2024 cross country state championships: 3 different roads to glory for Lexington schools

Lafayette’s “impossible” became possible Saturday during the Kentucky Beef Council Cross Country State Championships presented by UK HealthCare.

The Generals scored 85 points to cruise to the Class 3A boys team title, becoming the first Lexington public school to achieve that feat. Lafayette is only the second Fayette County high school to win a cross country team title; Paul Laurence Dunbar won the girls team title in 2005.

Lafayette knocked off defending champion Trinity, which finished runner-up with 112 points.

“We should have been a 30-point underdog and we completely flipped it,” Generals coach Caleb Joy said. “That’s just crazy. They really went after it, and left no doubt.”

Based on season-long metrics available from KYtrackXC, Trinity was the favorite to repeat coming into Saturday’s meet at the Kentucky Horse Park. Lafayette’s average team time was about four seconds behind that of the Shamrocks. But the Generals played the long game, focusing more on their practices than their performance throughout in-season meets, hoping to build up their leg strength for the hillier postseason courses.

“The season really starts in the summer,” said Xavior Richardson, a junior who finished sixth overall (15:50.03) to pace the Generals. “If you want to win a championship, you’ve got to start early. We’ve been putting in 70-mile weeks consistently, and slowly building down. We didn’t have the results we wanted in the beginning of the season because our goal was focused on what came later.”

Jackson Profitt (16:13.29) and Jake Hanson (16:15.63) finished within two seconds of one another, coming in 17th and 18th, respectively. Andrew Grace (23rd, 16:19.42) and Van Weimer (25th, 16:23.77) rounded out the Lafayette scorers.

Injuries and other setbacks combined to keep Lafayette away from the podium last season. Despite fielding the individual champion, now-EKU freshman James Ndayishimiye, the Generals finished seventh overall behind many established contenders — Trinity, St. Xavier and schools from the greater Louisville area.

“The only person that did their job last year was James, and we couldn’t back him up,” Richardson said. “We really used that as motivation this year.”

Hanson was the only senior among this year’s scorers, a testament to the depth Lafayette has managed to build in its ranks. He said Joy, now in his fourth season guiding the program, laid the groundwork for this accomplishment on his first day of practice in 2021.

“He’s done a great job of developing us since we started this rebuild,” Hanson said. “It’s really been awesome to watch this team grow the way that it has, and I can’t wait to see what they do next year.”

Joy, who ran at Indiana Wesleyan, early at Lafayette adopted a philosophy instilled in him by his college coach, John Foss: Embrace your initial core, whoever it’s made up from, and invest in them. The returns might not be evident right away, but as other classes come through and see that buy-in, growth can trickle down.

“It really seemed like an impossible goal for us at the time four years ago,” Joy said. “The team has transformed in the last three years into something I can only thank God for. He has blessed me with such amazing athletes that have grown, and a team culture that’s been cultivated through success and self-sacrifice.

“We’ve gotten closer every year, and our impossible has truly become possible. Now we’re living in the reality of it.”

▪ Cooper’s Paul Van Laningham, the Class 3A individual boys winner, became the first person from his high school to win a state title in any sport. He also followed in the footsteps of his parents, Eric and Michelle, who won state cross country titles as runners for Boone County in the early 1990s. “I finally got it done,” said Van Laningham, a junior. “I’ve been thinking about doing this for so long.”

Rivalry renewed

Addison Moore was far more nervous coming into this year’s Class 3A meet than last year’s, when she won her first state title. The Woodford County junior, despite her own list of accomplishments and record times, still gets awestruck by the talented runners standing alongside her at the starting line.

“I look at all these fast girls around me and I’m like, ‘Wow, you are really good,’ y’know?” Moore said. “And then I think, ‘Wait, I’m also in that group, and I can do these hard things that they’re doing, too.’”

Moore successfully defended her title with a strong kick at the close, pulling ahead of runner-up Leah Penick, an Assumption senior who was seeded ahead of her, and Madison Central’s Shelby Lamb, who led most of the race before finishing third.

Lamb as a freshman finished fifth overall and just three seconds behind Moore, and the two projected to be steady rivals. Last year, though, Lamb ran 62nd and almost a full three minutes slower than her time on the same course under similar conditions this season.

The caveat: Lamb on Jan. 1, 2023, tore an Achilles tendon while practicing yoga.

“I did the downward dog too far and it just snapped,” Lamb said. “It was terrible.”

She considered not running in the meet last season despite being medically cleared but wanted to see how she felt coming off a short-rest scenario; her regional qualifier the week prior was just her second race of the 2023 season.

Last year was mostly lost, but Lamb and her overexerted tendon bounced back with authority in 2024. She set a personal record (17:57.80) in early October at the Great American XC Festival in Cary, North Carolina; won her first KHSAA region championship; and reestablished herself as a worthy challenger to Moore in Kentucky’s class of 2026.

The two run together a lot in the summer and have a healthy respect for one another.

“I’m excited for what’s to come,” Lamb said. “I’m gonna try to beat her, but she’s always a good competitor.”

Eagles on the edge

Lexington Christian Academy’s got a flair for the dramatic.

When the Eagles in 2021 won the Class A girls cross country team title, their first in the sport, they edged Villa Madonna 108-112 in a battle of squads whose top runners all scored between 10th and 30th place. That was a rout compared to its outcome on Saturday.

Beechwood got the better of LCA by a narrow margin in 2022 and a slightly wider one last year. The two were expected to finish 1-2 again this fall, but after all the scoring shook out, they were 1-1. Both had 53 points apiece.

Tie goes to the sixth runner, in this case Eagles senior Ruby Karls. Her 35th-place finish was worth nine fewer points than that of Beechwood’s first finisher outside its top five.

“I feel so humbled and honored that we got the opportunity to win,” said Kennedy Moughamian, a freshman who finished runner-up as an individual. “Even if it was just by a little bit. I know we all really, really wanted it.”

Beechwood’s Lilly Parke broke through for her first title after finishing runner-up each of the last two seasons, but LCA fielded runners No. 2, No. 3 (eighth grader Hadley Raisor) and No. 5 (junior Annie Sewell). Its other two scorers, senior Savannah Setzer (21st) and sophomore Violet Griese (28th), scored 18 and 25 points, respectively.

The Tigers’ top five all finished inside the top 25, and top 20 in scoring once non-team scorers were removed.

“It was so nerve-wracking, but super exciting, too,” Karls said. “I’m just so blessed that I got to come out here and help these girls.”

Given its depth of underclassmen, LCA should be in contention for years to come. Beechwood’s not going anywhere soon, either.

“It was super close this year, so it’d be better to not be as close next year,” Moughamian said with a laugh. “Beechwood is so nice, and they’re such great competitors for us. I think we both push each other to be better when we go to state together.”

Four in a row

The first-place Class 2A girls team trophy perhaps should have a knight carved into it at this point. Lexington Catholic won for the fourth year in a row, and it claimed its ninth girls title overall.

While LexCath’s already in rare company with a four-peat, two Kentucky schools — in any classification — have managed longer streaks on the girls side. Class 2A rival Western Hills won five straight titles from 1994-1998, and St. Henry in Class A won six straight from 2011-2016.

Catholic’s got the goods to match both. It loses two seniors from this year’s squad — Caroline Beiting, who won her first individual title, and Cecilia Lowry, who placed 12th — but returns two sophomores (Anna Dawahare, Abigail Turner) and a junior (Nora Parker) who scored. Sophomore Abby Etherington entered the race with a top-15 seed time, and freshman Addison Mason finished just outside the top 40 runners.

“Each year we lose a very important senior, but we keep on training the younger ones and they’ve risen to the occasion,” said Beiting, who ran 23 seconds faster than runner-up Baili Hoten, the defending state champion out of Thomas Nelson. “They are truly amazing and keeping our legacy alive.”

▪ Lexington Catholic’s boys finished third in their team competition. That title was the day’s most closely contested among the boys, with Covington Catholic edging Bourbon County 51-69.

KHSAA CROSS COUNTRY RESULTS

CLASS 3A

Boys’ top five teams—1. Lafayette 85, 2. Trinity 112, 3. Oldham County 173, 4. North Oldham 193, 5. Paul Laurence Dunbar 216.

Boys’ top 10 individuals—1. Paul Van Laningham, Cooper, 15:19.87; 2. Eli Oetken, Trinity, 15:28.17; 3. Lincoln Herald, Grant County, 15:35.33; 4. Charley Townsend, North Oldham, 15:37.09; 5. Jasper Smith, North Oldham, 15:44.46; 6. Xavier Richardson, Lafayette, 15:50.03; 7. Nathan Hopper, Conner, 15:52.32; 8. Noah Mathews, Dunbar, 15:54.90; 9. Matthew Whitlock, Oldham County, 15:56.10; 10. Kobey Yates, Marshall County, 16:00.30.

Girls’ top five teams—1. Assumption 56, 2. Manual 136, 3. North Oldham 154, 4. Greenwood 201, 5. Notre Dame 205.

Girls’ top 10 individuals—1. Addison Moore, Woodford County, 18:06.82; 2. Leah Penick, Assumption, 18:15.58; 3. Shelby Lamb, Madison Central, 18:18.26; 4. Mabel George, Assumption, 18:26.88; 5. Morgan Kobylinski, Ohio County, 18:39.02; 6. Allison Kopser, Ryle, 18:42.77; 7. Elle Cargould, North Oldham, 18:51.52; 8. Bailee Montgomery, Manual, 18:51.97; 9. Savannah Mooney, Bullitt East, 18:54.70; 10. Olivia Holbrook, Campbell County, 18:59.33.

CLASS 2A

Boys’ top five teams—1. Covington Catholic 51, 2. Bourbon County 69, 3. Lexington Catholic 121, 4. Thomas Nelson 141, 5. Harlan County 243.

Boys’ top 10 individuals—1. Riku Sugie, Thomas Nelson, 15:22.46; 2. Will Sheets, CovCath, 15:42.34; 3. Joe Mayer, CovCath, 16:01.71; 4. Samuel Herbig, Christian Academy-Louisville, 16:08.40; 5. Casey DeSilvey, Spencer County, 16:18.11; 6. Christopher Wells, Bourbon County, 16:19.25; 7. Daniel Filiatreau, Thomas Nelson, 16:29.94; 8. Luke McLane, CovCath, 16:38.62; 9. Dashawn Overly, Mason County, 16:39.45; 10. Grant Perraut, Bourbon County, 16:45.58.

Girls’ top five teams—1. Lexington Catholic 44, 2. Bourbon County 114, 3. Harlan County 121, 4. Boyd County 149, 5. Calloway County 165.

Girls’ top 10 individuals—1. Caroline Beiting, Lexington Catholic, 18:27.19; 2. Baili Hoten, Thomas Nelson, 18:50.43; 3. Anna Dawahare, Lexington Catholic, 19:00.67; 4. Isabella Day, LaRue County, 19:17.75; 5. Anabelle Plummer, Christian Academy-Louisville, 19:18.08; 6. Abigail Turner, LexCath, 19:24.39; 7. Marleigh Estes, Bourbon County, 19:49.32; 8. Vayla Carlisle, Calloway County, 19:54.68; 9. Sami Govey, Boyd County, 20:04.62; 10. Piper Griffith, Ashland Blazer, 20:23.72.

CLASS A

Boys’ top five teams—1. Villa Madonna 108, 2. St. Henry 173, 3. Dawson Springs 181, 4. Bethlehem 187, 5. Lexington Christian.

Boys’ top 10 individuals—1. James Gurley, Collegiate, 15:50.62; 2. Roman Sierpina, Collegiate, 16:01.20; 3. Ryan Shaps, Kentucky Country Day, 16:23.62; 4. Grant Greenwell, Bethlehem, 16:32.52; 5. Grayson Miller, Augusta, 16:39.22; 6. Isaac Riggs, Bethlehem, 16:41.81; 7. Tanner Daniels, Harlan, 16:43.33; 8. Body Byall, Lexington Christian, 16:44.62; 9. Easton Bourland, Dawson Springs, 16:50.77; 10. Tyler Cammack, Owen County, 16:52.97.

Girls’ top five teams—1. Lexington Christian 53 (won tiebreaker), 2. Beechwood 53, 3. Owensboro Catholic 99, 4. Villa Madonna 131, 5. St. Henry 164

Girls’ top 10 individuals—1. Lilly Parke, Beechwood, 19:01.72; 2. Kennedy Moughamian, Lexington Christian, 19:25.35; 3. Hadley Raisor, Lexington Christian, 20:00.49; 4. Isabell Shearer, Jackson County, 20:14.87; 5. Annie Sewell, Lexington Christian, 20:31.42; 6. Elizabeth Matthews, Walden School, 20:33.83; 7. Hailey Hack, Kentucky Country Day, 20:35.36; 8. Annie Harris, Beechwood, 20:39.39; 9. Ryan Bennett, Villa Madonna, 20:41.73; 10. Peyton Reid, Owensboro Catholic, 20:43.38

This story was originally published November 2, 2024 at 6:32 PM.