A canopy of other runners’ arms serenading Beechwood’s girls cross country team seemed befitting.
The Tigers were small-school royalty at Saturday’s KHSAA Class A state meet at the Kentucky Horse Park. They won their second straight team title over Lexington Christian, 41-69.
Was Beechwood the only Northern Kentucky squad to win a team title? Well, no – Bishop Brossart narrowly took the Class A boys championship over Villa Madonna, 87-92, the Mustangs’ first team title since 2014.
What was more, Brossart’s Nate Ruth won the boys individual crown in his high school finale with a time of 16:04.02.
Beechwood placed five of its seven runners in the top 15 – sophomore Lily Parke in second (19:27.35), sophomore Nora Wilke in third (20:20.29), junior Isabel Ginter in 11th (20:43.31), junior Charli Gerrein in 13th (20:53.95); and junior Annie Harris in 15th (21:07.69).
Tigers coach Tricia Sturgeon said it was a nearly perfect race.
“Lily went out, we wanted to push the pace in the front,” Sturgeon said. “It was all of them; they stayed in their pack, they worked together.”
Ruth finished second last year; Saturday’s race was his second on the Horse Park course. (He finished 51st as an eighth-grader in 2019.)
“(Last year) motivated me to push myself harder and come back and get the win this year,” Ruth said.
Ruth employed a NASCAR-type strategy; he was content drafting off Louisville Collegiate’s Roman Sierpina, Beechwood’s Sam Weldemichael and Bethlehem’s Isaac Riggs. He tried it against Sierpina at the Trinity/Valkyrie meet in September in Louisville.
Saturday, Ruth passed Sierpina with about a tenth of a mile to go.
“I was pretty nervous (Friday) night, but coming into (Saturday), I knew I was going to be able get it done,” Ruth said.
Brossart’s next four finishers were: junior Griffin Hill (15th place, 17:19.20), senior Ryan Clines (24th, 17:40.50), senior Nick Heck (17:41.70) and freshman Colin Glasgow (17:42.30).
Junior Mark Antrobus was Villa Madonna’s top finisher, taking 12th in 17:09.30. The next four Vikings were senior Adam Kolar (16th, 17:21.20), junior Ethan Martin (17th, 17:22.90), sophomore Brendan Ramdass (21st, 17:33.80) and sophomore Alex Chadwick (31st, 17:52.30).
“We’ve gone three years in a row taking second, and it’s just a testament to these kids,” Villa Madonna coach Brian Rapien said. “I told the kids that … the theme is just to run with joy.”
The Vikings had more than cross country on their minds – they wore bracelets honoring the memory of brothers Chase and Cole Fischer of Villa Hills, who died July 14 in a boating accident on Lake Cumberland.
“We knew they were there with us,” Antrobus said. “If they were here, they’d be so happy right now.”
Parke led eventual champion Emmie Underwood (19:11.35) of Fort Campbell most of the race.
“She caught me at the end,” Parke said. “I think it’s awesome that she’s a seventh-grader and she’s doing great. I wanted to win, but I’m glad that she had a good race, too.”
There was also some pre-race dietary agreement – Parke and Ruth both ate a bagel and a banana for breakfast.
“Great minds think alike,” Parke said.
Beechwood’s girls, Brossart’s boys and Villa Madonna’s boys were not the only Northern Kentucky Class A squads that fared well. St. Henry’s boys and girls both placed third, Brossart’s girls were sixth, and Beechwood’s boys were seventh.
In the boys race, Weldemichael finished third, and St. Henry seniors Jeff Stewart (16:57.60) and Lake Durrett (17:03.20) finished seventh and ninth, respectively. Holy Cross eighth-grader Maggie Durrett finished sixth in the girls race (20:28.14).
Stewart didn’t know Covington Catholic would eventually win the boys 2A team title. He didn’t know Cooper and Conner would finish second and fifth, respectively, in boys Class 3A, and he didn’t know Ryle and Notre Dame would place fifth and seventh in girls 3A.
He nevertheless looked at the bigger picture.
“Northern Kentucky is the place to run right now,” Stewart said. “All the Northern Kentucky schools are stacked; they’re going to be stacked for a long time. That’s across all classes.”
For complete results, visit: //khsaa.org/sports-activities-events/fall/cross-country/