DiSabatino, El-Khoury, and Girls Qualify to Troy

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.