Weekend Wrap Up: Major Shake Up's In the State Rankings
Well...I'm thoroughly confused. This weekend we had some of the top teams all over the place. For the boys we finally got the matchup we've been waiting for. The Trinity and Conner went head to head up at the national heart of cross country in Terre Haute, Indiana which is an odd place for the heart of anything but... it's a pretty cool place so I can't complain.
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Great American XC Festival
The St. Xavier boys who had honestly not impressed went to WakeMed soccer park in Cary, NC to get a preview of the NXN Southeast Regional course and channeled their postseason mode to post some of the top times in the state, in fact, now they're the team at the top of the state leaderboards! The team led by Nolan Hester (16:12.20) and Peter Schoenbachler (16:13.60) will look to stay on that roll as they head towards the postseason.
The other team that traveled to Cary, NC also came away as a huge winner on the week as they moved themselves into the 3rd spot as a team on the statistic leaderboards in the state. Sarah Wilkinson and Katelyn Cornett led the ladies of Sacred Heart to post some new PR's and season bests while they add freshman Savannah Stoutt to their varsity squad for just the 3rd time this year as they look to build their team up for state in less than a month.
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Nike Valley Twilight Invitational
Along with those teams came the ladies of duPont Manual with 3 of their top five coming away with new season bests while Jessica Secor continues to chop down her 5k PR (18:30) placing 9th overall. One thing that we haven't seen yet though is a head to head matchup between the defending state champs of Oldham County and the girls hunting to get back on top in duPont Manual.
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Greater Louisville XC Classic
Finally, the Greater Louisville Classic was home to some of the top individuals and a few of the "in the hunt" teams as well as the top girls team in the state. The sibling duo of Ciara and Conner O'Shea once again look to be the ones to beat on November 2nd taking home wins over a strong in and out of state field on one of the premiere courses in the state. As for the others, some of the guys who will be in contention for top 10 spots at state duked it out including Lane Hoyes (15:45), Brady Terry (15:58), Levi Streeval (15:59), and Jackson Watts (16:05). Going into the meet it was almost a toss up between a few teams including Daviess County, Brentwood High School, and Madison Central. Led by Conner's first place finish and a strong 2-3 from Brady Masters and Kyler Stewart, Madison Central made a statement proving they will be a force in the team battle.
The girls behind Ciara came Ashlyn Liddle (18:36) who once again inches closer to her PR as she continues her improvement throughout the season running 11 seconds faster than she did just a few weeks earlier at Trinity/Valkyrie in Tom Sawyer State Park. Phoebe McCowan also had an amazing race finally running against some of the top in-state competition with her fastest 5k in years with an 18:58. The team battle was won by the defending state champs of Oldham County who narrowly edged out Brentwood High School from Tennessee with the final scored coming out to OC- 90 BHS- 94. They were led by Ella Henage (19:12.40) while sister Hannah Henage (20:02.30) came away as the hero on the day as the all important 5th runner.
