Thomas Worthington High School girls cross country coach Andy Cox originally thought the Division I regional meet was going to be less challenging for his team after it was announced that four squads from the Northwest District would be added instead of four squads from the Southwest District.

That wasn't the case for the Cardinals. They finished 11th (254 points) in the 16-team regional last Saturday at Pickerington North, well behind state qualifiers Sylvania Northview (61), Dublin Scioto (71), Toledo Notre Dame Academy (111) and Canal Winchester (131).

In last week's Division I state poll, Northview and Scioto were tied for fifth and Mount Notre Dame Academy was ninth.

Only the top four teams and the individuals not on a qualifying team who finished in the top 16 of the boys and girls regionals advanced to state. None of the Cardinals made the cut.

"This regional actually was the same, if not more challenging than last year's regional, when they brought the Southwest teams here," Cox said. "Sylvania Northview, Toledo Notre Dame and Dublin Scioto are some of the best teams in the state. And when you throw in Canal Winchester, who was a Division II power for many years before moving up to Division I this year, it was trouble for the rest of us.

"It wasn't just the teams that came from the Northwest, though. Overall, central Ohio's getting tougher, which is great for our sport, but didn't work out so well for us on Saturday."

Competing for Thomas were freshman Cheyenne Buckingham (21st, 21 minutes, 4.68 seconds), senior Melissa Girgis (35th, 21:29.26), sophomore Tara Murphy (72nd, 22:38.36), senior Kelsey McAlpine (73rd, 22:39.54), junior Amber McAlpine (83rd, 22:53.6), senior Claire Graupmann (90th, 23:05.45) and sophomore Annalee Haviland (92nd, 23:08.78).

"Two of our girls ran exceptionally well, and if the other girls could have stepped it up and run that way, things could have been different for us," Cox said. "Cheyenne's very coachable and she ran a great race. Melissa did everything we asked of her and finished her senior year with a great race, too."

•The boys team scored 343 points to finish 15th in the 16-squad Division I regional last Saturday at Watkins Memorial, behind state qualifiers Pickerington North (75), Reynoldsburg (118), New Albany (139) and Dublin Coffman (147).

Competing for Thomas were senior Max Friedlander (47th, 18:34.36), junior Daniel McGeary (75th, 18:59.79), senior Madison Murphy (76th, 19:00.49), sophomore Albert Darling (100th, 19:37.24), junior Will Maier (102nd, 19:40.3), sophomore Adam Withers (111th, 19:59.2) and senior Max Richards (114th, 20:11.71).

"We were hoping to do better, but the guys gave it everything they had," coach Jeff Henderson said. "Our guys really enjoyed spending time with each other and they had a lot of fun making it this far together."