After celebrating with her Elks teammates an individual state championship and team title, Robillard raced off from Fortress Obetz near Columbus to win a regional championship with Centerville’s girls soccer team. Centerville beat host Lakota West 2-0 to advance to the state semifinals.
Robillard topped a field of 177 runners in 17:58.5 for a 1.3-second victory over senior teammate Emma Bucher (17:59.8). Beavercreek senior Juliann Williams finished third in 18:04 to give GWOC a 1-2-3 finish.
“I don’t think I really realized I got first. I was just dead,” said Robillard, who joined Lainey Studebaker (2014-15) as Elks' individual champs. “After that, satisfaction.”
Robillard and Bucher both passed five runners in the last mile to pace the Elks, who won their fifth team state championship in seven seasons. Centerville also won four straight from 2014-2017. Add Beavercreek’s two state titles in 2018-19 and the GWOC has won seven straight.
“It’s really, really rewarding to see the results of our hard work pay off,” Bucher said. “The relationships and the team bonding is really paying off. … I’m so unbelievably proud of our teammates.”
Centerville scored 128 points to edge Hilliard Davidson’s 138. Senior Nikki Jindal (33rd), sophomore Brooke Strobel (41st), freshman Arej Salem (110th), sophomore Alayna Skidmore (135th) and sophomore Peri Rhoads (141st) also helped hoist the trophy.
“This is the perk. This is the cherry on top of it,” Jindal said of capping off a difficult season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “They’re amazing girls and I really hope CXC (Centerville cross country) continues to push through and continue the legacy.”
Added Robillard: “The coaches, they know exactly what they are doing. They’re really about the attitude of the team and we’re treated as a whole. … (Coach Dave Dobson) is more concerned about how you are as an individual than winning.”
In the D-II girls meet, Oakwood junior Grace Hartman found herself locked in a third straight physically and emotionally draining, 3.1-mile match of wills with Gates Hawkins senior Ella Gilson. Hartman had finished second to Gilson by 18.9 seconds as a freshman and 13.6 seconds as a sophomore. They were nearly shoulder to shoulder entering the final 600 meters.
Hartman said she’s always wanted to win a race with a lean and visualized the moment for years. The opportunity came Saturday. Hartman’s lean got her across the line 0.1 second ahead of Gilson for the state title in 18:04.1.
“It was just pure joy,” Hartman said. “I leaned into and it felt awesome.”
Hartman won the Jills' second individual state title (Mary Kate Vaughn, 2012) and highlighted the team’s runner-up finish. Freshman Bella Butler finished fifth overall and senior Hannah Moulton was eighth. They were joined by sophomore Abby Snodgrass, sophomore Katy Butler, freshman Gabriella Kimbrough and junior Caterina Tian-Svobodny.
Lexington won the title 113-127.
“I couldn’t be happier,” Oakwood coach Alex Brouhard said. “We’ve been ranked fourth all year and finally moved into that second spot. We knew we could compete for the state title and we did. I’m really proud of the girls.”
Hartman said speed training enabled her to outkick Gilson at the finish. That and the determination to not finish runner-up for a third straight season.
“It’s mentally destroying. This has happened three times now,” said Hartman, who also finished second to Gilson by six seconds in the 1,600-meter run at state as a freshman. “Mentally I needed to get this race. I’ve been visualizing it for the entire season. … I was just praying. Man, if it’s going to be the race it’s going to be this one. It happened.”
In the D-I boys meet, Bellbrook senior Takumi Ford finished third overall and Beavercreek senior Connor Ewert was fifth. The Beavers placed third as a team.
“We were rubbing shoulders the entire time,” Ford said of Ewert. "Every time I threw a surge to try and get around the corner he matched me perfectly.
“The last 400 meters I just cleared everything out of my mind. I just kept repeating the names of my family, my coaches and my friends (to motivate me).”
In D-II boys, Carroll senior Kevin Agnew finished fourth overall, while Waynesville’s second straight trip resulted in a runner-up finish.
Seniors Colin Amato and Kaden Harvey finished 10th and 11th, respectively. The team won a sixth-runner tiebreaker as Waynesville senior Denver Johnson finished 88th to edge Unioto’s runner by five spots and 5.7 seconds to podium.
Waynesville’s girls made their first trip to state and finished fifth behind freshman Samantha Erbach’s 13th place.
In D-III girls, Minster’s streak of four straight state titles was ended by West Liberty-Salem. The Big Orange won 55-83.