FRANKLIN COUNTY INVITATIONAL
September 20, 2014 @ New Horse Park in Lexington, KY
Hosted by Franklin County
KYtrackXC.com WILL BE LIVE AT THE MEET SATURDAY
Franklin County Invitational Top 10 to Watch
Top 100 GIRLS EVER at the Franklin County Invitational at New Horse Park Course
Top 100 BOYS EVER at the Franklin County Invitational at New Horse Park Course
Virtual Meet Preview
High School Girls:
This Season | Last Season
High School Boys:
This Season | Last Season
It may be very early in this cross country season, but this year’s Franklin County Invitational holds a lot of significance. For many teams, this is a chance to gain valuable experience on the course which hosts the State Championship. There is no doubt that coaches are using this meet to help prepare their teams for that important race on November 8th. The New Horse Park can be very deceiving, it may look flat and relatively fast but the rolling hills and sharp turns do not make for an easy race. For someone that has never run there before, it can be a shock how difficult it actually is. This is not your average mid-September cross country meet, this race will be about more than fast times and first place finishes. Ultimately, it will be about giving teams a chance to prepare for a much bigger opportunity.
Varsity Boys
Going into this race, a slight edge should be given to Robert Rupp of North Hardin based on his stellar performance last weekend. Rupp’s time of 15:40 last week is very impressive but he may have his hands full this weekend at The Horse Park. Mitch Poynter (Tippecanoe), Daniel Frame (Tippecanoe), Brennan Fields (Madison Central), Seth Grad (Eaton), Aaron Wier (Lexington Christian), Logan Campbell (Owsley County), and Garrett Faulkner (Williamsburg) are also in contention to win this race; they have all been consistently running in either the low 16’s or mid 15’s this season. At this course, getting out fast and early is crucial and whoever can do that the most effectively may get the advantage. This will be a fun race, with a good amount of runners packed towards the front which should make for a close finish.
In the team competition, Tippecanoe is the odds on favorite to win with five runners projected to finish in the top twenty-six. Barring a complete collapse, they should take home the title with a large margin of victory. Second and third place are not so clear cut with teams such as North Hardin, Eaton, St. Henry, Henry Clay, Russell, Lafayette, Lexington Christian, and Scott County all having a good shot. Any of these teams could find themselves in the top three. Based on the projections, the fourth and fifth runners will play a large part in separating these teams in the end. Whatever team can pack their runners together the best will have a great advantage and it may even come down to a tiebreaker which would involve a sixth or even seventh place finisher on a team. In a race this big, every point counts.
Varsity Girls
Brianna Wolken (Mercy) is the favorite heading into the girls’ varsity race. Last week at Rumble through the Jungle her time of 18:26 was only good enough for second place, but this weekend she may just find herself coming away with the victory. The rest of the top five will be a highly contested matchup between Taylor Broermann (Eaton), Renee Svec (St. Henry), Selena Mattingly (Williamsburg), Kendall Hayes (Woodford Co.), and Samantha Hentz (St. Henry). All of these girls run in the mid to low nineteen's and could finish in any order. Along with Wolken, they are in a class above the rest of the competition.
Tippecanoe is no doubt the favorite to take home the girl’s team title. Their top five runners are projected to finish in the top sixteen and if they can pull that off then there is little chance for another team to contend with them. Just like in the boy’s race, second and third place will be between a good number of teams. Eaton, St. Henry, Madison Central, Henry Clay, Woodford County, North Hardin, and Mercy all have a great shot to crack the top three. Most of the teams just mentioned should have more than one girl finish in the top twenty so those third and fourth runners are crucial. It is going to be very interesting to see which team separates itself from the rest and maybe gives Tippecanoe a run for their money.