Mercer and Burgin XC head to state
Arpan Dixit
Herald Staff
sports@harrodsburgherald.com
Pictured L to R: Erin Darland, Emma Leitenberger, Brianna Wimsatt, Madison King, Clayra Darnell, Corban Profitt and Haley Blevins all qualified for state competition held this Saturday, Nov. 4, at Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. (Photo Submitted)
The Mercer County Lady Titans and the Burgin Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs cross country teams qualified for state competition after competing at the regional meet Saturday, Oct. 28. Mercer’s region meet was held in Monticello, while Burgin’s was held in Winchester.
For the Lady Titans, Haley Blevins finished third overall, finishing with a time of 20:09.04 while her teammate, Clayra Darnell, placed fifth with a time of 20:59.44.
Other Lady Titans that finished were Erin Darlan who placed 22nd, Brianna Wimsatt placed 33rd, Madison King placed 44th and Corban Profitt finished 46th. There were a total of 54 runners for the girls’ 5K.
Unfortunately, for the Titans, the boys’ side wasn’t able to qualify for state competition, but put up a strong showing among the top 80.
Carter Edelen placed 61st, Noah Hicks placed 63rd, Gavin Catron finished 67th, Lucas Parr placed 72nd, Luke Gagnon finished 73rd and Jacob Coleman, who was the last Titan to finish, placed 74th.
“The regional meet was cold and muddy. Our athletes are as tough as they come,” said Mercer Head Coach David Teets. “I had two girls place in the top five and our senior Lucas Parr ran his best time of the year since recovering from injury. I am so proud of my runners for their hard work ethic. I look forward to seeing how my girls perform against the other Class AA teams at the state tournament.”
The Burgin Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs have made history as well in the Class A Region 5 meet. The boys’ team made it back to state with a third place finish, while the girls’ side made it to state, as a team, for the first time in school history.
11 teams were entered, so six teams qualify for state. The bulldogs were seeded third last year behind the state champions, Lexington Christian, and last year’s 5th place team, Bracken County, who both had most of their teams from last year return this season.
Trevar Lay of Burgin finished ninth overall with a time of 18:15.72, Hunter Preston finished 22nd with a time of 19:19.61 and his teammate Drew Hatfield was 23rd with a time of 19:31.34.
John Boursaw placed 33rd, Travis Stewart finished 47th and Rocky Chambers placed 49th out of 67 runners. They all qualified to compete at state.
“We are aiming for a top 10 finish at the state championships and hope to make more history for our school,” said Burgin Head Coach Chris Beckerson.
On the girls’ side, Rebecca Biggs was the first Lady Bulldogs to place, finishing in 24th with a time of 24:07.06. Avery Harmon placed 31st, Kenzie Humber placed behind Harmon in 32nd, Kiera Propes placed 41st, Anderson Taylor placed 49th and Jeyden Watkins placed 50th out of 57 runners.
They made school history and placed fifth overall in the girls’ 5K run.
“We had to be in the top five to meet our goal,” said Beckerson. “Individually, Burgin girls had previously qualified, but never as a team. The girls stepped up to the challenge and four of the seven set new personal records on a rough course and two were within five seconds of their personal records.”
The Lady Titans and the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs will compete at the state meet in Lexington this Saturday at Kentucky Horse Park. The Lady Titans will start at 11:30 a.m., while the Lady Bulldogs start at 9:30 a.m. and the Bulldogs start at 10:15 a.m.
To learn more, check out this week’s issue of The Harrodsburg Herald.
