Lakota Classic Brings Success to Turpin's Teams
As it has been for the last several years, the Turpin cross country teams travelled to Voice of America Park for the Lakota East Fall Classic on August 30, 2008. Looking back on the previous meet in Fairfield, both the guys and the girl's teams shared a goal: improvement. With the temperature steadily rising throughout the meet, and the familiar, although rough, course ahead of them, the Spartan teams were both ready to better themselves in the challenging race.
With new ownership of the race, the format of the meet was changed around a bit. Therefore the day opened up with the female freshmen/sophomore race. Leading the newer part of the team through the race were sophomores Cassie Bacon and Lauren Keene, who finished with respective times of 21:42 and 22:08. Fellow sophomores Maki Fujimoto and Liz Martin closed in behind Keene with close times of 22:15 and 22:16. Freshman Michelle Robinson followed up right behind sophomores Caroline Muth and Hannah Plattner, all with respective times of 22:36, 22:30, and 22:32. All of the high school underclasswomen continued to carry on the Spartan tradition of excellence in the first race of the Classic.
After the female underclassmen race came the male underclassmen race. Sophomore Joe Murray, after having ran his first varsity race the week before with an 18:31, led the younger guys with a 12th place finish and a consistent time of 18:29. Freshman Paul Rodriguez ran his first official cross country 5k in 19:11. Sophomore soccer player Jason Miller ran a good race in 19:33, while sophomores Adam Galloway and Scott Wenderoth finished close together in 20:01 and 20:02, respectively. Many personal bests were set in this race by the sophomores, while the freshmen got their first taste of what high school racing means.
The next race to come was the Female 11th and 12th grade races. Senior Kaitlin Price, following up on a fifth place finish at the very competitive Fairfield meet, clocked in at 19:46 and came in a great 3rd place finish. Junior Megan Plichta set a new personal record, coming in 6th overall and in 20:01. Senior Lauren Young came in next for Turpin with a 20:42 and in 10th place. Junior Alexia Yun continued to improve herself with a solid 23:00, while Junior Lindsey Evans and Senior Gretchen Muth rounded up the Turpin seniority with respective times of 23:31 and 23:35. With the conclusion of the female races, the Turpin ladies had proven that they were a strong force to be reckoned with.
The last race of the Lakota Classic was the 11th and 12th grade guys. Junior Nicholas El-Khoury continued to lead the team, running a strong 16:34 race and placing in 2nd overall. Junior Dave Rodriguez, returning from two injuries and with only two weeks of prior running, ran an impressive 17:17 while Senior Drew DiSabatino followed closely with a great time of 17:19. Junior Alex Polivka returned to run his first offical cross country race in nearly two years, finishing with a 18:07. Newcomer Jon Risher continued to prove himself by running a good time of 18:22 and improving more than a minute from the week before. Senior Zach Smith ran a dissapointing 18:58, while fellow seniors Jack Reeder and Derek Tucker followed with respective times of 19:18 and 19:48. Junior Trace Zemites ran a 20:47 while Senior Cody Vanderpool continued to improve with a 20:58. New junior runner Sam Auvil rounded out the Turpin team with an improving time of 21:51.
The Lakota Fall Classic helped the Spartan runners improve their times and set new goals for themselves, as it does every year. Turpin's cross country teams look forward to travelling to Mason on Saturday, September 6th to race in the Mason Invitational, which always has good competition. Thanks to all the fans who came out to cheer on the Turpin athletes, and congratulations to all the Turpin runners!