The Spartan boys settled for a disappointing seventh place finish at the District race just one year after they won that race and went on to place seventh at the State Championships.  The lone bright spot came from Nicholas El-Khoury and Drew DiSabatino, both of whom qualified individually for the Regional race in Troy.  Turpin’s girls team will accompany El-Khoury and DiSabatino after placing second in their District race.   

Entering the race, the guys knew the whole team would have to perform exceptionally well in order to advance out of the district.  Despite solid races from El-Khoury who finished fourth in 16:16, DiSabatino who finished fifteenth in 16:42, and David Rodriguez, who just missed qualifying individually with a 22nd place finish in 17:01, Turpin’s four through seven runners were unable to seal the deal.  Zach Smith ran under eighteen minutes for only the second time in his career placing 49th in 17:50.  Jon Risher was only seven seconds behind finishing 53rd, and Jack Reeder finished 62nd in 18:17.  The Spartan boys fell to the favorites LaSalle and St. Xavier, along with Sycamore, Oak Hills, Anderson, and Colerain.   

With three of Cincinnati’s top girls teams, Mason, Kings, and Oak Hills, choosing to race in the Pickerington qualifier, the Spartan girls had no trouble qualifying as a team.  Kaitlin Price and Megan Plichta finished third and fourth with respective times of 19:26 and 19:35.  Lauren Young placed 14th in 20:08, and Jillian Jaworek finished 17th in 20:35.  Lauren Keene rounded out the scoring Spartan girls finishing 19th in 20:40.  Victoria Clancey was not far behind finishing 20th in 20:45, and Maki Fujimoto placed 38th in 21:36.  Overall, the girls placed second, and will move on to Troy with Colerain, Sycamore, Milford.                

Although the win was not by as convincing a margin as last year, the Spartan boys were still able to defend their FAVC Cardinal Division title for the third consecutive year. And unfortunately, the Spartan girls settled for second place for the second straight year, losing to Kings by just three points. A special congratulations goes to Coach Gossett for winning FAVC Coach-of-the-Year honors.

As has become the custom this year, Nicholas El-Khoury led the Spartans from the start. El-Khoury was the first Cardinal division finisher and second overall with a time of 16:18, getting just beaten out by Milford runner Austin Bever. Dave Rodriguez was the second Cardinal finisher, with a solid finishing time of 16:53. Drew DiSabatino finished fifth in 17:08, and Alex Polivka ran under eighteen minutes for the second time finishing in 17:54. Jack Reeder rounded out the scoring Spartans placing seventeenth in 18:14, just ahead of Zach Smith who finished in 18:17. Joe Murray, hampered by a hip injury, finished his season with a time of 18:52. Although the Spartan boys did win the Cardinal Division, they would have lost to Milford, Loveland, and rival Anderson had the Cardinal and Buckeye results been combined.

The girls fell just short of winning their division despite sold finishes from the Spartan girls one, two, and three runners. Kaitlin Price and Meghan Plichta took turns leading the Spartans throughout the race. Plichta charged ahead of Price in the second half of the race, but was out then outkicked in the final meters finishing just behind Price with respective times of 19:27 and 19:28, good for second and third place. Lauren Young finished in seventh place in 19:48, just behind a group of three Kings runners. Unfortunately, the fourth and fifth Kings runner finished ahead of Jillian Jaworek and Victoria Clancey, who finished together in 20:50 and 20:51, respectively. Lauren Keene finished in 20:57 and Alexia Yun was the final Spartan, finishing in 22:04. The Turpin girls scored 35 points to the Kings girls’ 32 points.

Girls 3rd, Boys 4th, countless personal best times set at St. Xavier

Just two years after Ryan Kiracofe broke Turpin’s school record in the 5k, a new runner has taken the top spot on the list of Turpin’s best. This past Saturday on a fast St. Xavier course, Nicholas El-Khoury surpassed Matt Meurer (16:13, ’98), Kyle Rewick (16:04, ’07), and Ryan Kiracofe (16:03,’06) to become Turpin’s fastest runner with a record time of 15 minutes 58 seconds. While El-Khoury’s record was no doubt the highlight of the day, the St. Xavier Invitational also was host to a great number of improvements throughout the entire Turpin cross country program.

In the boys varsity race, Dave Rodriguez and Drew DiSabatino finished together, both in 16:43. This brings Rodriguez within ten seconds of his career best, while DiSabatino ran sixteen seconds under his career best, set just last week. First-year runner John Risher smashed his career best finishing well under eighteen minutes with a time of 17:45. Alex Polivka broke eighteen minutes for the first time in his running career finishing in 17:55. Joe Murray shaved a few seconds of his career best finishing in 18:04. Both he and Zach Smith, who finished in 18:09, hope to run under eighteen minutes next week.

Two races earlier, the girls also made their mark. Kaitlin Price reached the podium finishing sixth in 19:04, her fastest time this season. Megan Plichta smashed her previous personal best finishing in 19:18, and Lauren Young also set a new best time of 19:32. Victoria Clancy, improved her seasonal and personal best finishing in 20:34, while Lauren Keene matched her best time from 2007, 20:48. As a team, the girls placed third behind Oak Hills and Colerain.

Elsewhere, in the JV race, Jack Reeder and Alex Williams finished in 18:15 and 18:16 respectively, racing thirty seconds (Reeder) and one minute (Williams) faster than their previous best time. Sam Auvil, Scott Wenderoth, Brandon Bodnar, and Alex Slagle all finished under twenty minutes for the first time.

The Spartans will be racing next Saturday in Centerville. Racing begins at 12:25 PM. Check the schedule for full details.

Photos

On Saturday September 20th, the Turpin Cross Country teams traveled to Harrison High School to compete in the Harrison Invitational.  Both teams expected the site of previous FAVC championships to be a fast, flat course.  Coming back from a somewhat disappointing race at Alliance invitational, all runners looked to improve and win at the Harrison course.

The first race of the day was the Girl’s Varsity race.  Battling against Michelle Thomas of Glen Este and other top runners from around Cincinnati, the girls held their own and won the race.  Kaitlin Price led the team with a 6th place finish with a time of 19:27.  Meg Plichta followed behind with a new personal record of 19:45 and Lauren Young finished with a 20:09.  Lauren Keene ran an impressive 20:51 and freshman Victoria Clancey ran her first varsity race in 21:19.  Maki Fujimoto and Alexia Yun rounded out the Spartans with respective times of 21:29 and 21:37.  The Turpin girls won the race with 75 points to 2nd place Loveland’s 97.

The Turpin guys’ race started right after the girl’s race.  Turpin’s junior captain, Nicholas El-Khoury, won the race overall with a time of 16:23.  Recovering runner Dave Rodriguez kept on improving with a season best of 16:58.  For senior Drew DiSabatino, Harrison’s course marked the first time that DiSabatino broke the 17 minute barrier, as he ran a 16:59.  Joe Murray ran a new best time of 18:08, while Jon Risher and Zach Smith finished neck in neck in 18:26 and 18:28, respectively.  The Spartans came in 3rd by only 4 points.

Seasonal bests were set all over the board in the boys and girls open races.  Gretchen Muth won Turpin’s athlete of the meet for running a 2nd place finish in a time of 22:02. 

In the open boys race, Jack Reeder and Adam Galloway made personal and seasonal bests, respectively, of 19:01 and 19:10.  Derek Tucker, Brandon Bodnar, Sam Auvil, Cody Vanderpool, Alex Slagle, Cameron Young, and Patrick Nienhaus all ran seasonal/personal records for themselves. 

The Spartan teams are drawing on the success of Harrison in order to prepare for the St. Xavier Invitational on Saturday, September 27th, 2008.  Congratulations to all the finishers of the Harrison Invitational and good luck at St. X!

Due to an extended power outage the pasta dinner for this Friday (9/19/08) has been moved to the Smith's. All food assignments remain the same.

Pasta: Strominger and Williams
Bread and Salad: Miller
Desert: Risher

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