On Saturday, September 26, the Turpin teams passed the halfway point of the season at the Harrison Invitational.  Running at Harrison in preparation for the FAVC league meet on October 17, the normally flat, fast course was turned into a muddy, mentally-challenging race due to three days of continuous rain.

Seniors Nicholas El-Khoury and Dave Rodriguez went 1-2 on the course, with sophomore Antony Parnigoni following in 4th place with a 17:14 finish.  Junior Joe Murray ran a 17:57, while Seniors Alex Polivka and the shoe-less Jon Risher followed in 18:27 and 18:30, respectively.  Sophomore Paul Rodriguez rounded out the squad with a 18:48.  The guys beat out 2nd place Loveland by 27 points for their 1st place win.

On the girls side, junior Adrienne Grogan again led the Turpin team with her time of 20:36.  Sophomore Rachel Lonneman continued to improve her standing on the team by running a 21:48 and being 2nd for the Spartans.  Senior Alexia Yun and sophomore Rachel Eckert ran times of 22:15 and 22:21 to help the Turpin girls.  Sophomore Michelle Robinson ran a 22:36 to finish the scoring for the Lady Spartans.  The girls team came in a close 6th behind Milford by only 2 points.

To not mention the Turpin JV at the Harrison meet would be unfair, as both the boys and girls JV preformed very well at the muddy course. Before the race, it was decided between the Varsity and JV guys teams that the team with the more points (the varsity team or the top 7 JV team) would have to buy the lower scoring team lunch.  Therefore, when junior Scott Wenderoth led the JV guys with a 2nd place 18:40 finish and was followed up by Jake Tracy (8th), Spencer Lloyd (9th), Sean Kennedy (10th), Ian Bentley (12th), Adam Galloway (15th), and Alex Slagle (24th), their combined score of 80 points beat out the Varsity team's total score of 139.  Needless to say, the Varsity team paid for lunch.

The Girls JV race re-introduced Senior Megan Plichta to the Turpin team.  Plichta, having been unable to run for the past 4 months due to injury, ran a 23:23 after only two weeks back.  Senior Lindsey Evans led the JV squad with her 9th place 22:26, and was followed by senior Brittany Newell, sophomore Katie Molloy and junior Maki Fujimoto with respective times of 22:40, 23:01, and 23:31.  

All the Turpin Spartans ran excellent races at the slow, muddy course.  The Spartans are traveling to St. X next week for the competitive St. Xavier Invitational.  Congratulations to all of Turpin's runners and good luck at St. X!

Race Results for Harrison can be found at http://oh.milesplit.us/meets/58073.   

The Turpin Spartans have began the 2009 cross country season impressively, taking on some of Cincinnati's toughest teams in the first few weeks of the season.  Weeks 2-4 proved challenging but beneficial to the Spartans, as each runner improves by time and place each meet. 

After the hilly season-opener at Brian Plasman, the Turpin XC teams went to the flat, fast course at the St. Ursula invitational.  The meet proved to be a huge morale booster for Turpin as personal bests were made for almost every single athlete on both the guys and girls teams.  The meet was not officially scored, as the races were broken up between freshmen/sophomores and juniors/seniors.  Results for the St. Ursula invitational can be found at http://oh.milesplit.us/meets/57383. 

The Mason Invitational was the challenge for week 3.  As Seniors Jon Risher and Alex Polivka were absent from the meet, sophomore Spencer Lloyd and junior Adam Galloway were added as varsity runners.  Both Turpin teams struggled to place well in the very competitive Mason meet, as the guys came in 7th and the girls came in 9th.  Results for the Mason Invitational can be found at http://oh.milesplit.us/meets/48324. 

For week 4, the Spartans went to a new course in the Milford Invitational.  The rough, flat fields of Milford were not enough to prevent many personal bests for the Spartan teams.  Senior Dave Rodriguez was able to run his first personal best in over two years with an impressive 16:33.  Senior Nicholas El-Khoury won the varsity race in 16:23 and led the Turpin team to their 1st place victory.  The ever-changing girl's varsity team was led by junior rookie Adrienne Grogan in 20:25 and followed closely by fellow junior Cassie Bacon in 20:32.  The girls team ran well enough to earn a 3rd place finish.  Results for the Milford Invitational can be found at http://oh.milesplit.us/meets/58072.   

The Spartans just reached the halfway point of their season at the Harrison Invitational.  Many thanks to those who continue to come out and support the Turpin teams at each race as we continue our successful season.  

Sign up and vote for Nicholas El-Khoury as the next LaRosa's MVP of the Week.  Visit http://www.larosasmvp.com/ to cast your vote today.

On August 29, 2009, the Turpin Spartans began the 2009 Cross Country season at the Brian Plasman Memorial Invitational in William Harbin Park.  Having opened their 2008 season at the same meet, both teams expected to show hard effort and see slow times on the hilly, challenging course.  But the meet still proved to be a good starter for the season, introducing many of Turpin's new runners to the challenges of cross country and prepping Turpin's teams for the rest of the 09 season.

The Lady Spartan's Varsity team was made up of seasoned Turpin athletes and several varsity newcomers.  Having graduated Kaitlin Price and Lauren Young, and temporairly losing senior Meg Plichta to a knee injury, the varsity team was able to introduce sophomores Rachel Lonneman and Michelle Robinson to the varsity squad, along with senior Brittany Newell and junior Adrienne Grogan.  In the race, Bacon, who was out during the 2008 season due to injury, proved herself healthy and reliable by leading the team with a 21:25 finish.  Adrienne Grogan ran her first ever varsity race very professionally with a strong 22:22.  Alexia Yun, Rachel Lonneman, and Michelle Robinson followed right behind Grogan with respective times of 22:47, 23:00, and 23:23.  Brittany Newell rounded out the Spartan squad by finishing her first race with a 24:14.  The girl's team ended up getting 8th place overall, a score which can motivate them to faster times and better results in the future.

The Guys' team came to the Brian Plasman meet not knowing what to expect.  With a summer of hard work behind them, and having only lost Drew DiSabatino to college, the boy's team had the same strong potential they had last year, especially with the addition of sophomore Antony Parnigoni to take DiSabatino's place.  Aiming to not get another 8th place finish like in last year's Brian Plasman meet, the guys were ready to see what this season may hold for them.  Senior Nicholas El-Khoury, having spent most of the summer recovering from injury, lead the team with a 2nd place, 16:55 finish.  Antony Parnigoni, a strong track athlete in Turpin's 09 season, ran his first ever varsity race in 17:08.  Senior Dave Rodriguez ran a strong 17:28 on the hilly course.  Junior Joe Murray, senior Alex Polivka, and senior Jon Risher all finished with decent times of 18:14, 18:34, and 18:49, respectively.  First time varsity and Turpin XC newcomer, sophomore Jake Tracy, ran his first ever race in 19:44, closing up the guys team.  Doing much better than previously anticipated, the guys welcomed their 2nd place finish behind St. X and are looking forward to more success in the 2009 season.

When the freshmen and JV race results are posted, additions will be made to this article. 

Mark Chalifoux
mchalifoux@communitypress.com
August 10, 2009

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Turpin

The Turpin High School girls' cross country team graduated two of the program's more reliable threats in 2008 and will have to replace the standouts with newcomers Adrienne Grogan, Brittney Newell and Carmen Versoza.

Turpin returns Jillian Jaworek, Megan Plichta, Alexia Yun and juniors Lauren Keene and Cassie Bacon, who all should do big things for the Spartans.

"We only lost two girls from last year's team and we have a lot of new help from the track team," fourth-year head coach Melissa Siemers said. "The dynamic on the team has changed a bit, but we still have a good shot at a successful season."

The team finished second in the league and sixth in the region in 2008.

The Turpin boys' cross country team returns FAVC Cardinal Runner of the Year and 2008 state qualifier Nicholas El-Khoury. Along with El-Khoury, seniors Dave Rodriguez, Jon Risher, and Alex Polivka return to the Spartans squad.

Junior Joe Murray is another returning runner and sophomore Antony Parnigoni has been an early standout for Turpin. Other sophomores running well are Spencer Llyod, Jake Tracy and Sean Kennedy. New runners performing well include Connor Twele, RJ Rokosz, Peter Franz, Sean Molloy and Ian Bentley.

Returning runners who are looking to contend for a varsity spot are Scott Wenderoth, Adam Galloway, Trace Zemites, Bryan Morton and Paul Rodriguez.

The boys' team has the highest turnout in program history with 34 boys on the roster, and head coach Jim Gossett said Turpin should be a contender for a fourth consecutive FAVC title. He said the team has 20 runners who could potentially be in the top seven.

"That should propel us to having a very respectable ranking in the city by the end of the season," he said.