden Matheney and Jayden Comer.
