The SouthWest Ohio Coaches Classics meet enjoyed its 9th year with strong competition across the board on Wednesday, April 9th, and Friday, April 11th. Teams from across southwestern Ohio, including Mason, Sycamore, Anderson, St. Ursula, Moeller, and Turpin, sent their best to the Coach Classic Preliminary rounds at Mason, Milford, and Fairfield, where only the top four teams/runners in each event moved on to the Fairfield High School Finals on Friday. The Turpin Spartans travelled to Milford High School for the first day of the classics. The scoring part of the meet, not including the prelims to the sprinting events, started off smoothly for the Spartans with the girls and boys 4 by 800 meter relays. The girl’s team claimed an easy win as Kaitlin Price, Alexia Yun, Sam Patty, and Lauren Young set a time of 10:02 to travel to the Fairfield Finals. The guy’s relay, consisting of Ben Wagner, Alex Polivka, Nicholas El-Khoury, and Rob Dimartino, battled their way to the top seeded spot of the finals with a time of 8:25. Cutting to the sprinting events, freshman Stephanie Valenti qualified in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 17.9, while Senior Danny Polaneczky qualified in second place with a time of 15.3. Junior Kelly Mulrey qualified to Fairfield in the open 100 meter with a time of 12.7. The Spartans continued qualifying in the 4 by 200meter relays. The girl’s side, composed of Brooke Bonne, Erin Kratzer, Ashley Pinney, and Kelly Mulrey, claimed a second place finish in 1:52, while Brian Comerford, Andy Robinson, Danny Polaneczky, and Meecis Davis made their way to Fairfield with a 1:36 on the guy’s side.

In the 1600 meter run, Junior Kaitlin Price and Sophomore Megan Plichta represented the girls team. Plichta came in 3rd place with a time of 5:32, while Price finished close behind in 5:36. For the guy’s team, Senior Kyle Rewick qualified with a time of 4:39, winning the race, while Junior Drew Disabatino came in 5th, but with a personal best of 4:43. The female 4 by 100m team, run by Stephanie Valenti, Kelly Mulrey, Jesse Harrigan, and Erin Kratzer, won the race with a time of 52.2, while Junior Andy Robinson qualified to Fairfield in the 400 meter run with a time of 54.1. Both Erin Kratzer and Danny Polaneczky won their 300 meter hurdles races with times of 49.5 and 42.3, respectively. In the 800 meter runs, Kaitlin Price and Rob Dimartino came in 2nd with times of 2:29 and 2:09, respectively. Senior Sam Patty carried the 3200 meter run with a strong time of 11:24, followed by Junior Lauren Young’s qualifying time of 12:11. In the male 3200 race, Senior Kyle Rewick won another distance race with a time of 10:13, and qualified with Sophomore Nicholas El-Khoury, whose second place time of 10:22 sent him to Fairfield. Finally, in the running events, the Spartan girl’s relay, run by Helen Gamez, Kaitlin Price, Erin Kratzer, and Jesse Harrigan, came in 2nd in the 4 by 400 meter run with a time of 4:20, and the guy’s 4 by 400, run by Meecis Davis, Andy Robinson, Dale Becker, and Rob Dimartino, edged out Anderson’s relay to come in first with a time of 3:35.9. The field events had a wide range of qualifiers, with Senior Morgan Byrd in the Shot-Put, Senior Kevin Marshall in the Shot-Put and Discus Throw, Jesse Harrigan in the Long Jump, Freshman Meghan Rewick in the High Jump, Senior Dale Becker in the High Jump, Sophomore Hannah Zimmerman in the Pole Vault, and Junior Derek Tucker in the Pole Vault. This ended the first day of the Coaches Classics and all of the qualifying Spartans looked to make their mark on Friday at the Fairfield Finals.

The competition is always extremely fierce at the Coach Classics Finals. Looking back on last year’s cold, freezing finals; the Spartans came onto the starting line on the bright, but windy, day, knowing what they had to do. The Turpin girl’s team had some strong races, but were struggling to score a lot of points in the shorter races of the day. Kaitlin Price running in the 800 meter finals, scored 6th place and a time of 2:28.8, and 4th place in the 1600 meter run with a time of 5:31. Megan Plichta, also running the 1600, scored 9th with a time of 5:35. Sam Patty ran a tough race, competing against Brooklyn Ridder of Oak Hills and Alannah Sonntag of Sycamore, in the 3200 meters, coming in 2nd with a time of 11:33. Lauren Young came in 7th with a time of 12:01. In the girl’s 300 meter hurdles, Erin Kratzer came in 8th with a time of 49.17, and the earlier qualifying relay of the girl’s 4 by 100 came in 7th and at 52.43. The girl’s 4 by 200 team came in 8th with a time of 1:50, and the 4 by 400 team came in 7th as well. The girl’s 4 by 800, the first race of the day, came in 4th place with a time of 10:01. Over in the field events, Meghan Rewick tied for fourth place in the High Jump and Jesse Harrigan came in 6th in the Long Jump.

During the meet, the male Spartans found themselves in the same situation as the girl’s team: running well, but unable to score major points. Senior Kyle Rewick came in 6th in the 1600 meter run with a time of 4:46, and also came back to run a 10th place 10:26 two mile race. Sophomore Nicholas El-Khoury broke out in the last 200 meters of the two mile to place 7th with a time of 10:20. Senior Danny Polaneczky tied for 5th in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 16.41 and also ran an 8th place 42.45 300 meter hurdles race. The 4 by 400 relay came in 8th overall with a time of 3:33 and the 4 by 800 meter relay ended up coming in 6th with a time of 8:30. The field events had some scorers as well, as Senior Kevin Marshall came in 5th in the Shot-Put and 13th in the Discus. Juniors Derek Tucker and Cody Vanderpool placed 11th and 13th in the Pole Vault.

Overall the Turpin girl’s team placed 6th with 37.5 points, and the guy’s team came in 13th with 17.5 points. The Mason girls and LaSalle guys won the meet. For the first challenge of the season, the Turpin Track teams did well, showing they have something to look to and something to look back on, but also that they were a force not to go unnoticed. The Spartans are looking forward to the Milford Invitational on April 17th and 18th at Milford High School.

Results: Prelims, Finals
Photos - Take photos at this meet? Please send them to turpinrunning@gmail.com (please 4 photos or less per email).

Friday April 4, 2008

click for directions to Walnut Hills High School

Schedule is as follows:
Field Events begin at 4:30pm (discus, shot, high jump, long jump, pole vault)
4 x 1600m relay begins at 5:00pm
Running finals begin at 6:00pm

4 x 110m Hurdles
4 x 200m relay
4 x 800m relay
reserve 4 x 200m relay
sprint medley (100m, 100m, 200m, 400m)
distance medley (400m, 800m, 1200m, 1600m)
4 x 100m relay
1600m medley (200m, 200m, 400m, 800m)
3 x 300m hurdles
4 x 400m relay

The track schedule was last updated April 3. Please check for changes. More specific information regarding individual meets (start time) will be updated when it becomes available.

Welcome to the new website for Turpin Track.

The schedule for the 2008 track and field season is now available in Event Schedule. Please be aware that this schedule is preliminary and changes are likely. Keep checking back as the season nears for the most up-to-date information along with personalized Google Maps directions to meets.

Also note the following dates:
April 26: Prom
May 5-16: AP Exams (click here for the date of your exam)
May 7-9: Camp Kern session 1 (Mason Invite)
May 12-14: Camp Kern session 2 (League Meet)
May 14-16: Camp Kern session 3 (League Meet)

With the 2008 track season opening up in March, Turpin’s talented core of seniors will look to take the budding program to new heights. The men’s program, which in recent years has been based upon its talented distance runners, will have a similar look this year. The distance team, which finished #7 in the state in cross country, returns senior captain Kyle Rewick, who should have a shot at multiple school records this season. Rewick will be considered the favorite to win the FAVC title in the 3200 meters this season.

Sophomore standouts Nicholas El-Khoury and Dave Rodriguez will look to continue their success from the fall, and Rob DiMartino and Ben Wagner could develop into talented 800 meter runners.

Returning from an impressive run to the Regional Championships in 2006, senior Kevin Marshall will be a force to be reckoned with in the shotput and discus. Under the direction of coach Dennis
Rusche, Marshall finished sixth in southwest Ohio in the discus, and third among returning throwers this season.

On the women’s side, 2007 XC All-Ohioan Sam Patty will look to establish herself in the 1600m and 3200m runs, after sitting last track season out with health issues. The #12 cross country runner in the state this fall, Patty could be a favorite to make the state meet if she hits her stride at the right time. She would be Turpin’s first distance runner to make the state track meet since 2003.

Junior Kaitlin Price will look to excel in the 800m, as the defending conference champion.  Within reach of her sister's own mark on the Turpin list of record bests, Price is a favorite to make it to Dayton.

Then-sophomores Cody Vanderpool and Derek Tucker were pleasant surprises in the pole vault for
the Spartans last season, and the duo will look to build upon that success in 2008.
Senior hurdler Danny Polaneczky will be a favorite to win FAVC titles in both the 110m Hurdles and the 300m Hurdles, after a pair of second-place finishes at the FAVC Championships last spring. The women’s top hurdler figures to be senior Erin Kratzer, who finished 2nd in the FAVC in the 100m Hurdles last year as well.
The men’s team will try to defend their historic 2007 conference title, while the girl’s squad will look to rebound from a disappointing 3rd place finish last season

Pictured Above Right: senior Kevin Marshall
Pictured Below Left: Tyler Smith (grad. 2007) and senior Danny Polanecky, members of the school record breaking 4 x 200m team.