Fun in the mud: LexCath and LCA both win girls’ state cross country titles
For the second straight year, the crowning moment of the high school cross country season came in Paris.
The KHSAA State Cross Country Championships were held at the Bourbon County Cross Country Course in Paris this weekend, marking the second straight year the venue has hosted the state finals.
The state cross country meets had previously been held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington for more than four decades.
The Class 2A boys’ and girls’ meets were both held Friday afternoon, while the Class A championships were both held Saturday morning and the Class 3A championships were both held Saturday afternoon, with Saturday’s events taking place in muddy and wet conditions.
The two-day format to determine all the state champions began in 2020 and was continued this year.
Lexington Christian wins Class A girls’ title
In Saturday morning’s Class A championships, Beechwood senior Natnael Weldemichael won the boys’ individual title and senior Claire Curtsinger from Bishop Brossart won the girls’ championship.
Rain on Friday that continued overnight into Saturday, leaving the grounds muddy and slick.
The course itself held up well, despite spectators struggling with their footing while watching and with the traction of their cars when entering and exiting the venue.
Despite these factors, Curtsinger, who led her race nearly wire-to-wire, said she looked at the muddy conditions as a chance to have fun.
“It’s not everyday you get to jump in puddles. A nice little changeup,” Curtsinger said. “It depends on your attitude, really, if it’s going to go better or worse. I think, obviously, if it’s slippery you’ve got to be extra cautious, so I think it can slow you down a little.”
The girls’ team title went to Lexington Christian Academy, marking the first state championship in girls’ cross country for the Eagles, who lost their top three runners from a season ago.
“It’s the first year (that) we haven’t had somebody really up front, so we said let’s keep the gap as close as we can get it and just hope for the best,” LCA head coach Tom Stickel said. “All year we focused on being as close as we could be as a unit.”
Just five minutes before the girls’ race began, Stickel changed strategy with his team.
All season the Eagles had committed to starting slow before working their way into races. But on Saturday, Stickel asked his team to start fast after he looked at the course and thought the first half-mile appeared to be in good shape, despite the rain.
“We’d even talked Thursday about, ‘Just go out steady and move up.’ I didn’t know it was going to rain, so when I saw the course it was just a quick adjustment,” Stickel explained. “I thought it would be hard to pass once they got into the mud in the back part. So if they were established they would be able to just carry it through and it ended up working out.”
In the boys’ race, Weldemichael won the individual state championship by nearly 30 seconds over second-place finisher Dixon Ryan, a junior from St. Henry.
St. Henry brought home the boys’ team state title with four of the top-20 individual finishers.
There were 336 entries in the boys’ Class A state meet and 281 entries in the girls’ Class A state meet.
Lexington Catholic captures Class 2A girls’ title
In Friday afternoon’s Class 2A championships, Bell County junior Caden Miracle won the boys’ individual title while Boyd County senior Sophia Newsome narrowly won the girls’ championship.
Miracle took home top honors in the boys’ event in a time of 16:04.67, finishing about two seconds ahead of North Oldham senior Jake Pyles in second. Fellow North Oldham senior Ethan Ransdell finished in third with a time of 16:21.58, and three of the top seven finishers in the boys’ race were from North Oldham.
Newsome won the girls’ championship by edging out freshman Caroline Beiting of Lexington Catholic.
Ella Johnson, a junior from Elizabethtown, was third.
The team state championships both went to the schools of the second-place finishers in the boys’ and girls’ races.
North Oldham won the boys’ state 2A title and Lexington Catholic won the girls’.
Both team victories came by significant margins, as well. North Oldham, with 68 points, finished far in front of second place Corbin, which had 112 points.
On the girls’ side, Lexington Catholic finished with 77 points, nearly half of the 132 points that second-place Scott finished with.
There were 311 entries in the boys’ Class 2A state meet and 296 entries in the girls’ Class 2A state meet.
Madison Central, St. Xavier runners best on slippery course
When it was time for the final state championship races Saturday afternoon, measures were in place to keep the course in as good a shape as possible.
The course was closed for warmups prior to both the Class 3A girls’ race and boys’ race in order to preserve the integrity of the course, according to an announcement made before the races.
Regardless, conditions were treacherous during both races and in particular during the boys’ race, which was the final of the weekend in Paris.
In the girls’ race, junior Ciara O’Shea of Madison Central won the girls’ Class 3A individual championship for the fourth straight year. O’Shea finished in a time of 18:25.42, which was nearly one minute ahead of the second-place finisher, sophomore Tula Fawbush of Oldham County.
Woodford County eighth-grader Addison Moore, who won the Class 3A, Region 6 meet last weekend at Woodford County’s home course, came across the finish line in 11th place Saturday.
In the team competition, a pair of Louisville schools topped the list with Assumption taking home the girls’ team state title and Manual coming in second place.
In the boys’ race, junior Sami Hattab of St. Xavier made a late pass to win the individual state title. Brady Masters, a senior from Madison Central who came in second at last year’s state meet, led most of Saturday’s race but faded late in the muddy conditions, ultimately finishing in seventh.
A steady drizzle fell during most of the boys’ race and further deteriorated the muddiest and most slippery parts of the course.
Hattab finished four seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, junior Thomas Ashby of Apollo.
The boys’ team championship was won in impressive fashion by Conner. All five Conner runners that counted toward the team competition finished in the top 11, highlighted by senior Ryan Hanak in fifth.
There were 388 entries in the boys’ Class 3A state meet and 381 entries in the girls’ Class 3A state meet.
Results
CLASS A
BOYS
Teams
1, St. Henry 59. 2, Villa Madonna 89. 3, Bishop Brossart 121. 4, Augusta 148. 5, Highlands Latin 171. 6, Beechwood 215. 7, Louisville Collegiate 222. 8, Green County 246. 9, Williamsburg 330. 10, Dawson Springs 396. 11, Bethlehem 397. 12, Covington Holy Cross 407. 13, Trimble County 438. 14, Williamstown 450. 15, Danville 468. 16, Portland Christian 469. 17, Pikeville 540. 18, Sayre 551. 19, Owensboro Catholic 557. 20, Edmonson County 590. 21, Kentucky Country Day 608. 22, Murray 611. 23, Fort Campbell 612. 24, Jackson County 624. 25, Nicholas County 653. 26, Campbellsville 693. 27, Frankfort 696. 28, Jenkins 697. 29, University Heights 701. 30, Lynn Camp 708. 31, East Ridge 710. 32, Morgan County 763. 33, Walden 767. 34, Somerset 790. 35, Leslie County 911. 36, Fulton County 917.
Top 20 individuals
1, Natnael Weldemich, Beechwood, 16:59.77. 2, Dixon Ryan, St. Henry, 17:26.04. 3, Isaac Riggs, Bethlehem, 17:28.49. 4, Lake Durrett, St. Henry, 17:34.05. 5, Owen Kovacic, Villa Madonna, 17:35.12. 6, Ethan Martin, Villa Madonna, 17:44.21. 7, Roman Sierpina, Louisville Collegiate, 17:46.56. 8, William Lubas, Fort Campbell, 17:50.61. 9, Ryan Branch, Bishop Brossart, 17:50.98. 10, Adam Kolar, Villa Madonna, 17:55.37. 11, Clayton Nau, Highlands Latin, 17:56.47. 12, Nathan Ruth, Bishop Brossart, 18:00.01. 13, Jayden Marr, Green County, 18:01.75. 14, Wyatt Sunday, Covington Holy Cross, 18:02.75. 15, Mark Ryan, St. Henry, 18:12.61. 16, Jeff Stewart, St. Henry, 18:17.68. 17, Parker Losure, Bishop Brossart, 18:18.27. 18, Rylan Keathley, Pikeville, 18:19.78. 19, Drew Hurley, Pikeville, 18:21.73. 20, Matthew Jones, Augusta, 18:28.12.
GIRLS
Teams
1, Lexington Christian 108. 2, Villa Madonna 112. 3, Bishop Brossart 160. 4, Beechwood 160. 5, St. Henry 181. 6, Kentucky Country Day 212. 7, Louisville Collegiate 220. 8, Brown 222. 9, Owen County 222. 10, Highlands Latin 242. 11, Pikeville 247. 12, Trimble County 342. 13, Walton Verona 374. 14, Bethlehem 379. 15, Edmonson County 394. 16, Lynn Camp 396. 17, Hancock County 396. 18, Frankfort 407. 19, Green County 569. 20, Danville 572. 21, Williamsburg 573. 22, Murray 636. 23, Berea 645. 24, Jackson County 653. 25, Harlan 685. 26, Crittenden County 687. 27, Bath County 742. 28, Dawson Springs 797. 29, Jenkins 836.
Top 20 individuals
1, Claire Curtsinger, Bishop Brossart, 19:39.92. 2, Haley Schoenegge, Kentucky Country Day, 19:53.27. 3, Rosemary Peters, St. Francis, 19:59.69. 4, Amy Klocke, Bishop Brossart, 20:17.66. 5, Mackenzie McMain, St. Henry, 20:29.67. 6, Alexis Moran, Owen County, 20:37.70. 7, Reese Ragland, Louisville Collegiate, 20:42.90. 8, Isabel Ginter, Beechwood, 20:48.02. 9, McKenzie Barber, Frankfort, 20:50.70. 10, Abby Mabe, Lynn Camp, 20:55.22. 11, Taylor Morris, Brown, 20:58.65. 12, Charli Gerrein, Villa Madonna, 21:07.40. 13, Lillian Samford, Lexington Christian, 21:12.46. 14, Kinley Kunkel, Trimble County, 21:15.25. 15, Gabby Ault, St. Mary, 21:16.58. 16, Chloe Hurm, St. Henry, 21:18.06. 17, Lexi Baker, Villa Madonna, 21:33.55. 18, Anna Dawahare, Lexington Christian, 21:39.98. 19, Maddox Miller, Kentucky Country Day, 21:43.10. 20, Annie Sewell, Lexington Christian, 21:44.27.
CLASS 2A
BOYS
Teams
1, North Oldham 68. 2, Corbin 112. 3, Webster County 134. 4, Highlands 188. 5, Boyd County 199. 6, Thomas Nelson 228. 7, Bell County 258. 8, Trigg County 272. 9, Calloway County 284. 10, Christian Academy-Louisville 300. 11, Harlan County 393. 12, LaRue County 397. 13, Spencer County 429. 14, Lexington Catholic 431. 15, John Hardin 442. 16, McCreary Central 452. 17, Russell 472. 18, Bourbon County 509. 19, Butler County 539. 20, Boyle County 548. 21, Mercer County 550. 22, Ashland Blazer 558. 23, Scott 565. 24, Warren East 571. 25, Mason County 588. 26, Allen County-Scottsville 594. 27, Union County 614. 28, Western Hills 622. 29, Shelby County 636. 30, Pike County Central 874. 31, Magoffin County 1017.
Top 20 individuals
1, Caden Miracle, Bell County, 16:04.67. 2, Jake Pyles, North Oldham, 16:06.49. 3, Ethan Ransdell, North Oldham, 16:21.58. 4, David Reinhart, Lexington Catholic, 16:33.13. 5, Riku Sugie, Thomas Nelson, 16:37.02. 6, Sean Simons, Corbin, 16:40.70. 7, Adam Patel, North Oldham, 16:43.67. 8, Austin Cavanaugh, Trigg County, 16:49.54. 9, Layden Wagoner, Webster County, 16:49.77. 10, Brendan Nagle, John Hardin, 16:52.05. 11, Jon Eades, Western Hills, 16:52.97. 12, JB Terrill, Boyd County, 16:53.79. 13, Davis Brown, Russell, 17:00.61. 14, Casey Desilvey, Spencer County, 17:03.86. 15, Daniel Puckett, Calloway County, 17:04.56. 16, Tommy Ott, Christian Academy (Louisville), 17:06.68. 17, Trevor Baker, Webster County, 17:09.00. 18, Eli Hill, Bardstown, 17:09.52. 19, John Reinhart, Lexington Catholic, 17:13.56. 20, Garrett West, Webster County, 17:13.66.
GIRLS
Teams
1, Lexington Catholic 77. 2, Scott 132. 3, Boyd County 142. 4, Mason County 153. 5, Christian Academy-Louisville 172. 6, Rowan County 209. 7, North Oldham 233. 8, Elizabethtown 249. 9, Calloway County 276. 10, Nelson County 289. 11, Highlands 301. 12, Webster County 324. 13, Taylor County 329. 14, Russell 349. 15, Ashland Blazer 375. 16, Corbin 379. 17, LaRue County 394. 18, Bourbon County 433. 19, Harlan County 533. 20, Bardstown 542. 21, Thomas Nelson 546. 22, Lincoln County 570. 23, Boyle County 575. 24, Henry County 611. 25, East Jessamine 708. 26, Bell County 727. 27, Letcher County Central 805.
Top 20 individuals
1, Sophia Newsome, Boyd County, 19:17.68. 2, Caroline Beiting, Lexington Catholic, 19:17.85. 3, Ella Johnson, Elizabethtown, 19:27.49. 4, Cate Conklin, Lexington Catholic, 19:42.50. 5, Sami Govey, Boyd County, 19:42.70. 6, Maddie Strong, Scott, 19:45.63. 7, Alexis Dotson, Rockcastle County, 19:53.10. 8, Christi Brittian, Nelson County, 20:01.32. 9, Brooke Greenwell, Christian Academy-Louisville, 20:07.07. 10, Dyllan Hasler, Scott, 20:18.54. 11, Ansley Lindloff, Scott, 20:19.97. 12, Autumn Egleston, Rowan County, 20:20.10. 13, Joanna Bryant, Lexington Catholic, 20:22.51. 14, Emma Wilkins, Christian Academy-Louisville, 20:24.53. 15, Annelise Gardner, Elizabethtown, 20:27.29. 16, Abigail Bastin, Lincoln County, 20:29.85. 17, Paige Decker, Mason County, 20:32.74. 18, Emmy Kay Adair, Lexington Catholic, 20:38.02. 19, Reese Settle, Calloway County, 20:44.51. 20, Kaycee Moore, Rowan County, 20:48.22.
CLASS 3A
BOYS
Teams
1, Conner 40. 2, St. Xavier 106. 3, Louisville Trinity 177. 4, Greenwood 234. 5, South Oldham 287. 6, Oldham County 291. 7, Ryle 321. 8, Bullitt Central 335. 9, Apollo 371. 10, Madisonville 376. 11, Meade County 386. 12, Eastern 387. 13, Manual 399. 14, Male 400. 15, Covington Catholic 422. 16, Madison Central 425. 17, Daviess County 452. 18, Tates Creek 483. 19, North Hardin 542. 20, Lafayette 550. 21, McCracken County 553. 22, Bullitt East 563. 23, Paul Laurence Dunbar 572. 24, South Warren 580. 25, Campbell County 599. 26, Grayson County 599. 27, Cooper 661. 28, Clark County 694. 29, Woodford County 697. 30, Ballard 701. 31, Southwestern 715. 32, West Jessamine 761. 33, Graves County 811. 34, Henry Clay 821. 35, North Laurel 865. 36, Marshall County 969.
Top 20 individuals
1, Sami Hattab, St. Xavier, 16:32.29. 2, Thomas Ashby, Apollo, 16:36.04. 3, Canon Weaver, Oldham County, 16:43.09. 4, Zach Woodall, Louisville Trinity, 16:49.15. 5, Ryan Hanak, Conner, 16:49.94. 6, Joseph Impellitteri, Conner, 16:51.99. 7, Brady Masters, Madison Central, 16:54.02. 8, Logan Warth, Conner, 17:07.92. 9, Dalton Lesher, Bullitt Central, 17:09.43. 10, Drew Moore, Conner, 17:12.38. 11, George Johnson, Conner, 17:13.99. 12, Caden Cull, Male, 17:15.31. 13, Samuel Walls, Bullitt Central, 17:16.58. 14, Philip Lamartiniere, Tates Creek, 17:18.78. 15, Jacob Johnston, Greenwood, 17:21.57. 16, Will Sheets, Covington Catholic, 17:22.75. 17, Alejandro Tomas Garcia, North Hardin, 17:25.74. 18, Roman Schrader, St. Xavier, 17:25.75. 19, Tiger Bartlett, Ryle, 17:29.95. 20, Tristan Hindorff, St. Xavier, 17:32.50.
GIRLS
Teams
1, Assumption 103. 2, Manual 119. 3, Oldham County 125. 4, South Warren 210. 5, Ryle 210. 6, Woodford County 230. 7, Sacred Heart 247. 8, Bullitt East 309. 9, Lafayette 332. 10, Madison Central 338. 11, Eastern 375. 12, Greenwood 394. 13, Daviess County 427. 14, West Jessamine 446. 15, Campbell County 494. 16, Male 528. 17, Paul Laurence Dunbar 528. 18, Pulaski County 542. 19, Grant County 545. 20, Cooper 561. 21, Ballard 566. 22, Clark County 570. 23, South Oldham 585. 24, Barren County 616. 25, Frederick Douglass 627. 26, North Laurel 643. 27, Meade County 645. 28, Dixie Heights 691. 29, Hopkinsville 712. 30, Madisonville 739. 31, Southwestern 751. 32, Bullitt Central 761. 33, Central Hardin 775. 34, Apollo 780. 35, Graves County 798. 36, Marshall County 870.
Top 20 individuals
1, Ciara O’Shea, Madison Central, 18:25.42. 2, Tula Fawbush, Oldham County, 19:23.91. 3, Josie Gilvin, Sacred Heart, 19:33.87. 4, Allison Kopser, Ryle, 19:38.47. 5, Julia Schmitt, Assumption, 19:39.38. 6, Abigail Crask, South Oldham, 19:41.96. 7, Olivia Holbrook, Campbell County, 19:42.21. 8, Savannah Mooney, Bullitt East, 19:45.28. 9, Abby Overbay, South Warren, 19:47.51. 10, Leah Penick, Assumption, 19:53.27. 11, Addison Moore, Woodford County, 19:56.00. 12, Gracie Reed, Barren County, 19:58.18. 13, Emma Endress, Butler, 20:02.97. 14, Mattie Whitworth, Assumption, 20:03.71. 15, Audrey Shelton, Grant County, 20:04.92. 16, Kynzlei Bassett, Oldham County, 20:06.15. 17, Jessica Secor, Manual, 20:15.93. 18, Mia Treinen, Manual, 20:20.68. 19, Maggie Twehues, Woodford County, 20:23.44. 20, Lucy Spaw, Daviess County, 20:23.64.
