The second day of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association state cross country state championships saw Northern Kentucky teams and individual runners venture to the Bourbon County Cross Country course and bring home championships.
The Beechwood Tigers won the Class 1A girls race bringing home the school’s first state championship with 65 points, beating defending state champion Lexington Christian by 11.
“That race was exciting. We knew that coming in it was going to be a close one between us and Lexington Christian. They have a tough team,” said Tricia Sturgeon, Beechwood head coach. “Our girls hit that two-mile mark. We told them what places they had to pick up and get. They all just kicked it in that last mile. It was so fun to watch.”
Beechwood freshman Lily Parke took individual runner-up honors in 19 minutes, 29.2 seconds. Parke has been the consistent top runner for the Tigers all season. Kentucky Country Day senior Haley Schoenegge won the race in 19:00.3.
“I think if we continue to do what we’re doing, we’re going to go on and do great things because we have a really, really solid team,” Parke said. “I try to take the first mile and stay with the lead pack. But a lot of people go out hard in the first mile because it is downhill. I just try to settle in and get a good spot. In the back of the course where most of the hills are is where I try to attack because we’ve done a lot of training with hills all year so we’ve become quite comfortable with them. That’s where I’ve found comfort in picking people off.”
The Tigers placed all seven runners in the top 30 out of 247 runners. Sturgeon said the second through seven runners changed places a good bit this year.
“We always talk about not having to win that first mile,” Sturgeon said. “Lily Parke ran such a smart race. She put us in good position to win the championship. Two through seven were a little bit nervous at first. They were pulling for each other. That’s what they’ve been doing all year. We told them before the race all you have to do is run how you’ve been running. That’s exactly what they did. They pulled it out flawlessly.”
Beechwood sophomore Isabel Ginter finished 10th in 20:28.3. The other three scorers were sophomore Charl Gerrein in 12th in 20:32.7, freshman Nora Wilke in 19th in 20:52.7 and sophomore Annie Harris in 22nd in 20:56.5.
The other two Beechwood runners did not finish far away. Junior Catie Hazzard took 27th in 21:09.6 and sophomore Lana Holt took 28th in 21:14.8.
Two other local teams finished in the top five out of 33 teams. St. Henry finished third with 151 points and Bishop Brossart took fourth with 187.
The St. Henry Crusader boys claimed their 18th state championship repeating as Class 1A state champions with 53 points. Senior Dixon Ryan won the sixth individual state championship in program history, claiming the race in 16:03.83. The Crusaders last won an individual crown in 2007.
“They’ve worked hard all year,” said Jeremy Hurm, St. Henry head coach. “The just reallyu showed out. We had great weather. They have fully tapered and I just think that helped them go out and attack the course one at a time. Fifty-three is a great score for a team on this course.”
The Crusaders put all five scorers in the top 25 and all seven in the top 50 out of 279 runners. Junior Luke Durrett took fourth in 16:33.45 and junior Jeff Stewart finished 11th in 16:49. Senior Jack Goodwin and senior Tyler Goetz took 15th and 27th respectively in 17:01.96 and 17:19.93 to round out the St. Henry scoring.
“At first, I was kind of nervous. But as soon as the gun went off, I was like, ‘We have this in the bag,” Durrett said. “We’ve done hills every week and practiced form. We pulled it out in the end.”
Villa Madonna took state runner-up honors with 103 points and Bishop Brossart took fifth with 241.
The 18 championships for St. Henry are good for third-most in KHSAA boys cross country history. Only Louisville St. Xavier and Louisville Trinity have more with 24 and 20, respectively.
In the Class 3A boys race, the Conner Cougars became the 30th boys program in KHSAA history to earn multiple state championships repeating as state champions with 73 points. St. Xavier finished runner-up with 154 points and CovCath took third with 161 out of 37 teams.
“I knew we had a good chance to win,” said Ian Johnstone, Conner head coach. “But I really did not expect to win by as much as we did. I thought it was going to be really tight. But our guys just ran really well.”
Conner senior George Johnson took fifth just a few seconds ahead of Hattab in 15:52.3. The Cougars saw their five placers finish in the top 40.
“It was pretty good. Our team just stuck together,” Johnson said. “Our practices are all together so guys have whole trust in everybody.”
The next three finished close to each other in the top 12. Senior Drew Moore, junior Joey Carroll and sophomore Nathan Hopper took ninth, 10th and 13th in 16:02.6, 16:03.7 and 16:12.3 respectively. Hopper finished 30 spots ahead of St. Xavier’s fourth runner.
Junior Warren Johnson finished just more than 44 seconds behind Hopper taking 46th in 16:56.5. But he finished six spots ahead of St. Xavier’s fifth runner.
Covington Catholic sophomore Will Sheets brought home the first individual state championship in school history, winning it in 15:28.20. Defending state champion Sami Hattab, a St. Xavier senior, took fifth in 15:55.1 out of 291 runners.
“I’m so thankful that it played out,” Sheets said. “I did everything I could this season try to put myself in the best position to try to win. I wasn’t expecting that result.”
Eight runners ran the 5000-kilometer race below 16 minutes. Ryle junior Tiger Barlett took third in 15:44.
“Will is definitely someone who will rise to the occasion,” said Jeremy Mosher, CovCath head coach. “We didn’t necessarily talk about the overall win. It was more put yourself in good position to run your race and good things will happen. He did a really good job hunting guys down late and that kind of runner is super, super dangerous.”
The top team finish in the Class 3A girls race in the area came from Ryle at seventh with 297 points. Campbell County took ninth with 357. Louisville Dupont Manual won it with 77 points out of 37 teams.
Two sophomores led the way for Ryle and Campbell County. Ryle’s Allison Kopser took 14th in 19:01.8 and Campbell County’s Olivia Holbrook finished 15th in 19:07.8 out of 283 runners. Madison Central standout senior Ciara O’Shea won the race in 17:07.6 outplacing the competition by one minute.
