The Fort Frye girls cross country team claimed a Division III regional championship Saturday in Pickerington. (Photo Provided)

PICKERINGTON — A total team effort lifted the Fort Frye girls to their first ever regional cross country championship Saturday.

The Cadets finished tied for first in the team standings with Grandview Heights (131). The tiebreaker came down to each team’s sixth runner — Grandview Heights didn’t have one, while Fort Frye had freshman Kyndal Buchanon who came in 124th with a time of 26 minutes, 39 seconds.

“All week we stressed this is a team sport,” said Fort Frye head coach Jason Lipot. “This was a total team performance. It was great to see the kids on the back end of our team do well.”

Emma Richards led Fort Frye with a 17th-place finish (21:40.2). Teammate Ava Huck was a half-second behind in 18th (21:40.7) while Cadence Waller came in 26th (22:04). The fourth Cadet to cross the finish line was Laine Spinder in 42nd (22:40). Down the final stretch of the race, Spindler passed Beaver Eastern’s Abby Cochenour and Cardington-Lincoln’s Loey Hallabrin to shave a point off Fort Frye’s score. That ended up being massive.

“Laine’s ran consistently well all year,” Lipot said. “Without Laine’s effort at the end of the race, we don’t force the tie and get the tiebreaker. She made a strong move at the end.”

Maggie Fulton was the fifth Cadet to finish, as she came in 115th (25:31). Also running for the regional champion Cadets was Natalie Rauch (125th; 26:54).

“We’ve got seven freshmen girls who have never run in this type of environment before,” Lipot said.

“We’re super excited to be able to once again race another week.”

Phinn Spindler was the lone Fort Frye boy to race, and he also extended his season. The sophomore placed 20th to earn the final spot out of the regional and into state. He clocked in at 18:11.

“I want to shout out Phinn,’ Lipot said. “Last year he was seeded high and didn’t have the race he wanted. It was good to see him break that mental barrier. It’s tough to run as an individual without a team backing you up. I’m happy he made that step. He’s a great kid and a tremendous runner.”

The Caldwell girls finished third with a score of 145 to also qualify for state. Brynn Block (24th; 22:01), Sage Speck (25th; 22:03), Sadie Watson (49th; 23:11), Teagan Secrest (63rd; 23:31) and Calli Hesson (88th; 24:19) scored for the Redskins.

Federal Hocking’s Rosemary Stephens placed 10th (21:10) to qualify for state as an individual.

Waterford’s Averi Schwendeman (29th; 22:08) and Kaylor Offenberger (48th; 23:04) ran as individuals and both placed in the top 50 but missed the cut for state.

On the boys side, Belpre, led by Nick Diaz (43rd; 18:54) finished 12th (284) while Waterford, paced by Dylan Hartline (40th; 18:52), came in 13th (288).

In Division II, the Warren boys ran as a team and finished 12th with 411 points. The top 28 individuals advanced to state, and Warren’s Bryson Angelo wasn’t far off the mark, finishing 31st with a time of 18:13 to lead the Warriors

Maggie Reynolds (63rd; 22:44) and Grace Randall (69th; 22:53) both ran for the Warren girls.

In D1, Ezra Minard represented the Marietta boys with a top 60 finish, placing 55th with a time of 18:18.