Oldham County Cross Country Championships Presented by Finanacial Solutions, Inc.
On Thursday, October 17, over 600 runners from the Oldham County Schools will participate in the 1st Annual Oldham County Championships Presented by Financial Solutions, Inc. Oldham County is home to some of the best elementary, middle school, and high school programs in the state.
The Gustavo’s Elementary Girls Championship (1-mile) race will feature Goshen Elementary, which finished 2nd at the KTCCCA Meet of Champions Elementary Championships a year ago. Strong teams from Kenwood Station, Camden Station, and Centerfield will challenge. Individually, Goshen 5th-grader Nina Walker is the favorite.
In the Jones Group Elementary Boys Championship (1-mile), defending elementary state champions Goshen Elementary will be challenged by Kenwood Station. On the individual side, Goshen 4th-graders Ethan Ransdell and Rollins Hardy will battle for the win.
The Great Clips Middle School Girls Championship (2-miles) will feature some of the strongest middle school girls teams in the state. A year ago, East Oldham, South Oldham, and North Oldham place 1st, 3rd, and 4th, respectively, at the Meet of Champions. East Oldham will be the favorite this year, chased by North Oldham. Fighting for the individual crown will be Taylor Limprevil of South Oldham, Avery Fryman of North Oldham, and Anna Constant and Rachel Gibson of East Oldham, but don’t rule somebody else stepping up in this extremely deep race.
Like the girls race, the Steve-O’s Middle School Boys Championship (2-miles) features a strong field of contenders. North Oldham is the defending state champion, but South Oldham was 4th at MOC last year, and East Oldham was 14th. North Oldham will be the favorites here, chased by South Oldham, East Oldham, and Oldham County. Individually, the top contenders will be Chase Patton and Riggs Hardy of North Oldham, Steven Votaw of Oldham County, Jason King of South Oldham, and Jacob Barnum of St. Aloysius. Again, this is a very deep race with many contenders, so anything goes.
The Ken Combs Running Store High School Championship races will be run as a hokum-karem style race. Runners will run with a partner, alternating mile legs for a total of a 4-mile race (each partner runs twice). The girls race will feature Class AAA #6 Oldham County and #7 South Oldham taking on Class AA #3 North Oldham. Since scoring will be by the total time of the first three pairs of runners, strategy will come into play when the teams make up their parings. Oldham County will be the favorite here, with Caroline Grogan and Kelly Klump giving the Colonels a strong time advantage up front. Erin Edmundson and Marissa Lowe of North Oldham could challenge, as could Hallie Searcy and Keightly Dudgeon of South Oldham. The question, though, is will these pairs materialize, or will another strategy be used.
The high school boys race will pit AAA #6 South Oldham against AA #1 North Oldham, with Oldham County coming on strong recently. North Oldham will have to be the favorite overall, but again, with time a factor, the other two teams could close that gap. Individually, Cole and Tanner Dowdy of South Oldham could have a great battle with Trenton Fryman and David Terkula of North Oldham if they are teamed up, but with their depth, North Oldham has a lot of options for their strategy.
The race schedule for the evening is below.
4:30pm Gustavo’s Elementary Girls Championship 1-mile
4:45pm Jones Group Elementary Boys Championship 1-mile
5:00pm Great Clips Middle School Girls Championship 2-miles
5:30pm Steve-O’s Middle School Boys Championship 2-miles
6:00pm Ken Combs Running Store High School Championship
(boys and girls run together, scored separately) – 2 x 1-mile Hokum-Karem
6:45pm Open/Alumni Race