COVINGTON CATHOLIC INVITATIONAL
PICTURES Covington Catholic Invitational by makyfo
Girls Varsity Recap, 2013 Covington Catholic Invitational
The weather for the race was perfect: sunny, with temperatures in the mid 60’s. Nothing could be better with the day… except the course itself. The trail through Devou Park awaiting the girls was filled with formidable hills that had more than a few girls nervous.
Amber Victor from Ludlow started the race strong, striding out to take the lead. However, that lead did not last long. After the first loop, Victor fell back, and Sarah Starrett and Jessica Starret from Talawanda took the lead, followed shortly by Sarah Clark of St. Ursula Academy-Cincinnati. By the end of the race, Sarah Starrett pulled away for the win in a time of 20:48.3: impressive for the merciless hills of Devou Park. Sarah Clark managed to break between the two girls from Talawanda; she finished 15.1 seconds behind Sarah Starrett. Meanwhile, Jessica Starrett fell back to third place, finishing in a time of 21:27.2, and barely fending off Rachel Muething of St. Ursula Academy-Cincinnati.
While these girls from Ohio pulled away with the top places, the ladies of Cooper High School in Union Kentucky were able to fend a host of teams from Ohio, and to beat their Kentucky competition. Initially, this team looked like just one of many along the line. At the mile mark, however, you could see they were in the running for a team trophy, Erin Mogus in the top 5, and a pack of three sitting around 10th place. However, the ladies from Talawanda and St. Urusula-Cincinnati both had a strong top two, and a capable squad behind them.
The race was won and lost in the last .1 for many teams. Nearly every runner came across the line in a group of 2 or 3 girls, and that made all the difference. At the end of the day, the ladies of Cooper used their depth to edge out some tough competition, and walk away with the 1st place trophy. All 6 of their runners finished within 1min and 7 seconds of each other. Erin Mogus lead the team, and finished in 5th place with a time of 21:44. Next was a pack of three Cooper ladies including Megan Kelter, Ashley Dragan and Olivia Goessling finishing in 6th, 8th, and 9th places, respectively. The 5th and 6th ladies for the team Isabell Armstrong and Karina Egger rolled through together in 21st and 22nd places. With their score of 48 points, Cooper girls just managed to beat the squads from St. Ursula-Cincinnati (57 points) and Talawanda (62 points).
Boys Varsity Recap, 2013 Covington Catholic Invitational
By the time of the boy’s race, the temperature had warmed to the high 60s, however the day was still cool and sunny, perfect for racing. While the morning was pleasant, the course was anything but. Many formidable hills awaited the runners to come. Today’s meet would be a competition of guts alone.
Following the gun, several teams started strong. The boys from St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, Newport Central Catholic, and Cooper High School in Union all were fighting for a top position. However, any competition was short lived. By the end of the first mile, Cooper Boys had locked down 3 boys in the top 5. Still, the boys pressed on and moved up. At the end of the race, Cooper boys walked away with the first place trophy with ease. The team was led by veteran runner Zachary Stewart, who finished in first place with a time of 16:56. Following him, the rest of the top 5 boys finished in 2nd place (Mitchell Greenhalgh), 3rd place (Brady Baker), 7th Place (Connor Greenhalgh), 10th place (Jake Vandermosten).
Notably, Covington Catholic boys managed to take second place in their invitational, fending off teams from Kentucky and Ohio. Brian Menke and Bradey Couch broke apart the Cooper squad, taking 4th and 5th places. Following them, Sean Panoushek came in 8th place. Jake Zimmerman and Grant Guenther 14th and 15th, and the 6th and 7th men were not far behind. Covington Catholic showed that they are no simple 5 man team, but that they have runners to spare.