An Enterprise Staff Report
The Harlan County girls and boys cross country teams, as well as a pair of runners from Harlan participated in the state meets at the Lexington Horse Park on Saturday.
The Lady Bears turned in a 27th place finish in Class AA, despite an illness that struck the team.
“The girls race was disappointing. They got hit with the stomach flu Friday night,” said Harlan County coach Ryan Vitatoe. “My heart breaks for Cassidy Ball. She was unable to run, and that hurt us quite a bit. A couple of other girls were not feeling 100 percent, so that hurt our performance.”
Vitatoe said the state meet doesn’t diminish a successful season.
“It doesn’t take away from what they did this season,” he said. “They were SEKC, area and region champions. That’s a very good season.”
Kassie Rouse paced the Lady Bears, finishing 90th. Jennifer Graham placed 150th, with Breezy Epperson following in 153rd. Lacey Stephens was 194th. Miranda Epperson came in 214th. Arynn “boo” Jackson finished 222nd, and Sidney Kelly placed 226th.
Fort Thomas Highlands captured the girls team title.
Harlan County finished 29th in the boys race.
“I am proud of the boys. We were rebuilding all season,” Vitatoe said. “These boys were inexperienced in a meet of that size, and I thought they performed very well.”
Donavan Johnson led the boys with a 169th-place performance. Steven Engle came in 189th. Caleb Bailey was 193rd. Josh Wynn finished 197th.; Caleb Justen came in 200th. Noah Hughes was 206th, and Nate Miller followed in 236th.
North Oldham won the boys team title.
Harlan eighth-grader Andrew Mills finished 101st in the Class A race of 215 runners. Mills turned in a time of 19:25.
Sophomore Laura Pace was 118th in the girls competition.
St. Henry won both Class A team titles.
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