‘I think state’s gonna be special.’ City runners eager after impressive regional
Jenna Strange didn’t run cross country before high school.
An introduction to it four years ago has worked out pretty well. Strange, a senior at Tates Creek High School, won the girls’ individual title at the Class 3A, 6th Region championships Saturday at Admiral Stadium.
COMPLETE RESULTS FOR CLASS 3A, 6TH REGION CROSS COUNTRY
COMPLETE RESULTS FOR CLASS A, 5TH REGION CROSS COUNTRY
Her finishing anything but first would have been notable; it was her fourth straight season winning the race, which again guaranteed her a spot in next weekend’s state championships. Strange earlier this fall won her fourth straight title at the Fayette County Championships, giving her the distinction of being the city’s first girl to accomplish four-peats in those events.
“I think it all really comes down to the mindset and the attitude that you have going into everything you do,” said Strange, who earlier this week committed to East Carolina University. “Cause I remember my freshman year, it was my first year ever doing cross country and I had no clue what I was doing.”
She learned what tempo running — three miles on the school track, while maintaining a certain pace to become more consistent — and learned to loathe it.
“Twelve and a half laps of fun,” Strange said with a grin. “It gets really boring but once you change your attitude and mindset on the things you’re doing, like, ‘Hey, it’s really going to help me in the long run,’ you do a lot better.’”
Strange brought the best time in the state into Saturday — an 18:22.90 at the Great American Cross Country Festival earlier this month in North Carolina — and is the top returning runner from last year’s state championship race; it’s one of the few titles she’s not yet been fast enough to catch.
“There’s a lot of good girls,” Strange said, mentioning Daviess County’s Karlee Hoffman, Oldham County’s Katy Chapman and Madison Central’s Ciara O’Shea as other competitors on which to keep an eye. “So, I think there will be a pack of us, it’ll be a group, it’ll be a competition. I’m excited to see what happens. I feel like I’m ready for it. I had a good week of workouts this week and good long runs. I have the training behind me. I have the team, the coaches. It’s been a good season. I just feel like I’m ready for it.”
City sweep?
Fayette County could have an opportunity to sweep the state titles. Paul Laurence Dunbar’s Austin Mathews, also a senior, claimed his second straight 6th Region title in the boys’ 3A race and, like Strange, is the highest-performing runner returning from last year’s state championships.
“Having two seniors finish ahead of me last year, I think there’s a good opportunity and a good time for me to say, ‘Hey, let’s see if we can do this,’ and bring one back for Fayette County,” Mathews said.
Either runner winning state would make history for their school; Tates Creek had a boys’ state champion in 2007 (Daniel Norman) but has not had a girls’ champ. Dunbar has three individual girls’ titles (Suzanne Cooney in 2000 and Laura Steinmetz in 2005 and 2006) but no boys’ championships. Norman’s championship was the last time a Fayette County school won a state cross country title of any variety.
“I think state’s gonna be special, especially with Jenna being a really big contender,” Mathews said. “I think it could be special, bringing home two state championships to Fayette County. It’s been a while since they’ve been able to do that, and that’s a big goal of mine. So we’ll see how next week goes.”
Triple-double
Lexington Christian Academy for the fifth straight season swept the boys’ and girls’ team titles in the Class A, 5th Region cross country championships, also held Saturday at Admiral Stadium.
The Eagles earned individual sweeps as well. Sophomore Connor Hayes finished about 9 seconds faster than teammate Andrew Madden to win the boys’ race while Anna Rupp, a freshman with the fastest time in her class, finished nearly a minute ahead of Owen County’s Allison Bourne to win the girls’ title. It was the first individual title for both underclassmen.
Lafayette didn’t leave with any individual hardware but bested all other Class 3A, 6th Region squads to win the boys’ and girls’ team titles. Isaiah Joy bested teammate Will Cahill by four seconds to lead the Generals’ boys with an eighth-place finish while Anaya Brown and Meredith Wilson finished second and third, respectively, for the Lafayette girls.
This story was originally published October 27, 2018 at 4:02 PM.