Friday April 4, 2008

click for directions to Walnut Hills High School

Schedule is as follows:
Field Events begin at 4:30pm (discus, shot, high jump, long jump, pole vault)
4 x 1600m relay begins at 5:00pm
Running finals begin at 6:00pm

4 x 110m Hurdles
4 x 200m relay
4 x 800m relay
reserve 4 x 200m relay
sprint medley (100m, 100m, 200m, 400m)
distance medley (400m, 800m, 1200m, 1600m)
4 x 100m relay
1600m medley (200m, 200m, 400m, 800m)
3 x 300m hurdles
4 x 400m relay

The track schedule was last updated April 3. Please check for changes. More specific information regarding individual meets (start time) will be updated when it becomes available.

Welcome to the new website for Turpin Track.

The schedule for the 2008 track and field season is now available in Event Schedule. Please be aware that this schedule is preliminary and changes are likely. Keep checking back as the season nears for the most up-to-date information along with personalized Google Maps directions to meets.

Also note the following dates:
April 26: Prom
May 5-16: AP Exams (click here for the date of your exam)
May 7-9: Camp Kern session 1 (Mason Invite)
May 12-14: Camp Kern session 2 (League Meet)
May 14-16: Camp Kern session 3 (League Meet)

With the 2008 track season opening up in March, Turpin’s talented core of seniors will look to take the budding program to new heights. The men’s program, which in recent years has been based upon its talented distance runners, will have a similar look this year. The distance team, which finished #7 in the state in cross country, returns senior captain Kyle Rewick, who should have a shot at multiple school records this season. Rewick will be considered the favorite to win the FAVC title in the 3200 meters this season.

Sophomore standouts Nicholas El-Khoury and Dave Rodriguez will look to continue their success from the fall, and Rob DiMartino and Ben Wagner could develop into talented 800 meter runners.

Returning from an impressive run to the Regional Championships in 2006, senior Kevin Marshall will be a force to be reckoned with in the shotput and discus. Under the direction of coach Dennis
Rusche, Marshall finished sixth in southwest Ohio in the discus, and third among returning throwers this season.

On the women’s side, 2007 XC All-Ohioan Sam Patty will look to establish herself in the 1600m and 3200m runs, after sitting last track season out with health issues. The #12 cross country runner in the state this fall, Patty could be a favorite to make the state meet if she hits her stride at the right time. She would be Turpin’s first distance runner to make the state track meet since 2003.

Junior Kaitlin Price will look to excel in the 800m, as the defending conference champion.  Within reach of her sister's own mark on the Turpin list of record bests, Price is a favorite to make it to Dayton.

Then-sophomores Cody Vanderpool and Derek Tucker were pleasant surprises in the pole vault for
the Spartans last season, and the duo will look to build upon that success in 2008.
Senior hurdler Danny Polaneczky will be a favorite to win FAVC titles in both the 110m Hurdles and the 300m Hurdles, after a pair of second-place finishes at the FAVC Championships last spring. The women’s top hurdler figures to be senior Erin Kratzer, who finished 2nd in the FAVC in the 100m Hurdles last year as well.
The men’s team will try to defend their historic 2007 conference title, while the girl’s squad will look to rebound from a disappointing 3rd place finish last season

Pictured Above Right: senior Kevin Marshall
Pictured Below Left: Tyler Smith (grad. 2007) and senior Danny Polanecky, members of the school record breaking 4 x 200m team.

Turpin senior Sam Patty, a 2007 XC All-Ohioan, has verbally committed to run for the Baylor University Bears.  Baylor, located in Waco, Texas, ended the 2007 cross country season as the #17 women's team in the nation, and was the top team in the National Championships to come from the Big 12 Conference.  The Baylor women have now qualified for the National Championships in 5 consecutive seasons.  Patty joins a Bears team that will graduate just 2 runners from its varsity seven, including 2007 All-American senior Lauren Hagans, the 35th finisher at the National Championships (the 24th American-born runner).  The Baylor women are coaches by Jon Capron, who will be entering his 4th season as a full-time assistant to the program's head coach Todd Harbour.  Capron, an All-Big 12 runner himself at Baylor just a few years ago, has brought an impressive run of success to Waco, including a 2006 All-Amerca women's Distance Medley Relay team.  

Just a few years ago, a seventh place finish at a regular season cross country meet was not out of the question for the Turpin boys cross country team. Placing in the top five in large meets such as the Alliance Invitational or St. Xavier Invitational was considered a success. Advancing to the regional meet in Troy marked the end of a great season because racing as a team at Scioto Downs seemed to be an unattainable dream. Now, fast forward to the 2007 cross country team. The drive with which the group of varsity runners prepared for the season was unlike any other. Following the 2006 season, the most successful season to date, the guys looked to set a new standard for success. Instead of being among the best teams in Cincinnati, the team of 2007 wanted to be the best team. Instead of just qualifying for the State meet, this year’s team wanted to place well among Ohio’s best teams. At the end of this historic season, it is evident that the guys met and exceeded all expectations.

A list of all the team’s accomplishments this year would be quite lengthy, so only a few of the major ones are listed here. Last year, the team finished the regular season with sixty-nine wins to twenty-six losses, winning two meets. This year the team ended the regular season with a record of eighty-six wins to four losses and won all but two meets. At the state meet, Turpin avenged nearly all of the losses they encountered in the season beating St. Xavier, Mason, and Hilliard Davidson. The 2006 varsity team had two runners with a personal record less than seventeen minutes. Just one year later, five runners were under seventeen minutes, with the sixth just four seconds off the seventeen-minute mark. This drastic improvement in the span of just one year explains why the Turpin boys team had such a great level of success through out the year.

The road to the State Meet began at Voice of America Park, the location for Southwest Ohio’s district race. Entering the day as the highest ranked team in their race (St. Xavier competed in a different race) according to the Enquirer coach’s poll, Turpin looked to dominate their race. Dominate was just what Turpin did. Scoring just fifty-eight points, Turpin won their race advancing to the regional race with Mason, Elder, and Oak Hills and St. Xavier, Milford, LaSalle, and Loveland from the other race.

Two thousand five marked the first year the Turpin boys qualified as a team for the Regional meet under head coach Jim Gossett. Returning again in 2006 and missing qualifying for state by just one place, the boys had high expectations for the 2007 race. Despite Turpin’s top two runners encountering sickness just days before the Regional race in Troy, the Turpin boys were still able compete well as a team placing third and earning a team berth to Columbus. Kyle Rewick, fighting a weeklong cold, led the Spartans placing sixteenth in 16:21. Nick El-Khoury, recovering from strep throat, Dave Rodriguez and Rob DiMartino finished within seconds of each other in 16:35, 16:36, and 16:37 respectively. Ben Wagner was the final scorer finishing in17:17. Centerville easily won the race with seventy-seven points. Turpin was just three points behind Mason, a team they beat the week before, and was ten points ahead of St. Xavier.

Entering the most anticipated race in Turpin history, each of the seven Turpin runners wanted to prove they were the best team from Cincinnati and among the best in Ohio. The extremely competitive Division I field did not disappoint the several thousand fans that lined the course and packed the stadium at Scioto Downs. Seventeen runners finished under sixteen minutes and total of fifty-three runners would cross before Kyle Rewick, who was the first Turpin finisher in 16:24. Nick El-Khoury was sixty-third in 16:33; Dave Rodriguez was eighty-second in 16:45; Rob DiMartino was ninety-first in 16:53; and Ben Wagner was ninety-eighth in 16:56, marking the first time all five of Turpin’s scorers ran under seventeen minutes. Zach Smith finished in 18:05, and Drew DiSabatino finished in 18:56, running for the first time in three weeks after being sidelined for a stress fracture. As a team Turpin placed a very respectable seventh, ahead of area rivals St. Xavier and Mason.

Congratulations to every member of the Turpin cross country team for being a part of the best team in Turpin history. Thank you to Coach Gossett for leading us through this outstanding season. Also, thank you to all the parents and fans that have supported the team throughout the year.

Look for Kaitlin Price's story about the girl's state meet at a later date.

Photos of the State Meet. As always, photos of the state meet are needed. Please place them on a CD and give it to Zach Smith or send them to turpinrunning@gmail.com (five or fewer photos per email please).