Turpin Harriers Draw Mixed Results at Opener

In the much anticipated first meet of the2010 season, the Turpin boys cross country team opened with an array of results at the Brian Plasman Invitational hosted by Fairfield. All 34 boys ran in the open race, which went off at 9:30 am. After a rocky start, resulting from a crowded starting line and a hard left turn 150 meters into the race, many Spartan runners began to make their way to front of the pack.

Junior standout Antony Parnigoni lead,nearly wire to wire, finishing in a time of 17:20.00 for 5k, over 25 seconds in front of the second place finisher. Other top finishers for the Spartans included, Senior Joe Murray with a time of 18:34.00, Junior Sean Kennedy, who ran over a minute faster than his 2009 time on the same course, Freshman Drew Kiracofe and Junior Paul Rodriguez. Turpin FAVC athlete of the week,Freshman Matt Sesler, ran a fantastic race for the Spartans stepping up huge in his high school 5k debut with a 6th place finish on the team in a time of 19:19.00. Rounding out the top 7 was Junior Brandon Bodnar who also demonstrated strong improvement with a 19:22.00 effort.

Senior Captain Scott Wenderoth lead the chase pack, finishing 8th on the team with a time of 19:28.00. Just behind Wenderoth, Senior Ben Liming ran a lifetime best of 19:58.00, good for 9th place on the team. Juniors Patrick Nienhaus and Sam Pitakos, as well as, Sophomore Dallas Parnigoni and Freshman Alex Ambach all impressively improved their previous personal bests by over a minute.

As a team, the Spartans fell short of their pre-meet goal of claiming all ten spots in the open race. Finishing with only Antony Parnigoni and Senior Captain Joe Murray in the top ten, for 1st and 7th places overall, respectively. Although the Open Race was technically unscored, unofficial tallies have the top three teams from the open race as follows: (1) St. Xavier – 45, (2) Turpin – 47 and (3) Mason – 51. The Spartans look to get back on track next week at the Tiger Invitational hosted by conference rival Loveland High School. The team shows promise they will continue to strive towards bringing home their 5th consecutive FAVC title as well as a birth at the OHSAA State Meet. Stay tuned for more action next week, the varsity race will go off at 10:00 am and the open race at 11:00 am at the Tiger Invitational.