The Mid-East Cross Country Championships presents the best high school senior runners from Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The members of the Greater Dayton Track and Cross Country Officials Association and the Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches sponsor the event. The race has been held annually since 1987.

Worthington Kilbourne's senior Clair Durkin (17:24) ran away from the field to win the women's gold and lead the Ohio girls to a second place team finish with 43 points, just three points away from team champion Michigan. Durkin's time establishes a new course record breaking the eleven year old record of 17:35. She also established a new Division I record at the OHSAA Cross Country Championships two weeks earlier. Illinois' Caitlin Comfort of Peoria Notre Dame (18:08) took home runner up honors. The next three finishers were from Michigan; Rochester's Tiffany Abrahamian (18:13), Rockford's Katie Haines (18:20) and Gaylond's Slaon Secord (18:21). Ohio captured the next three places. Massillon Jackson's Emily Pritt (18:29) who finished fourth in the OHSAA Division I race, Archbishop Alter's Hilary Esselstein (18:31) who placed third in the OHSAA Division II race and Hilliard Darby's Erika Alpter (18:37) who placed fifth in the OHSAA Division I race rounded out the top eight.

Indiana LaPorte's Michael Fout (14:59) held off Michigan Ovid- Elsie's Maverick Darling (15:05) for the boys championships. Pennsylvania Boyertown's Mark Dennin (15:22) nipped Michigan Dexter's Bobby Aprill by a second for the bronze. Ohio captured the next three spots and two more in the top twelve to win the team title with 41 points ten a ahead of Michigan. Finishing fifth was Sandusky Perkins' Cory Leslie (15:27) who won the OHSAA Division II championships two weeks earlier. Dayton Christian Division III OHSAA winner Walt Luttrell (15:33) was sixth while Massillon Jackson's David Rafailedes who placed third in the OHSAA Division I race was seventh in 15:34

The Ohio teams won the combined team title with 84 points while Michigan finished second with 91 points.

Girls Team Scores

1. 40 Michigan ( 18:29 1:32:21)
2. 43 Ohio ( 18:24 1:31:57)
3. 69 Indiana ( 18:44 1:33:36)
4. 105 Pennsylvania( 19:00 1:34:58)
5. 134 Illinois ( 19:16 1:36:17)
6. 239 Kentucky ( 20:25 1:42:02)


Boys Team Scores

1. 41 Ohio ( 15:34 1:17:49)
2. 51 Michigan ( 15:31 1:17:34)
3. 56 Indiana ( 15:33 1:17:41)
4. 111 Pennsylvania( 15:48 1:18:57)
5. 119 Illinois ( 15:50 1:19:06)
6. 244 Kentucky ( 16:42 1:23:26)

Complete results are listed under the Results section on RUNOHIO's web site: http://www.runohio.com/archive