Northern Kentucky runners continue to bring home lots of medals and trophies from the Kentucky High School Athletic Association state cross country championships. Here are results from the first four races.
1A boys
Beechwood senior Natnael Weldemichael stunned the field in the 1A boys race, winning the individual championship in 16 minutes, 59.77 seconds, 26 seconds ahead of St. Henry junior Dixon Ryan, who was the Region 4 champion last week.
Weldemichael had been a consistent performer this season. At the Meet of Champions on the same course, he finished 12th, third among local runners. At the NKAC conference meet, he only finished 34th, but rebounded to finish third in the regional meet last week before putting on his best performance in the finals.
He led Beechwood to sixth in the team standings. Northern Kentucky took the top three spots in the team standings, led by St. Henry, which won its first title since 2012 and 17th all-time.
St. Henry scored 59 points to 89 for runner-up Villa Madonna. Bishop Brossart finished third with 121.
The Crusaders were led by three individual medalists, led by Ryan (17:26.04). Sophomore Lake Durrett finished fourth (17:34.05) and senior Mark Ryan 15th (18:12.61). Sophomore Jeff Stewart was right behind in 16th (18:17.68) and senior Camden Fedders 22nd (18:30.97). George Barsan finished 30th (18:39.13) and Jack Goodwin 46th (19:02.68).
The VMA Vikings had three top-10 medalists. Junior Owen Kovacic finished fifth (17:35.12), freshman Ethan Martin sixth (17:44.21) and sophomore Adam Kolar 10th (17:55.37). Freshman Mark Antrobus finished 23rd (18:31.89) and junior Keegan Davis 51st (19:14.36). Junior Joey Grannen was 84th (20:00.19) and junior Ian Halpin 155th (21:26.34).
Bishop Brossart had two medalists in senior Ryan Branch (ninth, 17:50.98) and sophomore Nathan Ruth (12th, 18:00.01). Senior Parker Losure finished 17th (18:18.27), Griffin Hill 48th (19:09.13) and senior Owen Davis 49th (19:09.92). Sophomore Nick Heck finished 55th (19:15.91) and junior Robby Beckerich 65th (19:30.89).
Holy Cross junior Wyatt Sunday finished 14th in the race (18:02.75) as Northern Kentucky celebrated 10 of the top 15 medalists and 12 of the top 17 overall. Holy Cross finished 12th in the team standings.
To lead individual qualifiers, Walton-Verona’s Wyatt Shearer finished 39th and Bellevue senior Will Strong finished 40th.
1A girls
Bishop Brossart senior Claire Curtsinger won her second-straight individual state championship, running 19:39.92 to beat the runner-up by 13 seconds.
Brossart, the 2020 state champion, finished third in the team standings. Junior Amy Klocke finished fourth (20:17.66), junior Natalie Reis 37th (22:32.82), junior Cora Bertsch 64th (23:25.83), and sophomore Cate Reis 85th (23:46.91). Seniors Sarah Smith and Emma Bezold were back-to-back in 90th and 91st (23:56.94 and 23:57.89).
Villa Madonna finished second in the team standings, just four points behind champion Lexington Christian.
Freshman Charli Gerrein finished 12th in 21;07.40. Senior Lexi Baker was 17th (21:33.55), senior Abby Ernst 22nd (21:49.76), senior Sarah Rice (22:07.79) and Alyssa Martin 51st (23:00.58). Sophomore Maddie Bailey was 56th (23:12.04) and Lena Schroeder 103rd (24:13.88).
Beechwood finished fourth in the team standings to earn a trophy, led by freshman Isabel Ginter in eighth (20:48.02). Catie Hazzard was 25th (22:04.72), Annie Harris 43rd (22:43.44), Maggie Greiner 50th (22:57.13) and Lana Holt 62nd (23:23.49). Ava Drews was 102nd (24:12.48) and Mehr Brar 121st (25:17.08).
St. Henry freshman Mackenzie McMain finished fifth in the state (20:29.67) and led the Crusaders to fifth place in the team standings.
2A girls
Scott finished second in the team standings for the second straight year and have now finished in the top two in the state for four straight seasons after winning the state championship in 2018 and 2019.
Scott had three of the top 11 finishers. Sophomore Maddie Strong was sixth in 19:45.63. Senior Dyllan Hasler finished 10th (20:18.54) and freshman Ansley Lindloff 11th (20:19.97).
Others included in the team score included Grace Klim (56th, 21:53.01) and Allison Clemons (67th, 22:11.25). Ellie Stratman finished 81st (22:24.63) and Lorin Neal (137th, 23:36.82).
Highlands finished 11th in the state meet. Seventh-grader Ella Taylor finished 22nd in 20:54.97 and junior Eden Brumer 29th in 21:09.16.
2A boys
Highlands finished fourth in the state meet to earn a team trophy.
Highlands’ seven runners all finished within 30 spots and 33 seconds of each other.
Sophomore Owen McCain led the way in 32nd (17:57.53). Senior Thomas Gray-Torsell was 35th (18:03.51), senior Sam Jones 40th (18:09.37), sophomore Malcolm Robertson 43rd (18:10.19) and senior Will White 46th (18:12.67) to round out the team scoring. Junior Sam Hopper was 57th in 18:29.29 and junior Cameron Myers 61st (18:31.24).
Scott finished 23rd in the meet, led by freshman Jonah Hunt in 72nd place (18:38.96) and sophomore Elijah Robinson in 80th (18:47.88).
Holmes junior Anthony Scott qualified as an individual and finished 143rd (19:52.32).
3A boys
Conner made Northern Kentucky history Saturday afternoon, becoming the first local team to win the 3A boys championship.
The Cougars did so in dominating fashion, placing their top five runners in the top 11 overall and scoring 40 points. Runner-up St. Xavier had 106.
Senior Ryan Hanak led the way in fifth place with 16:49.94. Senior Joseph Impellitteri was right behind in sixth place, running 16:51.99. Senior Logan Warth was eighth (17:07.92), junior Drew Moore 10th (17:12.38) and junior George Johnson 11th (17:13.99).
Freshman Nathan Hopper finished 62nd and sophomore Warren Johnson 68th.
Other top finishers include Covington Catholic freshman Will Sheets (16th, 17:22.75), Ryle sophomore Tiger Bartlett (19th, 17:29.95) and Campbell County freshman Jonathan Christopher (Campbell County, 17:36.02). Ryle finished seventh in the team standings and CovCath 15th.
Ryle finished fifth in the state girls meet, barely missing out on a team trophy because of the sixth-runner tiebreaker.
Freshman Allie Kopser finished fourth individually (19:38.47), senior Angelina Harris 38th (20:46.58), senior Cara Weber 49th (21:03.05), senior Renae Kopser 58th (21:16.19) and senior Yasmin Garcia 70th (21:32.89).
Campbell County freshman Olivia Holbrook finished seventh overall (19:42.21) and Grant County junior Audrey Shelton 15th (20:04.92).
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