Turpin's last remaining runners, two relay teams and two individuals, ended their season at the regional meet held at Welcome Stadium in Dayton on Wednesday May 27, and Friday May 29.  In order to have the opportunity to run in Dayton, these runners qualified the previous week at the District Meet in Mason by placing in the top four in their respective heats.

Jon Risher, Kevin Comerford, Wayne Dunham, and John Denman made up the the boy's 4x100m relay team.  They missed qualifying for the finals by less than one second, finishing eleventh overall in 44.13 seconds.

Kaitlin Price, Lauren Young, Alexia Yun and Adrienne Grogan made up the girl's 4x800m relay team.  In Wednesday's final, they placed seventh finishing in 9:52.55.

Kaitlin Price and Lauren Young also qualified for individual events.  Price placed sixth in the 800m run with a time of 2:20.50, and Young placed eighth in the 3200m run with a time of 11:53.30.

Complete results from the regional meet can be found here. 

Track and field athletes from across the Southwest District gathered in Mason on Wednesday and Friday nights to determine who would make the trip to Dayton next week for the Regional Tournament.  The top 4 finishers in each event qualified, which included several Turpin Spartans.

On the girls team, Kaitlin Price secured a berth in the 800m run with a time of 2:18.29.  Lauren Young claimed the final spot in the 3200m run by hitting 11:34.74.  The Girls 4x800m Relay took silver on Wednesday night, coming in at 9:47.67.  The relay consisted of Kaitlin Price, Lauren Young, Alexia Yun, and Adrienne Grogan.

For the boys, the 4x100m Relay made the cut by placing 4th in a close race.  The crew consisting of Jon Risher, Kevin Comerford, Wayne Dunham, and John Denman made their way around the track in 45.04.

The heat and lane assignments for the Regional Tournament at Welcome Stadium in Dayton will be posted on http://www.baumspage.com/rtrack/2009/4/index.htm as they become available. The Girls 4x800m Relay will begin at 4:30pm on Wednesday, May 27th. Semi-finals for the 4x100m and 4x200m Relays will follow. The running events will begin at 5pm on Friday, May 29th with the Girls 3200m Run later that evening.  Admission is $6.00.

You can view the complete results from the Southwest District meet at Mason.

Neither of Turpin’s track teams were successfully able defend their FAVC championships from the 2008 season. After two years at the top of the FAVC, the boys placed third behind Kings and a strong Walnut Hills team. The girls narrowly fell to Kings by just ten points.

One of the season’s bright spots of the evening was the 4x100m relay team consisting of Jon Risher, Kevin Comerford, Wayne Dunham, and John Denman. The team won in 43.98 seconds, remaining within striking distance of the school record. Elsewhere, Comerford narrowly missed first in the 200m dash. Sophomore Shade Whitfield placed second in the 110m high hurdles and third in the high jump. The 4x200m relay team placed second behind Walnut Hills. Turpin’s usually dominant distance team found itself in an interesting position this year. Plagued by injuries, the top three runners missed much of the season and were not competing at full health. As a result, Turpin missed the top places in nearly all of the distance running events. In the field, Derek Tucker won the pole vault clearing twelve feet. Jeff Groene and Andrew Flohr placed second and third, respectively, in the discus throw.

The girl’s distance team had many strong performances. Lauren Young and Megan Plichta grabbed the top two places in the 3200m run. Kaitlin Price won both the 1600m and 800m runs, and teammate Adrienne Grogan finished just behind Price placing second in the 800m. The 4x800m team, consisting of Young, Price, Grogan, and Alexia Yun placed first. Senior Kelly Mulrey took third place in the 200m dash, and just missed medaling in the 100m dash. The 4x100m relay team took second place behind Walnut Hills, while the 4x200m relay team finished third. In the field, Meghan Rewick, Sidnei Harmon, and Hannah Zimmerman placed third in the high jump, shotput, and pole vault, respectively.

(pictured are Price and Grogan finishing the 800m run)

Click for complete boys results
Click for complete girls results

On Friday May 8th, 2009, the Turpin Spartans battled through the elements and the competition to improve in the final week before the FAVC league meet.  Although a fierce thunderstorm delayed the meet, Turpin's athletes all remained steadfast in their meeting their goals and running with some of the best in the state of Ohio.

Turpin's Lady Spartans, who have been strong competitors throughout the season, continued to place well at the Rod Russell Invitational.  In the first event, the 4by800, Adrienne Grogan, Jillian Jaworek, Alexia Yun, and Kaitlin Price ran a strong 3200 relay and came in 2nd, right behind Mason.  After having run a powerful finishing leg of the 4by8, Senior Kaitlin Price came back in the 800 meters to take 1st place in a time of 2:21 and then helped Adrienne Grogan, Lauren Keene, and Hannah Plattner place in the 4by400 relay.  In the girl's 1600 meters, Senior Lauren Young and Junior Megan Plichta went 1-2 with respective times of 5:18 and 5:20.  Young also came back to win her 3200 meter race in a time of 11:41.  Over in the girl's shot-put, Senior Sidnei Harmon was able to place 5th with a throw of 31-06.  But the athlete who seemed to be placing everywhere for the Lady Spartans was Senior Kelly Mulrey who placed in the 100 meter run, 200 meter run, the 4by100 meter relay, and also came in 2nd in the Long Jump for Turpin.  Due to the combined efforts of all the girls, Turpin's female athletes placed 4th overall behind the strong teams of Mason, Withrow, and Wayne.

While the Turpin Guys did not fare as well as the Lady Spartans did overall, individual improvements were made which brings hope as the conference title draws near.  In the boys 4by800 relay, Alex Polivka, Joe Murray, Antony Parnigoni, and Zach Smith were able to improve Turpin's 4by8 time to a 8:37, while placing 8th.  Junior Kevin Comerford placed 7th in the 200 meter run with a time of 23.2.  Comerford came back to help try and get Turpin's 4by100 relay record with Jon Risher, Jon Denman, and Wayne Dunham.  However, the guys missed the record by one second, running a 44.5.  Over in the pole vault, Senior Derek Tucker and Sophomore Matt Olson placed 3rd and 6th, respectively, with heights of 12-06 and 10-06, also respectively.  The Spartan guys ended up placing 13th overall, but look forward to finally proving themselves at the FAVC meet this week.

After a long night of disappointment, achievement, and rain, the Turpin Spartans ended up using the Mason Rod Russell Invitational as a stepping stone for the FAVC conference meet.  As the guys look to get what will be their 3rd consecutive Cardinal title and as the girls look to win their 5th title in 6 years, every athlete knows what he or she must do in order to bring the Cardinal titles back to Turpin for the final time (due to the reallignment of FAVC next year).  Congratulations to all the Turpin athletes and supporters who weathered Mason last Friday, and good luck to all the athletes competing this Wednesday and Friday at the Little Miami FAVC meet.

Due to the postponement of Monday's qualifying races, all heats will be run as timed finals on Wednesday at Fairfield.  Running will begin 3:45pm with the 4 x 800m relay, continuing with standard order of events.  Field events will begin at 4:00pm. 

The bus to Fairfield will depart Turpin at 2:00pm.

Click for directions to Fairfield High School.