Pickerington High School North boys cross country coach Tim Starkey said a small abdominal tear caused Daniel Garleb to struggle throughout the final weeks of last season.

According to Garleb, it was more about the nerves he felt every time he went out to compete.

Whatever the root cause was, Garleb had one of his worst races of the season last year in the Division I regional, and the Panthers failed to make it to state for a third consecutive season.

"With four races left in the season, (Garleb) said it was no big deal but he was just in a lot of pain, and that was a huge factor with our team confidence," Starkey said. "His mileage this summer was insane. He was putting in 75 miles a week and we just had to make sure he was putting quality mileage and not junk mileage. He won nine or 10 of the 12 races he competed in, and that boosted his confidence."

And it all paid off.

The finish to this season was much more enjoyable for Garleb and North.

The Panthers won OCC-Ohio Division, district 1 and regional championships the past three weeks. Garleb won titles in each meet and the team finished a program-best fifth-place last Saturday at the state meet at Scioto Downs.

"This year, I was just a lot more confident because I had good training workouts throughout the summer and all season," Garleb said.

Led at state meet by senior all-Ohio runners Garleb (fourth, 16 minutes, .57 seconds), Nick Hissrich (sixth, 16:03.24) and Greg Black (22nd, 16:25.36), North finished with 147 points.

Cleveland St. Ignatius won the title (82), followed by Cincinnati St. Xavier (118), Northview (137), Mason (146) and Sylvania Northview (137).

Mason junior Zach Wills, who also won the 2008 championship, got out to a big lead and won the title in 15:45.11.

With winds gusting throughout what was the final race of the day, Wills' time was the slowest for a Division I state champion since 1995.

Solon's Conner Paez (15:49.12) and Green's Kyle Wheeler (15:55.07) were the only other runners to finish ahead of Garleb, while Sidney's Aaron Dinzeo was fifth (16:02.99).

Garleb was second for some of the race, before being overtaken by Paez and Wheeler.

"I wanted to be up there in the first mile and everybody came out pretty fast," Garleb said. "I wanted to stay second until the second mile, but the hills really got me."

Garleb, Hissrich and Black became the first all-Ohio runners for North, whose highest previous placer was Nathan Corder (26th in both 2006 and '07).

"I wanted to get into the top 10," Hissrich said. "I kept wanting to keep a good pace and I got pulled into a 4:58 in the first mile. I wanted to just move up after that, and the hills are what I like to run because generally that's when I can make up a lot of ground.

"It's really big for us. It's a good feeling, and now we've got to come back in track and do big things in the spring."

The Panthers were last (347) in the 16-team field in 2006 and then turned in a 15-place finish (264) in 2007. Garleb and Black both competed at the 2006 state meet and Hissrich, Justin Simmons and Mitchell Phillips joined Garleb, Black, Corder and 2009 graduate Jeremy Lascola at state in 2007.

Last Saturday, John Parsons was the No. 4 runner for North and he was 96th (17:21.22). Also competing were Simmons (112th, 17:35.67), Stephen Morrison (128th, 17:59.06) and Philips (140th, 18:17.76).

"To get fifth is a great feeling," Black said. "My freshman year we were dead last, and we wanted to come back and do well as sophomores and were disappointed with getting 15th. Last year was hard, and that kind of fueled us for this year."

While Garleb, Hissrich, Black and Phillips led the senior class, Parsons, Simmons and Morrison are juniors.

Sophomore James Whitehead was among the team's top seven before getting injured late in the regular season.

"At the beginning of the season, we wanted to shoot for the top 10, and then we thought about the top eight," Starkey said. "As we kept going, I realistically put us fifth. To be running who we were running against, that's a good finish. If the race had been a little bit longer, I think we'd have been in the top three. What this group did was great."