Saturday was a day for Class A cross country firsts.
Beechwood junior Lily Parke won her first girls individual title at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. About an hour later, Villa Madonna’s boys took the team title – the first in any boys sport in school history – with a 108-173 win over St. Henry.
“A lot of fun,” Parke said. “I’m really excited.”
Parke – the second Northern Kentucky runner to win Saturday after Cooper’s Paul Van Laningham in Class 3A boys – covered the hilly 3.1-mile course in 19 minutes, 1.72 seconds, about 24 seconds ahead of Lexington Christian’s Kennedy Moughamian.
For Parke, Saturday could also have been described in a single word – finally. She won after finishing second the last two years.
“I wasn’t focusing on it, but it feels really good to get back and win,” Parke said.
Runners and coaches from Bardstown Bethlehem and local runners celebrated with Parke.
“It’s just a big community,” Parke said.
Beechwood coach Tricia Sturgeon isn’t surprised at Parke’s notoriety.
“Everybody across the state of Kentucky knows who she is,” Sturgeon said. “Any class, they see her, they know her.”
For about a half-mile Saturday, Parke and Moughamian were side-by-side. Then came a steep hill a mile later – and the end of any suspense.
.“I wasn’t expecting to (pull away) until towards later,” Parke said. “But I do like hills.”
After the race, Parke cheered and helped her teammates. It’s how she wanted people to remember Saturday.
“I love my team, and I’m really happy to have such a great team,” Parke said.
‘A pack mentality’
Villa Madonna’s boys followed a proven strategy – place five runners in a tight grouping.
“The way I always describe our program to our kids, to teachers, to parents, is that we’re a family,” Villa coach Brian Rapien said. “That is, a pack mentality. We’re only as good as our pack. We pride ourselves on that part.”
Senior Mark Antrobus was the first Viking in, placing 11th in 17:04.15.
“One place higher than last year,” said Antrobus, who won the Region 4 title last week.
Villa’s Brendan Ramdass was 14th (17:09.03), Ethan Martin was 18th (17:32.99), Alex Chadwick was 27th (17:59.57), and Ethan Barker was 60th in 18:42.30. The Vikings won because it took just 1:38.15 for all five to finish.
St. Henry’s boys added to the quality of northern Kentucky running with a runner-up finish. Colin Glasgow led the Crusaders in 17th (17:29). Glasgow was followed by Kayden Durrett in 39th (18:18), Logan Vaniglia in 48th (18:26), Bryson Colyer in 53rd (18:31) and Anthony Crawford 77th (19:08) for their top five scores.
Lexington Christian dethroned Beechwood for the girls team title. Both had 53 points, but the Eagles’ Ruby Karls finished nearly 41 seconds ahead of the Tigers’ Julia Moore.
Beechwood’s Annie Harris finished eighth in her final high school race. Isabel Ginter was 11th, Nora Wilke was 18th, and Charli Gerrein was 23rd.
“I was in 10th place, and I was, like, this is my last race, so I just really kicked it in,” Harris said. “It means a lot.”
Owensboro Catholic was third with 99 points, Villa Madonna was fourth with 131, and St. Henry was fifth with 164.
“I am pretty happy with (fifth),” St. Henry coach Anne Beck-Kaliin said. “It was super-competitive this year; they projected us to get sixth, and we did better than we were supposed to, so I’m happy with it.”
Remembering Ludlow girls, Brossart boys
Saturday was also a celebration of 20th Century excellence.
Northern Kentucky captured both Class A team titles on Nov. 6, 1999. Ludlow’s girls edged St. Henry, 91-92, for the girls title (the first by a girls team in school history), and Brossart’s boys defeated St. Henry, 87-132.
“I remember back then it was exciting,” 2001 Ludlow alumna Pam Gerkin said. “I know we were very excited to have beat people and be an underdog.”
Jarrod Schmidt led Brossart’s boys with a third-place finish (16:53.7), Tim Kaiser was eighth (17:21.3), Marc Teismann was 18th (17:45.9), Sean McCauley placed 35th (18:13.5), and Randy Steffen was 36th (18:14.5).
For complete results, visit khsaa.org (bit.ly/48AKbrl)