On Saturday, September 8, 2007 the Spartans raced at the Midwest Meet of Champions at Hilliard Darby High School in Hilliard Ohio.  Competing against some of the best schools in the surrounding states, the Spartan boy and girl cross country teams proved once again that they will be a continual threat throughout the season.  Despite the humidity, the fast, flat course produced many astounding times across the board, adding to the overall Spartan success.

The first highlights came from the boys and girls freshmen/sophomore races.  The freshmen and sophomores guys were led by Mark Hamerstadt, whose new PR of 17:45 earned a sixth place finish.  Adam Galloway, Bryan Morton, Joe Murray, and Will Carlson all finished in a row, ranging from 20:12 to 20:27.  In the girl’s race, Alexia Yun came back from vacation to be runner-up with a time of 21:39 with Maki Fujimoto, Cassie Bacon, Lindsey Evans, and Caroline Muth following in eleventh, twelfth, fourteenth, and seventeenth respectively.

In the open races, senior Andrew Steller led the Turpin boys finishing in twentieth place in 18:39.  Junior Gretchen Muth was the first Turpin girl, finishing in nineteenth place in 22:20.

The Boys Race of Champions procured fantastic times also for the Turpin Varsity athletes.  In the boy’s race, Kyle Rewick lead the Spartan males with a ninth place finish along with his second fastest time of 16:14.  He was followed by sophomore Nick El-Khoury, whose tenth place finish in 16:15 is now the third fastest time in Spartan history.  Fellow Sophomore Dave Rodriguez broke the seventeen-minute barrier for the first time with 16:56, making him the fourth Spartan runner to do so this year.  Rob DiMartino followed with an impressive 17:09 while Ben Wagner, returning from sickness, ran a 17:15, beating his old PR by 16 seconds.  Junior Drew Disabitino fought through a physical pain finishing in 17:36 while Varsity newcomer Zach Smith came in with a respectable 18:27.  The Spartan Boys finished in fourth place overall, five places ahead of last year’s race.

The Turpin Varsity girls took on their Race of Champions admirably, finishing in eighth place with an average time of 20:24.  Sam Patty followed behind the lead runners of Emily Pritt (Jackson) and Erika Alpeter (Hilliard Darby) finishing in third place with an incredible PR of 18:42.  Junior Kaitlin Price raced to a 10th place finish with a time of 19:33.  Junior Lauren Young improved from last week by three seconds, finishing in 21:01.  Sophomore Meg Plichta improved by fourteen seconds with her time of 21:20, and Senior Caitlin Kelly followed close behind in 21:27.  Sophomore Jillian Jaworek continued to run strong in 22:00 while Freshman Lauren Keene ran her second varsity race in 22:02.

The Spartans will be racing in the Alliance Invitational next week.  Click for Pasta Dinner Assignments & Meet Information

Complete boys results
Complete girls results
Picture Gallery.  Have photographs you would like to add? Send them to turpinrunning@gmail.com - Please send five or fewer photos per email to maintain quality.

Both the Spartan guys and girls dispelled any doubts as to whether they deserved their preseason ranking in their second race at the Lakota East Classic. The typically fast Voice of America Park course set the tone for many great personal races. Despite racing only six varsity runners, the guys dominated the field placing first (48); thirty points ahead of second place Elder (78). The girl’s team finished second (56) behind Colerain (30).

One of the many highlights that came from Saturday’s race was senior Kyle Rewick’s second place finish in 16:04. His time is a twenty-six second personal record and is only one second away from the school record held by Ryan Kiracofe (2005). Sophomore Nicholas El-Khoury and senior Rob DiMartino finished under seventeen minutes for the first time on Saturday. Nick (16:27) ran a fifty-seven second PR placing fourth and Rob (16:50) ran a thirty-nine second PR placing ninth. Junior Drew DiSabatino (17:04) finished fourteenth with a sixteen second PR and sophomore Dave Rodriguez (17:20) battled a weeklong illness finishing nineteenth. Senior Andrew Steller (18:33) made his first varsity appearance finishing with a three second PR.

Overall, fourteen Spartan boys ran a career best time on Saturday. In the open race these runners include: Mark Hamerstadt (18:04, 49 seconds), Zach Smith (18:16, 8 seconds), Dale Becker (19:15, 2 seconds), Jack Reeder (19:30, 60 seconds), Trace Zemites (19:37, 9 seconds), Adam Galloway (20:04, 47 seconds), Joe Murray (21:03), and Kevin Przybylski (21:36, 72 seconds).

Senior Sam Patty had a very strong race winning her second consecutive race in 18:54. Sam pulled away from the formidable Alanah Sonntag (Sycamore) beating her by twelve seconds. Kaitlin Price (20:01) took seventh place finishing second for the Spartan girls. Lauren Young (21:04), Caitlin Kelly (21:26), and Megan Plichta (21:34) rounded out the Turpin scorers finishing in eleventh, seventeenth, and twentieth places respectively. Freshman Lauren Keene (21:39) ran in her first varsity race earning the Athlete of the Week honors. Jillian Jaworek (21:40) finished right behind Lauren Keene in twenty-second place.

The Spartans will be racing in the Midwest Meet of Champions next week at Hilliard Darby High School. Click for Pasta Dinner Assignments & Meet Information.

Complete boys results
Complete girls results
Picture Gallery. Have photographs you would like to add? Send them to turpinrunning@gmail.com

The flat grounds of the Beavercreek area combined with the unrelenting heat proved to be no match for the Spartans at their first meet. Instead of facing the tough hills experienced at last year’s opening meet, the Moeller Henry Jacquez Challenge, the Spartans opted for a new course at the Beavercreek Invitational. A small meet averaging forty runners per race, Beavercreek ran a freshmen/sophomore race and a junior/senior race instead of they typical varsity, junior varsity configuration. It appeared as though the racers might get a slight reprieve from the record-breaking temperatures of the past week. “Cooler” morning temperatures and a blocked sun allowed for bearable freshman/sophomore races. However, the sun came out during the junior/senior girls race adding an extra challenge for the remainder of that race and for the junior/senior boys race, the fourth and final race of the day.

Sophomores Nick El-Khoury and Dave Rodriguez ran away from the Freshmen/Sophomore pack within the first few minutes of the race. They only increased the gap as the race went on racing together until the end when Nick edged Dave out for the victory with times of 17:45 and 17:47 respectively. Freshman Mark Hamerstadt also had a strong first race placing third with a time of 18:53.

The Girl’s Freshmen/Sophomore race featured a great performance from sophomore and first time runner Megan Plichta. Her time of 22:23 was good for second place in her race and Athlete of the Week honors. Jillian Jaworek (22:56) and Alexia Yun (22:59) were the second and third Turpin runners to finish.

Sam Patty and Kaitlin Price, two of last year’s “Big Three” (the third being Meredith Jaworek) have returned for the 2007 season. Both Sam and Kaitlin improved upon their times from last year’s first meet placing first and second at Beavercreek with times of 19:23 and 20:11. Behind them, Lauren Young (21:40) and Caitlin Kelly (22:22) were the third and fourth Turpin finishers.

In the Junior/Senior boy’s race, senior Kyle Rewick led the Turpin boys with a third place finish. His time, 16:34, was only four seconds off his PR and is the same time that Ryan Kiracofe – the current Turpin record holder in the 5k – ran at the first meet last year. Drew DiSabatino finished fifth (17:55), Rob DiMartino finished sixth (18:10), and Ben Wagner finished seventh (18:28).

The Spartans will be racing in the Lakota East Classic next week at Voice Of America Park. Click for Pasta Dinner Assignments & Meet Information

Complete boys results
Complete girls results
Picture Gallery. Have photographs you would like to add? Send them to turpinrunning@gmail.com

Results from the Newtown 5k are now available. Forty-five Turpin runners competed. Check the boys and girls results for the Turpin finishers. More photos of the race can be seen here.

Email your Newtown 5k photos to turpinrunning@gmail.com so they can be added to the album.
If you have any additions or corrections to the results, contact Zach Smith by clicking on his name at the bottom of every page.

8-19-2007 - The Cincinnati Enquirer announced its preseason cross country rankings on Sunday morning, and the Spartan boys have been awarded the #2 position, the highest in school history. The poll's preseason #1 team is St. Xavier. The Spartans finished 5th in the southwest Ohio region last fall, and 3rd in the city, behind state champions LaSalle and St. Xavier. The Enquirer's article noted that Turpin returns six runners from that squad, and are "led by senior Kyle Rewick, whose time of 16:30 is the third-best all time at the school. Rob DiMartino and Nicholas El-Khoury are also threats for Turpin".

Check out the full Enquirer article here:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070819/SPT0301/708...

The full preseason rankings:

BOYS

1) St. Xavier
2) TURPIN
3) LaSalle
4) Loveland
5) Elder
6) Sycamore
7) Mason
8) Milford
9) Anderson
10) Kings