A solid winter season has lifted Warren High School into a double-digit lead in the race for the 2011-12 Southeastern Ohio Athletic League William E. (Bill) Thomas All-Sports Trophy.

Warren, which won the girls basketball championship and placed second in boys basketball, has 42.5 points, good for an 11.5-point advantage over runner-up Chillicothe (31), which took over the runner-up position from Gallia Academy.

Four teams are in a logjam in the second- through fifth-place slots, with Logan (30) sitting third, Jackson (29.5) fourth and Gallia Academy (29) fifth. Portsmouth (18.0) is sixth.

Warren recorded the highest number of winter sports points, chalking 13 in boys basketball, girls basketball and wrestling. Logan was second with 11 during the winter, winning the wrestling crown and finishing third in girls basketball.

Current runner-up Chillicothe was third in boys basketball and wrestling. Fourth-place Jackson was second in girls basketball and fourth in boys basketball, and fifth-place Gallia Academy was runner-up in wrestling.

Portsmouth won the boys basketball championship — only the school’s second title since re-entering the SEOAL, with the other coming during the fall when its girls tennis team earned a championship banner — and was fourth in girls basketball.

Warren owns four titles (boys soccer, boys cross country, volleyball and girls basketball) this school year, with Portsmouth (girls tennis and boys basketball) and Gallipolis (golf and boys cross country) both possessing two. Chillicothe (girls soccer), Jackson (football) and Logan (wrestling) all have one.

The spring season kicks off late next month, with titles to be determined in baseball, softball, boys tennis, boys track and girls track.

All-Sports Trophy points are determined on an 6-5-4-3-2-1 basis in sports where all six schools field full teams. In other sports, points are determined as to how many teams competed for the title, with fractional points awarded in case of ties.

Since Portsmouth doesn’t have wrestling, for example, those points were determined on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis.

The SEOAL, one of the longest-running prep conferences in the state, was formed by William E. (Bill) Thomas of Wellston in 1925 and began competition with a boys track meet that spring, with 1925-26 being the first full season of conference competition.

Craig Dunn is the sports editor of the Logan Daily News in Logan, Ohio.