​With seven central Ohio boys cross-country runners finishing in the top 14, the Division I state meet Nov. 7 at Fortress Obetz became a showcase for the Columbus area’s top competitors.New Albany junior Austin Benedict was central Ohio’s top placer. After winning the regional title Oct. 31 at Pickerington North, Benedict placed third (15 minutes, 11.6 seconds) at state behind the Morrow Little Miami duo of Ryne Reynolds (15:01.4) and Ian Patrick (15:10.7).“I’m happy with the race,” Benedict said. “I gave it a good run. I’m excited for what’s to come. I came down with a little bit of a sickness Thursday, but it held off for the most part, so I’m happy with the performance.”Benedict was joined in the top 14 by Hilliard Darby’s Logan Behm (fourth, 15:17.9), Thomas Worthington’s Calvin Watson (sixth, 15:22.7), Westerville North’s Holden Gray (10th, 15:35.6), Olentangy Orange’s Cowen Allender (11th, 15:35.8), Olentangy Berlin’s Vansh Sethi (12th, 15:36.8) and Dublin Coffman’s Benjamin Canales (14th, 15:40.8).“None of us would be where we are without each other,” Benedict said. “We’re always competing against each other – [it’s] very competitive – but we’re also extremely happy to have each other’s back.”Dublin Jerome was the area’s top team, finishing fourth (175) behind champion Springboro (107).Other area teams were Gahanna Lincoln (fifth, 189), North (10th, 270), Thomas (12th, 302), New Albany (13th, 310), Berlin (14th, 330), Olentangy Liberty (15th, 348) and Coffman (19th, 407).“It was a tough race, but I’m happy with how it went,” Watson said. “We had a good pack up in the front. When [Reynolds] had gone and the pack started to separate, I was happy because I felt like I was able to keep pushing.”Mount Gilead captures small-school state titleMount Gilead (84) won its third state championship in five seasons, finishing ahead of runner-up Russia (99) for the Division IV title.Scoring for Mount Gilead were Brycen Gabriel (15th, 16:16.6), Aiden McLain (28th, 16:31.4), Ethan Turner (37th, 16:38), Grayson Smith (39th, 16:40) and Henry Bartlett (45th, 16:43.4).Mount Gilead also won state championships in 2022 and 2024.Wellington’s Ben Austin finished 22nd (16:20).In Division III, Connor Runkle finished seventh (15:22) to lead Fairfield Union to fifth (233) behind champion Peninsula Woodridge (65).Centerburg was 22nd (568) and Utica finished 24th (688).Big Walnut leads central Ohio contingent in Division IIA week after winning the Division II regional title, Ethan Shultz again led Big Walnut by finishing fourth at state (15:30.1).An early leader, Shultz slipped to fifth after bumping with eventual winner Ian Res (15:22.8) of Chesterland West Geauga during the second half of the race.“I led it for a while,” Shultz said. “The only bad thing was I got tripped up at the hill. [It was] a lot more physical race than usual. Today was probably the most physical race I’ve been in. … [It w