It is Friday afternoon and I have just arrived in Lexington. The sun is out and it beautiful outside. The Kentucky State Cross Country Meet will take tomorrow and there are six outstanding races on the schedule for tomorrow each for their own reason.
Make sure you check back for all day coverage on Saturday!
Class A Girls : (9:30 AM)
As KYtrackXC.com has been saying since July, this individual match-up is going to a showdown. The defending champion, 8th grader Maddox Patterson takes on former three time champion Kaitlin Snapp from Danville. They have gone head to head twice this season with Patterson winning each dual. Last week at the Class A Region 5 Championship Patterson bested Snapp by 33 seconds. Snapp will look to make amends for missing last year’s championship because of sickness with her 4th career title. Either way this is going to be a great one.
The team battle looks like Fairview’s to win. They have a solid pack led by Lyndsey Burke. If this group can put five in the top 25 this race is over. St. Henry led by Ashley Svec will be solid up front. Sayre led by the dangerous trio of Patterson, Ann Eason, and Philippine Couturier could steal the whole thing if they put three in the top six. Trimble County will be in the mix as well.
Class A Boys (10:15 AM)
This race looked all wrapped up until a few weeks ago when Holy Cross sophomore Jacob Thomson unfortunately was knocked out with a bit of sickness. Thomson came back to run at the Class A Region 3 Championship where he placed 3rd behind teammate Dominic Perronie and John Burke. Perronie looks to be Thomson’s biggest competition on Saturday. Thomson though still has to be the favorite with another week to train and recover. He has best times of 15:18 and finished 10th overall at Great American. Zac Holtkamp and Brendan Dooley should be right there in the mix as well.
The team title looks to be won by St. Henry for the 9th year in a row. Holy Cross (Louisville) could be extremely dangerous as they have the ability to place three in the top ten Saturday. Bishop Brossart has a strong group up front as well. The question is can the strength of these groups up front overcome the depth of St. Henry.
Class AA Girls (11:30 AM)
The individual battle is interesting as the front two have faced each other at least five times this season. Jenna Rogers (Christian Academy) is the defending champion and Caterina Karas (Collins) is new to the class after competing in Class AAA last year. This could go either way in the end and could be the best closest battle of the day.
The ladies of South Oldham will look to win their 3rd Class AA team title in a row and out all races they are the best bet to do so. They could place two in the top five, along with the rest of their top five in the top fifteen.
Class AA Boys (12:15 PM)
Jared Skrabacz of South Warren looks to continue the Greenwood winning streak even though he no longer attends Greenwood. He has really stepped up this year and should face a tough race from Taylor Sanders of North Oldham and possibly James Brown of Bell County depending on his health. Sanders and Skrabacz have each run under 15:50 more than once this year. The strength to handle the middle mile will be the difference in this race.
North Oldham and Lexington Catholic have clearly established themselves as the best in Class AA. They met once this year at the St. Henry Invitational with North Oldham getting the best of Catholic. Lexington Catholic has a strong pack that could be a real threat if the four are all in the top 20. North Oldham’s depth is what makes them stand out. They have Sanders and Colin Grandon up front up they could possibly 3-7 in the middle of the Lexington Catholic pack. South Oldham and South Warren will look to pull a surprise tomorrow if the two big dogs slip at all.
Class AAA Girls (1:30 PM)
Emma Brink will look to win her 4th consecutive Class AAA title and break her own state meet record. If she wins, this will be the first time a girl has won every year of her high school career since Kathleen Beumel of Apollo did from 1976 – 1979. Brink has already established herself as one of the all-time greats; another victory will only help her legacy even more.
duPont Manual and Assumption have flip flopped back in forth between #1 and #2 all year. Now they will decide for sure tomorrow. Each is loaded with great front talent, Kristen and Cassidy Hale, Sarah Barker for Manual. Emily Bean, Ashley El Rady, and Caroline McCaslin lead Assumption. The battle at 4-5 will be worth watching, but the front three might decide for each team. If XC scored four Bowling Green would be right there with them. Daviess County and Sacred Heart could make some real noise in the race simply based on their strength at #1 (Brink for SHA , O’Bryan for Daviess.)
Class AAA Boys (2:15 PM)
Evan Ehrenheim (Daviess County) and Jake Wildenmann (Trinity) might have the best battle of the day. These two have not competed against each other since track last spring. They have each won big races this season and both have run fast times. At this point it is really unclear who the favorite is. There is a huge pack behind them that could mix it up especially if they are close in the last mile.
St. Xavier will look to win their second in a row with what has become a real strength for them, superb depth. Connor Sheryak leads the way and is a very safe pick to be in the top ten. Trinity, Daviess County, Butler, and Apollo should be in the top five. They are all solid and could win if they run a great race. They are all pretty close and could fill any of the spots in the top five.