On Saturday October 24, the Turpin Spartans went to the Southwest Ohio District meet at the Voice of America park in West Chester.  Two days of rain had turned the normally flat, fast course into a cold, muddy, and wet challenge and although times would not be fast, both Spartan teams looked to move on as many runners as possible to next Saturday's Regional meet in Troy. 

Going into Districts, the Girls team was ranked 8th after an unpredictable season of injuries and additions to the team.  The girls still looked to do their the best, no matter what the polls showed, and competed very well against tough competition from St. Ursula, Walnut Hills, and Anderson.  Junior stand-out Adrienne Grogan was able to qualify individually, as she came in 9th of the top 16 individual qualification spots with a time of 20:17.  Although there was a gap between Grogan and the rest of the team, junior Cassie Bacon(40th) and seniors Jillian Jaworek(43rd) and Alexia Yun(46th) came in together with respective times of 21:50, 21:52, and 21:56.  Senior Meg Plichta, running only her 4th meet of the season, rounded out the Spartan scorers with a time of 22:14, placing 52nd.  Sophomores Rachel Eckert and Michelle Robinson finished closely behind in 22:19 and 22:21.  The girls took 7th overall, and Grogan qualified to run at Troy next week.

Coming off a strong season of running, the Guys team was ranked 5th in their race, behind the strong teams of Mason, Elder, Colerain, and Oak Hills.  Qualifying to Regionals was in their grasp, but the conditions of VOA would make it a challenge for every team to run well.  Senior Nicholas El-Khoury led his team once more with a strong 3rd place finish, right behind Elder's Josh Makin, with a time of 16:42.  Sophomore Antony Parnigoni, a strong asset to the 2009 team, ran a 17:11, good for a 11th place finish.  Senior Dave Rodriguez was able to pull off an 18:10 in the slippery course, with senior Jon Risher and junior Joe Murray following with times of 18:18 and 18:29.  Senior Alex Polivka and sophomore Paul Rodriguez ran respective times of 18:53 and 19:12.  Although they competed very well in the awful conditions, the Spartans season was brought to a close with their 5th place finish.  El-Khoury and Parnigoni, having placed in the top 16, will be running at the Regional meet next week.

Thank you to all the runners, parents, and supporters for being with the Spartans during their 2009 season.  Congratulations to El-Khoury, Parnigoni, and Grogan, and good luck next week as they represent Turpin's 2009 team!  The Spartan team will be graduating 14 seniors this year, and the rest of the team will be more than able to fill the gap left by the 2010 class.

Click here for the District results at Baums page.

FAVC photos are up on TurpinXC's webshot page.  Just click on the Photo Albums link under the Cross Country tab to access the photos.

As the 2009 season comes to an end, we encourage all athletes, parents, and supporters of Turpin cross country to send in their photos of 2009's memorable season.  By burning the photos onto a disc, or sending them by email, we can show off the Turpin XC team and all of their hard effort.

Please contact Alex Polivka if you would like to send your photos by email.

The Spartans kicked off the championship season this past Saturday at the Fort Ancient Valley Conference Championships hosted at Harrison High School.

The boys team brought home the hardware to show for their efforts, with Nicholas El-Khoury taking the top spot across all divisions and leading the way for a first place team finish.  The team win marked the fourth year in a row as Cardinal Division Champions.  Antony Parnigoni and Dave Rodriguez achieved First Team honors placing 2nd and 5th, respectively. Jon Risher (11th) and Joe Murray (14th) followed up with Second Team honors. Alex Polivka (16th) and Scott Wenderoth (19th) rounded out the champion squad. Coach Gossett was voted as FAVC Cardinal Coach of the Year for the team's success.

On the girls side, Adrienne Grogan finished in just over 20 minutes taking the 5th place spot and First Team honors.  Cassie Bacon finished 12th for Second Team honors. The rest of the squad consisted of Alexia Yun (15th), Jillian Jaworek (18th), Rachel Eckert (19th), and Rachel Lonneman (21st) who helped secure the girl's third place finish.  The Spartans move on to the District Championships this Saturday, October 24th at Voice of America Park to decide the top 8 teams in the area that will move on to the Regional Championships. Results are posted at Baums Page.