For many years, including this one, the KTCCCA Meet of Champions has been a hallmark meet leading up to states. Once again, this meet turned out to be a great one with thousands of athletes competing in over 18 events. This meet was highlighted by the Middle School State Championships, 6th&Under State Championships, 4th&Under State Championships, along with 8 high school races too.
The day started out very cold today at Masterson Station Park in Lexington, Kentucky. At the start of the morning today it was a whopping 36 degrees! Though it warmed up to upper fifties by some of the middle school races, it did take awhile to get there, while having frost on the ground for the first few races too. This meet management was great with bleachers to watch the finish in, and greatly coordinating the finish of hundreds of athletes at a time, some events numbering in the four hundreds in finishers. This years’ course was a new one and featured some excellent times, and as the finish line announcer got a kick out of saying, each finish was another course record.
The high school races this year were divided by grades, with each grade having its’ own race. First to start the day was the senior men. The Senior Men’s’ race was won by Zach Holtkamp from Bishop Brossart who pushed the pace early coming by the first mile in a swift, cold, no, freezing, 4:58. Michael Waltman of Sayre would go onto second in 16:36 who also started it out fast coming through the first mile around 5:05 in a little pack. The top five of this race was finished out by Jud Weaver of Lafayette (16:49), Jordan Cummins of Grant County (16:55), and Jack Foster from Bishop Brossart (16:59).
Next up were the girls seniors. For this race is was all Ann Eason of Sayre cruising to victory just as her usual teammate and racing partner Maddox Patterson would do later in the day, but this was Ann’s time to shine from taking the lead early with a hundred meter lead by the first mile (6:11) and finishing at a 19:23, a full minute ahead of second place. Ann was then followed by Morgan Downs of Lexington Christian (20:30), Kristyn Hooper of Muhlenberg County (20:56), then her twin sister Kaitlyn (20:57), and Alyssa Anderson of Shelby County rounding out the top five in 22:19.
Next were the men then women’s junior races. The men’s race was won by Austin Adams in 16:46, while the women’s race was won by Kaitlin Snapp of Danville in 18:52. The men’s race top five was finished out by Todd Yoder of West Jessamine (16:55), Ben Turner of Conner (17:10), Aaron Stevens of Elliot County (17:13), and Woody Higginbotham of Lafayette (17:14). The women’s race was a little more spread out by having a ninety second margin between first and second. Second in this race was Kristen Just of Franklin County (20:18), followed in third by Lenease Byers of Trigg County (21:23), then in fourth was Cassey Fischer of Henry County (21:28) then in fifth was Brooke Barber of Franklin County in a time of 21:45.
In the guys’ sophomore race featured many head to head finishes being very difficult to call in many instances of who beat whom. The race was won by Alex Beckerson of Burgin (17:51) follower closely by Connor Bartels of Newport Catholic (18:08) and Layne Gaynor of North Laurel (18:13). The top five was rounded out with Nathan Tanner of Bell County (18:15) and Bryant Qualls of Mercer County (18:42).
The Girls sophomore race was up next and won by Lindsey Mathis of Muhlenberg County (19:37). Up next in this race was her teammate Aliah Fueller in 19:45 followed soon after by Alex Bunch of Lincoln County in 19:55. To finish out the top five were Taylor Webb of Shelby County 20:07 and Julia Woods of Mason County in 20:48.
Next up and finishing out the high school races of the day were the freshman races. The freshman guy’s race was won in an astonishingly fast time with Jimmy Goldson of Pulaski County in a time of 16:49. First and second place came into the stadium together but only in the last 200 meters did Jimmy solidify his lead in route to his victory. Though he may have been moving pretty fast, second was not too far behind with Chase Geary of Muhlenberg County in 16:53. Third also was not that far behind with Nicholas Waltman of Sayre finishing in 16:59. To finish out the top five were Michael Caldwell of Bishop Brossart (17:05) and Jonathan Taylor of Port. Christian (17:06).
Last but not least was the girls’ freshman race with race temperature over fifty for the first time in the meet. This race was won by Mia Cornette of Lafayette (20:03) well ahead of second. Second place was Kelly Brown of Bell County (20:43), third was Tiffany Russell of Southwestern in 21:07. To finish out the top five was Jessica Prell of Bullitt East (21:17) and Hannah Durbin of Model (21:35).
Featuring a unique format and a lack of a real team competition since only the top three finishers in each race counted towards the team score, this meet turned out to be just as great as it had in the past. With the top ten getting awards and top fifty getting medals this race gave rightful awards to many athletes, a nice touch at any meets, especially one of this caliber. KYtrackXC.com would like to congratulate all athletes that competed today and braved the cold en route to many course records, and wishes the best of luck in the next weeks to all those competing in post season meets.