Lexington Catholic decides to run it back during the state cross country meet

Lexington Catholic came, saw and conquered again during the Boys’ KHSAA Cross Country State Championships on Saturday afternoon at the Kentucky Horse Park.

Catholic won its second straight Class 2A title, finishing with 39 team points and four runners among the top-10 finishers. The next closest team was Warren East with 134 points.

Steven Ott, a senior from Christian Academy of Louisville, won the individual 2A title in 16 minutes, 7.03 seconds. LexCath senior Adam Walker ended up second with a 16:10.09 while Warren East’s Jacob England was third at 16:23.24.

Catholic’s Spencer Carman (fourth), Ben Cole (sixth) and Joshua Castillo (10th) finished in the top 10 along with Walker. Brian Reinhart (19th) also finished in the top 20 for the Knights.

CLASS A STATE CROSS COUNTRY RESULTS

CLASS 2A STATE CROSS COUNTRY RESULTS

CLASS 3A STATE CROSS COUNTRY RESULTS

Walker finished second to Ott in a home meet this season. The CAL star took that race as well, and Walker approached Saturday’s meet with that in mind.

“He and I were together about 800 (meters) to go and I never made a move on him, so today I knew if I had a shot I wanted to make a move early cause I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold off his kick,” Walker said. “When he got up (ahead) I just knew I couldn’t do it anymore. It’s all right though.”

Lexington Catholic frequently practices at Veterans Park, using a path that finishes on an incline like the state race course at the Kentucky Horse Park.

“The finish is just like this. You turn left and you go uphill about 200 meters or so, and that’s on purpose because we want them to get used to this,” LexCath Coach Timothy Wiesenhahn said. “We do that every day all year.”

Wiesenhahn knew his guys were prepared for another title run and “had no doubt they would run this well” after returning their full group along with Cole, who emerged as one of the Knights’ top runners after sitting out last season with an injury.

“It’s a whole different feeling from being the champion and then knowing that you have a shot to win again,” Wiesenhahn said. “That’s a whole different mindset but they handled it well.”

Dog in the top three

Paul Laurence Dunbar junior Austin Mathews finished third in the Class 3A championship. He was about 11 seconds behind winner Dylan Allen (Male) and about nine seconds back from Patrick Shaefer (St. Xavier), both seniors.

Matthews, who finished 44th as a freshman and sixth last season as a sophomore, dealt with sinus issues throughout the race but relished the competition.

“Hopefully next year I’ll get the title,” Matthews said.

His race started about 30 minutes after the girls’ race, in which his friend, Tates Creek junior Jenna Strange, also finished third.

“I’m so proud of her, she did so well,” Matthews said.

St. Xavier edged Trinity for the Class 3A team title, 84-66. South Warren finished third with 202 points.

LCA dethroned

Louisville Holy Cross crushed the Class A competition after finishing with 68 points, well ahead of second-place Owensboro Catholic (140) and third-place Lexington Christian (152), the two-time defending champions.

Holy Cross on Saturday was the only boys’ or girls’ team to collect both the team title and the individual title in a class. Keeton Thornsberry, a junior, defended his championship from a year ago after running 16:09.37.

Thornsberry was excited to have his teammates join him in the winner’s circle after Holy Cross finished second to LCA in the team standings each of the last two seasons.

“That was our No. 1 goal,” Thornsberry said. “We just wanted to avenge that.”

This story was originally published November 4, 2017 at 4:53 PM with the headline "Lexington Catholic decides to run it back during the state cross country meet."