Cross country event expected to draw 22 high school, 10 college teams

Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

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High school and college cross country runners from throughout the region are expected to pack Yellow Creek Park on Saturday morning for the Fast Cats Classic.

The inaugural event, co-hosted by Daviess County High School, Kentucky Wesleyan College and Brescia University, is expected to feature 22 high school teams and 10 college programs.

"Ever since we've had the course at Yellow Creek, we wanted to get local colleges out here," Daviess County boys' coach Tony Rowe said. "KWC and Brescia decided to do a joint college meet, and I said we'll just make it a big classic and get the high schools involved."

The timing worked well for organizers, with the Lexington Catholic Invitational canceled this season due to the World Equestrian Games being held at its course -- the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. That helped draw a premier high school field for the Fast Cats Classic.

"We want to make this good enough for people to want to come back," Rowe said.

Racing begins at 9:30 a.m. with an open junior varsity race. The girls' high school varsity race is at 10 a.m., the boys' high school varsity race is at 10:45 a.m., with the women's and men's college races at 11:30 a.m. and 12:15 p.m., respectively.

All of the races are 5Ks, other than the men's race, which is an 8K.

The event has the potential to be the top Class 3-A boys' pre-state meet this season, with four of the top five ranked teams by KYtrackXC.com competing -- No. 1 St. Xavier, No. 3 Butler, No. 4 Apollo and No. 5 Daviess County.

The race will also feature a matchup between two of the premier runners in the state, Daviess County's Evan Ehrenheim (No. 2 in Class 3-A) and South Warren's Jared Skrabacz (No. 1 in 2-A). Ehrenheim won their prior meeting two weeks ago in the Greater Louisville Classic by six seconds.

Other local standout runners competing include Apollo's Justin House and Muhlenberg County's Chase Geary.

On the girls' side, Daviess County, which has been ranked No. 3 or 4 most of the season, gets its first matchup with DuPont Manual, which has been trading the No. 1 ranking with Assumption. The Lady Panthers' Whitney O'Bryan, ranked No. 3 in 3-A, is coming off a personal best time of 18:23, and she'll likely battle with Manual's Kristen Hale, who is ranked No. 2 in 3-A.

Muhlenberg County could also be in contention, with Lindsey Mathis expected to lead the Lady Mustangs.

In addition to the host schools, colleges participating include Southern Indiana, Oakland City, McKendree, Kentucky State, Belmont, Austin Peay, Campbellsville and St. Mary-of-the-Woods.

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