The Hilliard Davidson High School boys cross country team missed advancing to the Division I state meet as a team this year. However, the Wildcats had the top finisher among Hilliard schools in the Division I state meet on Nov. 7.

Senior Kenta Shimizu was 20th (16 minutes, 23.81 seconds) in the state meet. Also participating in the state meet was senior Nathan Moore, who was 40th (16:39.06).

In terms of state-meet experience, the Wildcats are going to be starting from scratch next year. They also lose seniors Kyle Dillahunt, Dylan Gustafson and Elliot Moore.

"We're going to be digging down into the youth of our program next year," Schlecht said. "There are going to be a lot of open spots."

Expected to return are juniors Steven Boyd, Kyle Dembenski, Mark Gillespie and Jack Shaeffer, as well as sophomore Ryan Caulley.

Boyd and Caulley competed on the postseason roster. Shaffer was expected to compete, but he couldn't make it back from injury.

Injuries struck the Wildcats midway through the season and they never completely recovered. The team portion of the Wildcats' season ended in the regional meet on Oct. 31where they finished 12th (242 points) to Pickerington North (75).

The Wildcats were fourth (118) in the district 3 meet, behind New Albany (67) on Oct. 24 and in the OCC-Central meet on Oct. 17 they were fourth (74) behind Dublin Coffman (42).

•Darby will lose one of the program's top runners in senior Jay McKenna, a four-time state qualifier.

McKenna, who won a district title in 2008, was 28th (16:32.49) this year in the state meet.

He leads a group of departing seniors that also includes Josh Burlile and Denton Thompson.

They helped the Panthers finish seventh (183) in the regional meet and second (69) to Pickerington North (38) in the district 1 meet.

In the OCC-Central meet, Darby was third (67).

Looking to pick up the slack next season are a juniors Don Bennett, Landon Erb and Eric Mescher and sophomores Andrew Lowery and Brian Roth.

All but Roth were on the postseason roster.

"We're going to have some runners that are up and coming," coach Cori Schulte said. "We have some talent that is up and coming and I'm looking forward to that. I think we're going to have a really solid five. Sort of like Reynoldsburg, they pack it up and that got them to the state meet."

•Bradley made it to the regional tournament in its inaugural season.

The Jaguars competed without a senior this season and there were enough positive results that coach Jon Agriesti believes in a bright future.

"I don't know that we met every single goal that we set out for, but we're were happy with the season," coach Jon Agriesti said. "They're mainly sophomores, so the team is young besides two juniors. They took a big step forward. We established our identity. Next year, we could have five that are right around 17 minutes."

Leading the Jaguars were sophomores Austin Alpeter and Troy Kelleher.

They were the top finishers in helping Bradley finish second (66) to New Albany (38) in the OCC-Capital meet on Oct. 17.

The season ended when the Jaguars finished 14th (322) at the regional meet. In the district 3 meet, Bradley advance to the regional by finishing fifth (118).

Also expected to return next season are juniors Ahmed Dualeh, Trevor Hughes and Nick Petikas and sophomores Jacob Markusic, Michael McDunn and Jake Zoller. Freshman Marlon Dodds also is expected back.