OBETZ — Teays Valley senior Reese Galinger is a state champion. Galinger won the Division I girls individual title at the OHSAA state cross country championships on Saturday, Nov. 7, at Fortress Obetz and Memorial Park, finishing the 5,000-meter course in about 17 minutes, 51 seconds to lead off a full day of state racing in Franklin County.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Galinger’s winning time as 17:51.0, with Mason senior Atalia Hawkins finishing as state runner-up in 17:59.9. The Akron Beacon Journal, reporting live from Obetz, likewise recorded Galinger as the Division I girls winner, in 17:51.9, and noted that Stow senior Maddie O’Brien placed fifth in 18:00.9 — a new Stow school record — after leading the field through the first mile. Two independent reports from the course agree on the result that matters most for Pickaway County: the fastest Division I girl in Ohio on Saturday was a Viking.
Galinger did not arrive at the starting line as a favorite handed a title. She arrived as an individual qualifier. According to Teays Valley High School Athletics, the Vikings girls finished 11th at the Division I regional meet at Pickerington North on Oct. 31, coming up just 13 points short of qualifying for state as a full team. Galinger carried the program to Obetz anyway, placing third at the regional in 18:00.8, while senior teammate Addison Keplar finished 18th in 19:03.1 to earn an individual state berth of her own, Teays Valley Athletics reported.
The Columbus Dispatch’s regional recap confirmed the same picture: Galinger third in 18:00.8, Keplar 18th in 19:03.1 among runners advancing from non-qualifying teams. Teays Valley’s season could easily have ended a week ago. Instead, its senior leader ran about nine seconds faster at state than at the regional — and beat every team qualifier in Ohio.
The arc of Galinger’s career makes Saturday’s win read less like an upset and more like a finish line three years in the making. Teays Valley Athletics reported that the regional was her third state qualification as an individual. A year ago, at the 2025 state meet, Galinger produced what the school called one of the great final miles in program history, moving up 10 places over the last mile to finish 15th in 18:30 and earn first-team All-Ohio honors — the first Teays Valley girl to earn All-Ohio cross country honors since Claire Leatherwood in 2004, according to the school.
Compare the two Novembers and the progress is stark. Fifteenth in 18:30 as a junior, closing hard just to reach the podium group. First in about 17:51 as a senior, nearly 40 seconds faster, with no one in Division I ahead of her at any point that counted. The runner who spent last fall chasing the front of the state field spent this fall leading it home.
Conditions asked plenty of everyone in the 10 a.m. opening race. The Akron Beacon Journal reported temperatures in the mid-40s, overcast skies and a northwest wind of about 10 mph — fast for the prepared, unforgiving for anyone who went out too hard. O’Brien illustrated the risk: out front early, she held on for fifth and a school record, but Galinger’s measured pattern — control the early miles, close hard — held up best when the medals were decided.
Galinger’s individual crown headlined a Division I girls race that also produced a first-time team champion. As NewsForce247 reported earlier Saturday, Milford’s girls won the program’s first-ever state team championship in the same opening race, scoring 111 points behind regional champion Elle Campbell’s eighth-place finish, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Mason was the team runner-up with 145 points, the Enquirer reported, which means Hawkins left Obetz with both an individual silver medal and a team runner-up finish on the same morning.
For Teays Valley, the title lands differently than it would at a perennial power. By its own school’s account, the program was seeded only 13th to 15th as a team at the regional, battled injuries all season and got its full roster back just in time for the postseason. Its girls did not qualify as a team. Its two seniors qualified as individuals — and one came home as the Division I state champion.
The win also gives Pickaway County the centerpiece result of a championship Saturday central Ohio hosted for the whole state. Fortress Obetz staged eight races across four divisions on Nov. 7, from the Division I girls at 10 a.m. through the Division IV boys at 4:10 p.m., according to the Akron Beacon Journal. The first individual champion crowned on that course this year was the senior from Ashville.
What happens next is the quieter part of a championship. Galinger’s high school cross country career is complete — no next round, only the record book, All-Ohio honors and a senior track season ahead in the spring. Keplar’s second state appearance closes the Vikings’ postseason as well, and a program that came within 13 points of a team berth now knows exactly how close it is.
For Teays Valley, the day already has its headline: Reese Galinger, state champion — earned the hard way, as an individual qualifier, on a cold morning in Obetz, in the fastest Division I girls time of the day.
Photo: Rcalhoun, CC BY-SA