For a third consecutive week, the Reynoldsburg High School boys cross country team was the runner-up.

The Raiders weren't complaining about that result last Saturday, however. They qualified for the Division I state meet for the third year in a row by taking second in the regional meet on a sloppy course at Pickerington North.

"This is pretty big," senior Lamar Booker said. "Not winning OCC or district, that's a bad year for us. Making it to state, that will make coach (Denny Hammond) pretty happy."

For sure, Hammond was pleased with his team's regional performance. The Raiders still were not at full strength, as lead runner Tsehaye Hiluf was slowed for a second consecutive week because of illness, but the rest of the lineup picked up the slack.

The top three runners, including Hiluf, finished in the top 21, as Reynoldsburg scored 118 points to finish behind champion North (75). New Albany (139) and Dublin Coffman (147) earned the other two state-qualifying spots.

"Lamar, our senior, stepped up and ran a great race," Hammond said. "And we had a pack. Him, Tsehaye, (Hiruy Abraha), and then (Khalid Omar). And then our fifth runner, Jeremy Richard, passed so many people the last mile. I'll bet he passed 30 people in the last mile. That made a big difference."

At state on Saturday at Scioto Downs, the Division I boys race begins at 2:50 p.m. Last season, Reynoldsburg finished 14th (292) behind champion Mason (100). In 2007, the Raiders finished 16th.

The Raiders expect to finish higher at state this year. Hammond is encouraged by the fact that the team appears to be improving, which was not necessarily the case at this point in the season the past two years.

"The last couple years, we ran well at the OCC, ran well at the district, but this year we're getting better every week," Hammond said. "We think we'll even get better next week."

Booker led the Raiders at regional, finishing 18th in 17 minutes, 53.11 seconds. Just behind Booker were Abraha (20th, 17:56.57) and Hiluf (21st, 17:59.07). Khalid Omar was not far behind the lead pack, placing 33rd (18:18.96). With a strong finish, Richard took 54th (18:41.74).

Also competing for Reynoldsburg were Yeamne Abebe (64th, 18:48.42) and Paul Newell (99th, 19:37.04).

Times were much slower across the board because of the muddy conditions. Daniel Garleb of North won the Division I race in 17:04.64, and no runner in the Division II or Division III race finished under 17:00. Only 21 runners broke 18:00 in Division I.

"It was really tough," Booker said. "With the mud, especially at the end, it was really deep. It was just a real hard course to run."

•The lone regional representative for the girls team was Dani Watson, who improved on her 2008 regional finish but failed to qualify for state.

Watson finished 46th in 21:45.85 behind the champion, Meredith Wagner of Sylvania Northview (19:22.57). The individuals not on a qualifying team who finished in the top 16 advanced to state.

Last season, Watson finished 70th at regional.

It was a tough season for the girls team, as its numbers were down and injuries and illnesses took their toll.

Largely because the school's pay-to-participate fee was raised from $30 last year to $500 this year, the Raiders' roster was trimmed to just six runners, including two who had no previous experience in the sport.

Reynoldsburg finished seventh (190) in the district 2 meet Oct. 24 at Watkins Memorial, behind champion Dublin Scioto (23).

In the OCC-Ohio Division meet Oct. 17 at Watkins Memorial, the Raiders placed fourth (90), behind North (44), Pickerington Central (56) and Gahanna (86) and ahead of Newark (113) and Lancaster (141).

The Raiders lose three experienced seniors, including Watson, a three-year letterwinner who was the team's top runner for the past three seasons. She finished third (20:35) in the OCC-Ohio meet this year and ran a personal-best 19:23.19 last season.

Loni Marchello and Lashina Rhynehardt also were among the Raiders' top runners the past two seasons.

Rhynehardt was a three-year letterwinner and Marchello earned two letters. Marchello was 20th (21:41.39) at district. Rhynehardt was 29th (23:09) in the league meet.

Expected to return are junior Michelle Snyder, sophomore Kenzie Purtell and freshman Kyrsty Rider. Rider was the Raiders' third runner most of this season, finishing 42nd (22:28.09) at district.

"Two of them had never run high school cross country before, so they didn't know what to expect from the training and everything," Hammond said. "It was tough, but hopefully it was a learning situation for them."