OBETZ — It was a mental battle for Perry’s Holly Vis and Hawken’s Brielle Collins Nov. 2 at the Division II state meet.

Both riders faced challenges on both the All-Ohio arrivals bubble, but on different ends. Collins had worked his way up to 28th, while Vis was 35th and fourth in the battle of zone runners.

Vis threw an early kick to cross the finish line 24th and win All-Ohio in a personal best 18:47.70. The Pirates senior went from not knowing if she would even have a season at the start of the school year to earning all-time honors.

She knew the hill in the back half of the race was where she could move forward.

“I tried to get out a lot faster initially,” Vis said. “I feel like in the past it was the weakest part of my competition. I tried to get a good start and not get lost in the shuffle. When I got to the second mile, I just tried to keep going. Hanging on to people and then overtaking them. I knew that on this hill I had the chance to make up a lot of time and places.

It was his third state meet, and Vis knew this was it.

She had everything going for not only the PR, but also becoming the eighth All-Ohioan in school history.

“It was my last race in high school and I wanted to go out with a bang,” Vis said. “Once I got down the hills I just needed to push myself and that’s what I did. When I got on the field, I needed to stay strong. It means a lot to me, to not know if I would make it here to be All-Ohio, I never knew I would make it to 18 this year.

Collins, instead of moving up the ranks, focused on maintaining her place to finish her career with All-Ohio honors. She lost a place in the final 1.1 miles to finish 29th.

She posted a time of 18:51.08 for not only her best time this year, but also the first time breaking 19 since her freshman year.

After the trials and tribulations of injuries and coaching changes, the senior is happy to end her career on a high note.

“At first I wanted to start the race comfortably,” Collins said. “I trusted the advice of my coaches and respected it. I thank Coach Morley for that. We had some tough times but I give all the credit to the staff for helping me get here. I wanted to have fun. My teammates and coaches helped me and it made the game a lot easier.

Kenston’s Brianna McIvor had a bittersweet state meet and end to her high school cross country career. She broke 19 for the first time with a time of 18:55.38, but finished 32nd, two places shy of All-Ohio honors for the second time in her career.

Chagrin Falls freshman Gabby Byrne was in contention for all-Ohio until the second mile. But a tough 1.1 final of the competition resulted in a 44th place finish.

Beachwood’s Sasha Kheyfets ran a strong final 1.1 miles to move up 10 spots and finish 51st with a time of 19:11.66.

Junior Sophia Szolosi of Athens won the individual title by a wide margin with a time of 17:39.61. Minerva won the tag team title against Hathaway Brown by 10 points (100-110)

In the Division III race, Kirtland was paced by Izzie Copeland with a time of 19:20.49 in their team’s first state bid in 38 years.

The Hornets finished 17th as a team with 366 points.

Legacy Christian senior Caroline Hamilton took top honors with a time of 17:43.25 to edge out defending state champion, junior Rebecca Geiss of Heartland Christian, who clocked 17:44, 44.

Minster won its state-record 17th girls team title and fourth in a row. The Wildcats had 134 team points.

Chardon’s Briella Hewitt finished 108th in the Division I race. The junior posted a time of 19:37.57 in her first trip to Obetz.

Uniontown Lake senior Daniela Scheffler took first place with a time of 17:01.29, breaking the course record by 22 seconds. Lancaster won the team title against Hilliard Davidson 114-132. This is the Golden Gales first team title.