Tiger Run was held Saturday in Louisville, the annual opening large meet for Kentucky. All three of the Boys Class #1's for the 2013 Pre-Season were in attendance.
Team Breakdown by Jonathan Grooms
Class AAA #1 and host school, St. Xavier won the meet with 39 points over Class AA #2 Covington Catholic. St. Xavier placed 4 in the top 9 led by senior Stephen Kinny in 4th. Max Mudd followed in 5th with Ben Metzger and Spencer Hayden in 8th and 9th. They beat the closest ranked AAA opponent Pulaski County (Pre-season #5) by 171 points.
By finishing 2nd, Cov. Cath. took down pre-season AA #1 North Oldham by 21 points with a better 1-2 scoring bunch up front. Brian Menke was 10th for Cov. Cath with Bradley Couch in 27th. North Oldham was led by Trenton Fryman in 16th place overall.
Class A #1 St. Henry finished 13th overall led by Josh Hannon in 29th place.
Class AAA #1 Assumption was in attendance with only their JV team, leaving the way for AAA #3 Sacred Heart to take the victory. SHA won without the services of their lead runner, Maggie Allen is out for the season. Samantha Simms stepped up to lead with a 2nd place finish. New AAA team South Oldham took down 2nd place over another AAA newcomer Bullitt East. They tied after five runners with the sixth runner breaking the tie. South Oldham and Bullitt East were 7th and 8th in the pre-season for AAA.
Individual Race Breakdown by Devon Fielding
MS Girls: This race was dominated by Alena Sapienza-Wright. From the get-go she took the lead and held a strong distance. Rolling through the mile mark in about 5:48, she was followed by a close pack comprised of teammates Catherine Sullivan, Carmen Harper, and another runner Kathleen Sims. Sapienza-Wright continued to lengthen her lead, and finished in 10:32, 40 seconds ahead of teammate Catherine Sullivan, who passed Sims in the last 30m.
MS Boys: This was a 2 man race for first, with Keeton Thornsberry and Alazar Barsamian fighting the whole way. Coming through the mile mark around 5:24 was Thornsberry in the lead, followed closely by Barsamian. Right behind them was Skylar Stidam and Clint Sherman. After the mile mark, Barsamian made a move and passed Thornsberry. Coming into the final stretch, Thornsberry and Barsamian were neck and neck, but Thornsberry managed to outkick him to the line.
HS Boys: Coming through the mile mark at 5:07 was a group led Jonathan Taylor of Port. Christian, followed by Patrick Gregory, Matt Bode, and John Spencer. Trailing behind were the Dowdy twins, Cole and and Tanner. A very large group came after that, all under 5:15 for the mile. coming into the 2mile at 10:02 is when Gregory made his move to take the lead from Taylor. The large pack behind them had thinned considerably, with Matt Bode and Trenton Fryman being chased by Stephen Kinney. Following them was John Spencer and the Dowdy twins. Gregory held the lead through the 3rd mile, and finished in 16:09. In the final mile the Dowdy twins and St. X runners Stephen Kinney, Max Mudd, Ben Metzger and Spencer Hayden made a strong push and filled spots 4-9.
HS Girls: In the first 200m Emma Valle of Lafeyette had surged ahead of the masses, and came through the mile in 5:46. Trailing behind her was Michaela Reinhart and Samantha Simms. Following Patrick Gregory’s example, Reinhart took the lead at the 2mile and surged ahead, with Simms still holding on in 3rd. In the final mile we saw Reinhart turn up the pace and leave Valle behind, with Simms following suit. Erin Edmunson of North Oldham also quickened the pace, moving from 6th at the 2mile to 4th at the finish.