tool name

Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009

Sayre girls finish 1-2 at state cross country meet

With apologies to Mr. Ed, a course is a course. Of course, of course.

Especially for Maddox Patterson and Ann Eason, who christened the new State Cross Country Meet course at the Kentucky Horse Park by giving Sayre the 1-2 finishers in the girls' Class A race.

Louisville Christian's Jenna Rogers capped her first season by winning Saturday's 2A race.

Sacred Heart's Emma Brink recovered from an early fall to take a third straight title in 3A, with the fastest 5,000 meters of the day: 18 minutes, 45.89 seconds.

The state meet had been at the Horse Park campgrounds for about 20 years.

"Each new course comes with a new course record," Brink said. "So it's fun to try something new, to mix it up."

Class A: Owen County's Danielle Hoop, last year's runner-up, hung with Patterson through two miles.

Patterson, a seventh-grader, decided "just to see if I can get ahead by a little bit, anything at all."

She did, pulling away to win in 19:42.15.

"I thought (winning) was a possibility, but I didn't think it was really going to happen," Patterson said.

Eason, who estimated she was sixth or seventh halfway through the race, outkicked Hoop for second in 19:53.63.

"I just felt really good, and I wanted to try to push it as much as I could," said Eason, a junior. "I was really excited. We've been training really hard all year, and it's just really good that it came together for us."

Three-time defending champ Kaitlin Snapp, a Danville sophomore who has been ill for more than a week, stopped near the mile mark.

St. Henry, sparked by 5-6-7 finishers Maria Frigo, Lindsey Hinken and Ashley Svec, captured a third straight team title with 48 points.

Class 2A: Rogers ran off the pace through a 6:04 mile, then took command.

"I thought the first mile was a little fast, but I wasn't feeling too bad," she said. "So I just started going for it."

She led by 20 seconds at the two-mile mark (12:34) and won in 19:28.12.

Runner-up Elisha Overpeck of Lloyd clocked 20:00.13.

Third-place finisher Jessie Murner, the defending champion, led South Oldham to its second straight team title with 41 points.

Rogers happened into running by chance.

"I started playing lacrosse freshman year and, to get in shape for it, me and my dad would go on like three-mile runs every other day or so," she said. "Then I just started to really, really enjoy it. That was my favorite part of lacrosse practice, was running, so I tried out for track my sophomore year."

Class 3A: Brink fell less than a mile into the race.

"After the fall, I was about in third place," the junior said. "It was really nice — one of the girls said, 'Are you OK?' ... I said, 'Yes, I'm fine, thank you.'"

Brink suffered a small cut on one of her knees.

"Thanks to training and to wonderful coaching and everything, I just knew I had to pick myself back up and keep running, because the race isn't going to stop for you."

Brink led the pack through a 5:42 mile, 11:55 at two miles. Runner-up Gabby Gonzales of Ryle finished nearly 14 seconds back in 18:59.61. Brink sparked Sacred Heart to a surprise team title. The Valkyries scored 89 points. Then came Daviess County (112), 2008 champ Assumption (113) and Manual (114).

Manual was in line to win until Elizabeth Anderson, running in third, collapsed about 100 yards short of the finish. By the time she rose to stagger home, 31 runners passed.

"Liz runs with an inhaler for asthma," Coach Debra Moore said. "It looked like she was having difficulty breathing. ... At that point, (team points are) the least of our worries. We were concerned for Liz."

Results

Class A

Teams

1. St. Henry 48. 2. Trimble Co. 109. 3. Fairview 118. 4. Louisville Collegiate 119. 5. Villa Madonna 134. 6. Walton-Verona 134. 7. Lexington Christian 153. 8. Green Co. 156. 9. Sayre 171. 10. Fort Campbell 326. 11. Hancock Co. 349. 12(t). Bardstown 360. 12(t). St. Mary 360. 14. Dawson Springs 397. 15. Somerset 406. 16(t). Kentucky Country Day 409. 16(t). Williamsburg 409. 18. Elliott Co. 470. 19. Raceland 505. 20. Owsley Co. 543.