All Ohio Catholic Cross Championships to be held Saturday, September 26th

Sep 24, 2009

Ohio Catholic High Schools from across the state will be sending their cross country teams to take part in the 15th Annual All Ohio Catholic Cross Country Championships. The meet will be held this Saturday, September 26th, at Indian Riffle Park in Kettering and is hosted by Dayton Carroll High School's Cross Country Program. There is a pasta dinner for all of the teams held Friday evening, and is followed by six different races on Saturday. The meet features a "Championship" race for the title of All-Ohio Champion (and the traveling trophy), as well as a less competitive "Varsity" race . Here is the schedule of races: Women's Championship (10:00am), Men's Championship (10:45am), Women's Reserve (11:30am), Men's Reserve (12:15pm), Women's Varsity (1:00pm), and Men's Varsity (1:45pm). The 5k course is the same course used for the Mid East Cross Country Championships that are held in November and feature the top 10 seniors from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky.

The meet features some of the top cross country teams in the state, as well as some of the state's best individual talent. The Men's Championship Race has a loaded field with the following teams who are currently ranked in the state: St. Ignatius (D1, #1), Toledo Central Catholic (D1, #15), Elyria Catholic (D2, #4), Toledo St. John's Jesuit(D1, #14), St. Vincent-St.Mary (D2, #5), St. Xavier (D1, #5), LaSalle (D1, #7), and Akron Hoban (D2, #19). St. Ignatius is the defending AOC champs from last year. The top individuals to watch in this race include Greg Turissini (Toledo St. John's), Travis Hawes (LaSalle), Chad Kiggins (Carroll), Marty Coolidge (Elyria Catholic), John Sweeney (St. Ignatius), Evan Baum (St. Ignatius), Steve Graver (Toledo Central Catholic), and Eric Gruenbacher (St. Xavier). In the Men's Varsity Race, McNicholas (D2, #18) and Badin (D3, #21) look to battle for the team title. Individually, the Men's Varsity Race will have Andrew Mantell (Bishop Ready), Noah Burkholder (Lima Central Catholic), Jimmy Kesner (Lima Central Catholic), and Matt Johnson (McNicholas) running for first place.

The Women's Championship Race has the following teams who are currently ranked in the state: Magnificat (D1, #1, and US #5), St.Vincent-St.Mary (D2, #2), Cincinnati St. Ursula (D1, #10), and Columbus St. Francis DeSales (D2, #23). The top individuals to watch in this race include: Madeline Chambers (Magnificat), Marie Arnone (St.Vincent-St.Mary), and Rachel Slingluff (Beaumont). Magnificat, who are the defending AOC champions, currently have 5 girls who've run 19:07 or faster and are also ranked #5 Nationally. In the Women's Varsity Race, two local teams look to battle it out for the title along with a few other top teams from across the state. Host Dayton Carroll (D2, #11) and local Kettering Alter (D2, #8) will be joined by McNicholas (D2, #16) and St. Thomas Aquinas (D3, #18) in the quest for the team title. Lizzie Gleason (Chaminade-Julienne), Olivia Albers (Alter), Grace Untener (Alter), Taylor O'Neil (Carroll), and Katie Ollier (Carroll) will compete for the individual crown.