Tue Feb 09 2010
Late-season injuries have hit the local cross country teams.
But they haven’t stopped them.
Franklin County senior Robert Sandlin, nursing a pulled hamstring, captured the Class 2A, Region 4 championship Saturday at the State Library and Archives.
FCHS sophomore Jenny Hellmann was runner-up in the girls race, and both Franklin County teams earned spots in the state meet this coming Saturday at the Kentucky Horse Park.
Qualifying for state as individuals were Western Hills seniors Daniel Thurston, who has a stress fracture, and Brandon Pulliam. The Wolverines just missed qualifying as a team, finishing two points behind FCHS, which took the last state berth.
The top five boys teams, the top three girls teams and the top five individuals in the boys and girls races not on those teams qualified for state.
Sandlin, currently ranked second in the state in Class 2A, led the race from start to finish, but he had some stiff competition from Lloyd Memorial’s Joey Landrum, ranked third in the state.
“I think I went out too fast,” said Sandlin, who covered the 5,000-meter course in 16 minutes, 55.18 seconds. “When we got to three miles Joey died, and that made me feel better.
“I thought it would come down to a sprint at the finish,” he added. “That’s what I was afraid of. Last week I pulled my hamstring, and the last thing I wanted to do was sprint at the finish.”
Sandlin didn’t have to worry about that as Landrum was second at 17:14.35.
At the regional meet last year, Sandlin finished fourth with Landrum taking third.
“I’m just glad my hamstring held up, I beat Joey and I still feel good,” Sandlin said. “I had an awesome time. I’ve never been close to breaking 17 (minutes) on this course.
“I was hoping to beat 17:16,” he added, “because that’s what the guy who’s ranked first (James Brown of Bell County) got here halfway through the season, and I wanted to get that.”
Covington Catholic won the team title with 51 points, and FCHS was fifth with 120.
FCHS’ Jordan Parris was in the top 15, placing 11th in 18:49.34.
The Lady Flyers, ranked 10th in the state in Class 2A, were second with 56 points and Lloyd Memorial, ranked seventh, won with 31 points.
Lloyd Memorial’s Elisha Overpeck, the state’s top-ranked Class 2A runner, won the 5,000-meter race in 21:09.08, and Hellmann was second in 22:12.61. FCHS’ Brooke Stigers was also in top 10, finishing ninth in 23:28.58.
“My goal was to make it to state and to run my best time on this course,” Hellmann said, “not my overall best time, but my best time here. I met my goal and made it to state.”
Hellmann beat her previous best time on the Archives course by 15 seconds.
An individual qualifier this year, Hellmann will be going to state with a full team this time around.
“We knew if everyone came out and did their best we could make it,” she said, “and we did.”
Also finishing in the top 15 for the Lady Flyers were Kristen Just, 12th in 24:02.97, and Shelby Wacker, 13th in 24:04.67.
Thurston, regional runner-up last season, was running for the first time in two weeks Saturday. He finished fifth in 18:02.03, and Pulliam was sixth in 18:02.84.
“I took some time off trying to get this healed up,” Thurston said of his stress fracture, “so I was out of shape running-wise and I was in so much pain. For the two weeks I wasn’t running I swam, but that doesn’t keep you in top condition for running.”
But it was enough to get Thurston to state for the fourth straight year.
“My goal was to get to state, so I had to endure something,” Thurston said. “I want to run at state, and I’m not even worried about how I do there.
“The team missed going to state by two points,” he added, “and we’re all pretty bummed about that.”
Pulliam, who has endured injuries and illness this season, will be going to state for the third straight year.
“I was shooting for fifth place,” he said, “and I got sixth place. It was close to my goal, but not close enough to get the team in.
“I’ve been pretty slow this year,” Pulliam added, “until the last two weeks when I got to where I was last year. I was expecting to be around here at the start of the year and then work from there.”
Last season, FCHS’ first in the region with Northern Kentucky schools, Franklin County didn’t send a full team to state. This year FCHS will send two.
“This is a really tough region,” Franklin County coach Kelly Lewis said. “We were nervous coming in. We knew if everyone did their best we could make it, but it would be tough.
“Everyone did great,” she added. “Jenny, Brooke, Shelby and Kristen stepped it up really well, and Katelyn (Chalk) and Marci (Beason) did well, too.
“Jenny finishing second was great, since she hasn’t been ranked in the top 25 all year.”
On the boys side, the four teams that placed ahead of FCHS have been ranked in the top 10 all season.
“We didn’t think we’d be in the top four,” Lewis said, “and we knew the fifth spot would be between us, Western Hills and Lloyd Memorial.
“I told Adam (Schaffner, WHHS coach) that if we could have knocked off one of the top four both of us could have gone.”
Also running for FCHS Saturday were Jason Shaw, 24th in 19:25.59; Anthony Adkins, 38th in 20:44.54; Parker Smith, 46th in 21:09.74; Matthew Wyatt, 49th in 21:33.52; and Will van Arsdall, 53rd in 21:51.92.
Besides Thurston and Pulliam, those running for the Wolverines were Grant Hughes, 28th in 19:40.80; Tyler Nix, 36th in 20:30.65; Zack Wasson, 47th in 21:23.43; Zach Gaines, 59th in 23:07.32; and Chris Nguyen, 65th in 24:47.54.
At state this week, the girls Class 2A race will be at 11:30 a.m., and the boys Class 2A race will be at 12:15 p.m.
The boys teams who qualified for state are Covington Catholic, Pendleton County, Highlands, Lexington Catholic and FCHS.
The boys individual qualifiers are Landrum, Thurston, Pulliam, and Lloyd Memorial’s Alex Henn, 25th in 19:30.53; and Camron Musk, 27th in 19:38.41.
The girls teams going to state are Lloyd Memorial, FCHS and Highlands. The individual qualifiers are Kelsey McCain of Pendleton County, fifth in 22:54.17, and Lexington Catholic’s Megan Hailey, 11th in 23:57.32; Mindy Hassur, 14th in 24:25.25; Nikki Yurkoski, 15th in 24:28.51; and Janet Schnurr, 16th in 24:33.98.
RESULTS
Boys 5,000 meters
Team Scores
1. Covington Catholic (CovCath) 51, 2. Pendleton Co. (PCHS) 62, 3. Highlands (HHS) 99, 4. Lexington Catholic (LexCath) 103, 5. Franklin Co. (FCHS) 120, 6. Western Hills (WHHS) 122, 7. Lloyd Memorial (LMHS) 139, 8. Bourbon Co. (BCHS) 240, 9. Harrison Co. (HCHS) 242, 10. Holmes 246
Individual
1. Robert Sandlin, Sr., FCHS, 16:55.18, 2. Joey Landrum, Sr., LMHS, 17:14.35, 3. Kevin Crush, Sr., CovCath, 17:37.11, 4. Stephen Schwab, Sr., CovCath, 17:43.03, 5. Daniel Thurston, Sr., WHHS, 18:02.03, 6. Brandon Pulliam, Sr., WHHS, 18:02.84, 7. Cameron Turner, Sr., PCHS, 18:22.53, 8. Nicholas Laureano, Fr., LexCath, 18:25.69, 9. Matthew Smith, Sr., CovCath, 18:44.58, 10. Kyle Gosney, Sr., PCHS, 18:48.54
11. Jordan Parris, Sr., FCHS, 18:49.34, 12. Jacob Hanser, So., PCHS, 18:53.73, 13. Paul Cusick, Sr., CovCath, 19:01.80, 14. Michael Johnston, Jr., LexCath, 19:07.42, 15. Jacob Howell, So., PCHS, 19:08.95, 16. Brenton Giesey, Sr., HHS, 19:10.03, 17. Will Cave, Sr., HHS, 19:11.69, 18. Kurtis King, Sr., PCHS, 19:13.32, 19. Keegan Kruse, Sr., HHS, 19:16.38
20. Joseph Richey, So., LexCath, 19:17.01, 21. John Michael Griffith, 8th, HHS, 19:19.69, 22. James Simms, Sr., CovCath, 19:20.59, 23. Khang Le, Jr., CovCath, 19:24.89, 24. Jason Shaw, Sr., FCHS, 19:25.59, 25. Alex Henn, So., LMHS, 19:30.53, 26. Garrett Wehrle, Fr., HHS, 19:32.27, 27. Camron Musk, Fr., LMHS, 19:38.41, 28. Grant Hughes, So., WHHS, 19:40.80, 29. Jacob Marsh, So., HCHS, 19:44.22
30. Gavin Knies, So., LexCath, 19:45.52, 31. Mark Rudy, Jr., LexCath, 19:47.74, 32. Brayden Schlagbaum, So., CovCath, 19:52.47, 33. Travis Hilker, Jr., HHS, 20:08.65, 34. Jaylin Wilson, Fr., Holmes, 20:14.96, 35. Nick Nieporte, 8th, LMHS, 20:23.19, 36. Tyler Nix, Fr., WHHS, 20:30.65, 37. Aaron Etherton, Sr., HHS, 20:35.22, 38. Anthony Adkins, Sr., FCHS, 20:44.54, 39. Brooks McClain, So., BCHS, 20:49.27
40. Christian Varney, Fr., Holmes, 20:50.12, 41. Nathan Radford, 8th, HCHS, 20:50.50, 42. Eric Juarez, Sr., BCHS, 20:53.49, 43. Bryce Hill, So., PCHS, 20:54.55, 44. Jeff Edwards, Sr., PCHS, 20:59.89, 45. Alan Royce, So., BCHS, 21:03.31, 46. Parker Smith, Jr., FCHS, 21:09.74, 47. Zack Wasson, So., WHHS, 21:23.43, 48. Thomas Baker, So., LexCath, 21:29.74, 49. Matthew Wyatt, Sr., FCHS, 21:33.52
50. Keland Williams, So., LMHS, 21:38.06, 51. Sungkwon Kudo, Jr., LMHS, 21:41.07, 52. Jesus Oropeza, So., BCHS, 21:48.45, 53. Will Van Arsdall, Jr., FCHS, 21:51.92, 54. Justin Booth, Sr., Holmes, 21:53.28, 55. David Roberts, Fr., HCHS, 22:13.01, 56. Damon King, Fr., HCHS, 22:14.83, 57. Riley Marshall, Sr., LexCath, 22:53.46, 58. Ramonne Dandridge, Jr., Holmes, 23:06.62, 59. Zach Gaines, Sr., WHHS, 23:07.32
60. Sergio Olvera-Vancini, 8th, Holmes, 23:37.47, 61. Keenan Palmer, So., HCHS, 23:49.03, 62. Christain Hart, Fr., BCHS, 24:09.46, 63. Tyler Hardin, Sr., HCHS, 24:27.43, 64. Nicholas Whitaker, Sr., HCHS, 24:40.94, 65. Chris Nguyen, So., WHHS, 24:47.54, 66. Willie Bonds, So., Holmes, 26:06.46
Girls 5,000 meters
Team Scores
1. Lloyd Memorial (LMHS) 31, 2. Franklin Co. (FCHS) 56, 3. Highlands (HHS) 61, 4. Lexington Catholic (LexCath) 68
Individual
1. Elisha Overpeck, Sr., LMHS, 21:09.08, 2. Jennifer Hellmann, So., FCHS, 22:12.61, 3. Torey Duncan, So., LMHS, 22:18.22, 4. Courtney Siefert, Sr., LMHS, 22:44.39, 5. Kelsey McCain, Sr., PCHS, 22:54.17, 6. Kelsey Clark, Fr., HHS, 22:57.65, 7. Sarah Duncan, 8th, LMHS, 23:01.66, 8. Paige Dauer, 8th, HHS, 23:27.77, 9. Brooke Stigers, Jr., FCHS, 23:28.58, 10. Jenna Sapsford, Jr., HHS, 23:41.88
11. Megan Hailey, So., LexCath, 23:57.32, 12. Kristen Just, So., FCHS, 24:02.97, 13. Shelby Wacker, So., FCHS, 24:04.67, 14. Mindy Hassur, Fr., LexCath, 24:25.25, 15. Nikki Yurkoski, Sr., LexCath, 24:28.51, 16. Janet Schnurr, Sr., LexCath, 24:33.98, 17. Erika Russ, So., LexCath, 24:42.51, 18. Courtney Davis, Fr., LMHS, 24:52.60, 19. Jenny Ritchie, Jr., LexCath, 25:03.90
20. Cassidy Hill, Jr., HHS, 25:21.78, 21. Mary Stewart Montague, Sr., LexCath, 25:41.14, 22. Bethany King, Sr., PCHS, 26:00.12 , 23. Sarah Eichelberger, Sr., HHS, 26:52.16, 24. Jessica Alas, Fr., HCHS, 27:04.79 , 25. Michaela Schnorbus, So., LMHS, 27:19.55, 26. Katelyn Chalk, So., FCHS, 27:23.46, 27. Marci Beason, Fr., FCHS, 27:45.04, 28. Shelley Martin, So., LMHS, 28:59.54, 29. Erica Patterson, Sr., HHS, 29:49.16
30. Laura Geiman, Jr., HHS, 29:49.81, 31. Amanda Cupp, So., Holmes, 30:42.66 , 32. Dana Jarboe, Sr., FCHS, 32:33.48, 33. Kendyl Whaley, Sr., WHHS, 32:59.40 , 34. Nicole Winkler, Sr., Holmes, 34:05.36 , 35. Alexis Roberts, Fr., HCHS, 34:15.32 , 36. Ashley Lakes, Fr., HCHS, 34:39.50
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