University Heights Academy knew that if its top runners all peaked at the right time, the school could bring home its first boys’ cross country region title.
That happened on Saturday at Logan County.
The Blazers put three runners in the top five of the Class 1A Region 1 race and defeated pre-race favorite Fort Campbell by three points. The team score is determined by adding the places of the top five runners.
Freshman Graham Conrad finished as region runner-up to Dawson Springs senior Easton Bourland, who repeated as region champion by covering the 3.1-mile course in 16:49.
Conrad finished in 17:45, thirty seconds ahead of third-place Noah Riley of Dawson Springs. Conrad’s time was an improvement of over a minute from the Sept. 27 race on the same course.
“When we ran here a month ago, we knew we couldn’t control position like we could today because it was a much bigger race,” UHA coach Mike Finch said. “But we used some race strategy today where if we could get out fast in the first mile and a half to mile and a three-quarter, and beat them to the hill (in the second mile). We knew we had done the work to beat them over the hill.”
Eighth grader Ronan Croney-Sallie ran his best race of the season with a fourth-place finish in 18:19, beating his previous best by 19 seconds.
Junior Jude Finch followed in fifth place in 18:27 – his fifth straight race under 19:00.
Helping seal the win was senior Zech Davis in 20th place and eighth grader Scar Venable in 21st place with identical clockings of 20:13. Their times were the second-fastest for both in a 5,000-meter race.
They finished right behind Fort Campbell’s fifth runner and ahead of Dawson Springs’ third runner.
Garrett Bowling came in 29th place in 20:45, and Hayden Hayes was 35th in 21:29.
Six of UHA’s runners improved their times by between 1:04 and 2:53 from their performances at the Logan County preview last month, representing a 10-minute and 17-second improvement.
“We saw there was a window for us that if we put the work in and dedicated the time, this was a very good possibility for us. I’m so proud of these boys,” Finch said. “They stepped up, took advantage of the opportunity, and put it out there today.”
The improvements and personal bests all factored into the three-point win (50-53) over Fort Campbell. Dawson Springs was third, ending a six-year region championship run for the Panthers.
The region championship is the school’s third in the past two weeks, joining the boys and girls soccer programs.
“We set this as a goal at the start of the season. We have seen Fort Campbell as a huge competitor all season long, and we have seen Dawson Springs as a competitor and have chased them for multiple years,” Finch said.
The Blazers will compete in the Class 1A State Cross Country Championship next Saturday at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.
One Response
Congratulations great Job