Official All-Time Girls State Cross Country Championship

    A few days ago, we took a look at what a potential All-Time State Cross-Country race on the guy's side would look like. St. Xavier dominated that race and Greenwood's Michael Eaton took the individual title. This made me start to think about what an All-Time Girls State Championship race would look like. To do this, 30 of the best teams in KHSAA Cross-Country history, off of State Title numbers or generally regarded as top teams and brought them into a meet. I also, in true cross-country fashion, took the 35 fastest runners outside of those teams and threw them into the race. Why 35? Because there are 7 regions in our State Cross-Country and the 5 fastest individuals from those Regions who were not on one of the teams who make State get to run at the State Championship, so I thought 35 was a perfect number. Without further delay, I now give you the All-Time State Cross Country Championship based on MileSplit data and KHSAA official reports.

    In a similar fashion to the men's race, the ladies from Dupont Manual dominate this race. Led by Kentucky Icon and Tennessee Commit Jessica Secor, Manual has no trouble winning here. 

    In fact, a trend that can be seen here is the dominance of the Louisville schools as Manual, Sacred Heart, and Assumption all place in the top 3. This is not a surprise as those are three of the largest schools in Kentucky allowing their programs to have a larger pool of talent than smaller schools. The big surprise, however, is that Mercy is missing from those Top 3. As one of the bigger schools in Kentucky, you would expect to find the higher on this list than their 15th position suggests. 

    Another surprise here is how the Daviess County girls perform, especially with lacking a low stick. Their top athlete, Whitney O'Bryan, scores just 13 points. However, as with their male counterparts, their depth shines. 

    With their 4th place finish on the girl's side and their 2nd place finish on the guys, they are without question, the top Co-ed High School Cross Country program in history. .

    On to notable individual results, the girl's race is a battle at the Top between 2 of the best runners to ever come through Kentucky.  Ciara O'Shea of Madison Central and Gabby Karas of Collins both break the 17-minute barrier. This shocked me as I believed that O'Shea was far and away the best cross-country runner on the girl's side that I had seen, yet Karas makes a great claim as well. Both of their marks in the low 16:50's may very well be there for a long time as they are nationally great times. Let's hope that this coming season we have some girls move up or make their way onto this list.