The Panthers, who had won OCC-Ohio Division and Division I district 1 titles the previous two weeks, needed its fourth and fifth runners to move up if they were to have a chance to win their third meet in a row.

That's exactly what juniors Justin Simmons and John Parsons did, and the result was a second regional title in three seasons as North finished with 75 points, well ahead of runner-up Reynoldsburg (118).

After seniors Daniel Garleb (17 minutes, 4.64 seconds) and Nick Hissrich (17:12.72) finished first and third, respectively, and teammate Greg Black added a 22nd-place finish (18:02.93), Simmons and Parsons picked off several runners over the final one-third of the race.

Simmons finished 27th in 18:12.31 and Parsons was 37th in 18:23.02. Senior Mitchell Phillips (18:52.23) and junior Stephen Morrison (72nd, 18:57.6) also competed.

North will compete in the state meet at 2:50 p.m. Saturday at Scioto Downs.

"Justin Simmons and John Parsons really came through," coach Tim Starkey said. "We were behind after the first half. We weren't where we needed to be in terms of our top five. In the second half of the race, John Parsons passed about 20 guys."

"Our goal the whole year was to get OCC, district and regional championships, because that's something we've never done before," Parsons said. "In the first part of the race I was trying to play it more conservatively, and with about 800 meters I (passed) about four or five people."

Also advancing from the regional at North were New Albany (third, 139) and Dublin Coffman (fourth, 147).

Other teams competing at state after earning regional titles were Hudson, Sylvania Northview and Cincinnati St. Xavier. Just 43 seconds separated the top five runners for St. Xavier, which scored a regional-best 48 points to win at Troy.

In 2007 at state, North finished 15th (264), behind champion Medina (76) as Garleb (72nd, 16:37.94), Black (73rd, 16:39.18), Hissrich (118th, 17:11.94), Simmons (131st, 17:26.66) and Phillips (139th, 17:38.01) all competed.

The Panthers advanced to state for the first time in 2006, finishing last (347) out of 16 teams, behind champion Cincinnati La Salle (78). Black and Garleb were among the top seven.

Garleb has won his last four races, with his last loss coming Oct. 3 when he was sixth in the 24-team Midwest Meet of Champions at Hilliard Davidson.

"Two years ago we ended up getting 15th, and the goal this time is to get into the top five," Garleb said. "It's going to be tough to accomplish. It's going to come down to the fourth and fifth runners. Getting top-15 (individually) would be pretty nice, and I'm actually hoping to get into the top five. I've raced a lot of these guys this year."

The North girls team finished 10th (251) in the regional, behind champion Sylvania North-view (61).

Kristen Eisenhauer placed 19th (21:02.91) to miss qualifying for state by three places. She was followed by Fayth Greegor (56th, 22:05.8), Gabbi Thacker (59th, 22:14.19), Kim Black (69th, 22:29.43), Meg Moledor (82nd, 22:52.93), Morgan Grodesky (95th, 23:22.29) and Gabby Bobadilla (102nd, 23:45.06).

•The Central boys and girls seasons ended at the regional.

Sophomore Mason Prater qualified for the regional for the first time when he placed 18th (17:50) in the district 2 meet on Oct. 24 as the Tigers finished 10th (265) behind champion Westerville North (68). Last Saturday, he finished 112th (19:59.22).

Prater was the No. 1 runner most of the season for the Tigers, who finished fifth (134) in the six-team OCC-Ohio, behind champion North (22).

Prater was 12th (17:17.37) in the league meet, followed by sophomore Brennan McCotter (23rd, 17:53.7), freshman Mason Moore (34th, 18:38.51), senior Usama Awan (35th, 18:40.24), sophomore Michael Gase (38th, 18:55.85), sophomore Mitch Boothe (41st, 19:14.32) and senior Neal Shah (42nd, 19:33.47). The only other senior was Tyler Miller.

Freshman Luke Forshey also was a key runner.

"(Prater) didn't run as well as he wanted, but it was a good experience," coach Andy Fischer said. "I'm very pleased with how well they've adapted to the high school training. I think a number of them are going to do some training throughout the winter."

For the girls team, junior Kaitlyn Meyer finished eighth (20:40.69) in the district 1 meet, but was unable to finish last Saturday after getting spiked early in the race. She also was a regional qualifier each of the past two seasons.

Meyer won the OCC-Ohio title in 20:13 as the Tigers placed second (56), behind North (44). She was followed in the league meet by senior Megan Sharrett (11th, 21:28), sophomore Emily Sharrett (12th, 21:30), junior Jessica Bussom (13th, 21:30), sophomore Autumn Cooper (20th, 22:32) and juniors Jordan Robinson (24th, 22:46) and Annie Curie (26th, 22:57).

Sophomore Jennifer Whetstone and junior Courtney Harry were other key runners.

Central was sixth (152) at district, behind champion Upper Arlington (45).

"Megan Sharrett said that when she was a freshman, it was like a running club," coach Melissa Balko said. "Now it's a team with high goals. There's really been a program transition."