Oct 05, 2013

TATES CREEK INVITATIONAL

Results

The Tates Creek Invitational middle school races today served as a mini mid-late season State Meet preview, as it is run on the same course that State will be run on later this month in October. While other races may have provided better competition, there is no substitute for being able to run a race on the state course to see exactly where your time stands on the course every Middle School runner will be judged on.

Girls Middle School Race

The race started off with several runners jumping to the front early. Among the leaders were Annie VandenBerg of Beaumont, Braelyn Grant of Shelby West, and Anastasia Newsome. By the mile though, it was a two horse race between VandenBerg and Newsome as they came through the mile in 6:19 side-by-side. They battled over the next half-mile before Vandenberg eventually created enough separation from Newsome (only a 6th grader) for the victory in 16:00.4. Newsome held strong for runner up in 16:05. Rounding out the top 5 was McKayla Harshbarger of Beaumont in 16:50, Ryley Ortega of Eastside Middle School in 16:54, and Grant in 16:57. From a glance, Beaumont looked to be the strongest team on the day and that held true when the results were revealed that Beaumont took the victory with 37 points. Woodford Co. came in second with 66 followed by Shelby West with 84 points.

Boys Middle School Race

From the start this was a one-horse race as Clint Sherman of St. Margaret Mary jumped out to the lead early and never looked twice. Blazing through the mile in 5:25 (which is low 17 5K pace) with a pack behind him in 5:28 that included Ben Camuel of Tates Creek, Bobby Payne of Lafayette, and a slew of Beaumont runners. From there on, Sherman extended his lead, eventually winning in 14:09. Ben Camuel (15: 17) barely beat out Bobby Payne (15:19) to the line for runner-up. After the top three, the crowd of Beaumont runners began to roll into the finish propelling them to the victory. With 6 runners in the top 15, Beaumont’s total of 33 points was impressively low. Runner up was East Jessamine Middle School with 95 and Montgomery Co with 107. A top runner this year, Sherman is sure to get a confidence boost knowing that his time of 14:09 would have placed him 12th in last year's Meet of Champions and with a few more weeks to prepare it should be exciting to see if his state-course experience pays off.