2023 St. Xavier Tiger Run Preview
On Saturday, most of the state's best and brightest will compete at the 2023 STXXC Tiger Run located at Oldham County High School this year. The historic course, known as Haunted Woods, is rolling and quick and is sure to provide a fast race for our athletes. The girls race will go off at 8:00 am and is headlined by Oldham County's Tula Fawbush. The Senior won her first race of the year at the Central Kentucky Run for the Gold in a PR time of 17:32. With this speed, Fawbush will look to break both the meet and course record which are 18:05 by Jaydon Cirincione and 18:01 by Kentucky Legend Gabby Karas. At the Run For the Gold, Fawbush broke the course record and will look to stay undefeated. Her top challengers for Saturday include Barren County's Chesney Mcpherson, Bullitt East's Savannah Mooney, Assumption's Reagan Gilmore, Campbell County's Olivia Holbrook, and Floyd Central's Kaitlyn Stewart. On the team side of things, Assumption will be looking to show the State that they are ready to win another State Championship which will move them to second most All-Time and most Class AAA State titles with 9.
Just like the girls race, the boys race looks to be a battle between two of the Ohio Valley's best in Floyd Central's Will Conway and Thomas Nelson's Riku Sugie. Like Fawbush, Sugie is fresh off a win and course record at the Central Kentucky Run for the Gold where he dominated the competition winning in 15:04. That mark is a Top 10 time in the nation so far. However, Conway is no slouch having a PR at 15:06. Conway also has more wins over Sugie defeating him at both the 2022 Tiger Run and the 2022 Trinity Valkyrie Invitational. Will this trend continue, or will Sugie stay undefeated? We find out this Saturday. Other top challengers to Sugie and Conway are North Oldham's Adam Patel, North Oldham's Charley Townsend, Paul Laurence Dunbar's Noah Matthews, Trinity's Eli Oetken, and Meade County's Mikie Carnell. On the team side of things, Trinity (Louisville) will look to continue their dominant form from the Run for the Gold where they had 15:57 1-5 average. As the season progresses, expect Trinity to challenge for the win in every race this season, potentially culminating in a State Championship for the Rocks in Coach Cave's first season.