Lexington Catholic Invitational
The Lexington Catholic Invitational was held Saturday at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. The two varsity races were packed with most of the top teams in Kentucky, with over three hundred runners in each of the varsity races. The weather was perfect, making for a great day of racing.
Varsity Girls
The girls' race had all three #1 teams in the state and seven of the top ten AAA teams. All this combined for a great race. duPont Manual junior Mary Grace Pellegrini went to the front and stayed there, as she overcame some of her past issues on the Horse Park course to win with a time of 18:49. She was too much for second place Sarah Turi of Eastern who stayed close to Pellegrini, finishing with an 18:53.
The real battle, however, was in the team score as AAA #1 Assumption went head-to-head with #2 duPont Manual. Pellegrini's individual victory helped lead her team to the winner's circle by two points over Assumption. Class A #1 St. Henry finished third, beating Class A #2 Walton Verona by twelve points.
Varsity Boys
This race had nine of the top ten AAA schools, Class A #1 St. Henry and many more talented runners. The competition held true as AAA #1 Woodford fought it out with #2 Trinity, #3 Daviess County, and #4 St. Xavier.
The race started out fast, with reports that the leaders went through the quarter mile in 57 seconds. Before the mile the front pack had established itself with several runners in the mix. The pace was not blistering at the mile as the leaders went through in 5:10. Coming out of the horse trail it was St. Henry's Gordy Dooley, St. Xavier's Brian Long, Scott's Blake Askin and Ryne Smith, Trinity's Thomas Noel, and West Jessamine's Nathan Liversedge. Long then took the lead, with Dooley overtaking him before the two mile mark. Dooley held for the win in 15:53 besting Long by two seconds.
The team race was close. #2 Trinity struck back at #1 Woodford, who beat them at the Trinity Invitational last month, by taking the team title. When the results were posted St. Xavier was second, Woodford third, Daviess County fourth, and St. Henry was fifth.