Turpin senior Sam Patty, a 2007 XC All-Ohioan, has verbally committed to run for the Baylor University Bears.  Baylor, located in Waco, Texas, ended the 2007 cross country season as the #17 women's team in the nation, and was the top team in the National Championships to come from the Big 12 Conference.  The Baylor women have now qualified for the National Championships in 5 consecutive seasons.  Patty joins a Bears team that will graduate just 2 runners from its varsity seven, including 2007 All-American senior Lauren Hagans, the 35th finisher at the National Championships (the 24th American-born runner).  The Baylor women are coaches by Jon Capron, who will be entering his 4th season as a full-time assistant to the program's head coach Todd Harbour.  Capron, an All-Big 12 runner himself at Baylor just a few years ago, has brought an impressive run of success to Waco, including a 2006 All-Amerca women's Distance Medley Relay team.  

Just a few years ago, a seventh place finish at a regular season cross country meet was not out of the question for the Turpin boys cross country team. Placing in the top five in large meets such as the Alliance Invitational or St. Xavier Invitational was considered a success. Advancing to the regional meet in Troy marked the end of a great season because racing as a team at Scioto Downs seemed to be an unattainable dream. Now, fast forward to the 2007 cross country team. The drive with which the group of varsity runners prepared for the season was unlike any other. Following the 2006 season, the most successful season to date, the guys looked to set a new standard for success. Instead of being among the best teams in Cincinnati, the team of 2007 wanted to be the best team. Instead of just qualifying for the State meet, this year’s team wanted to place well among Ohio’s best teams. At the end of this historic season, it is evident that the guys met and exceeded all expectations.

A list of all the team’s accomplishments this year would be quite lengthy, so only a few of the major ones are listed here. Last year, the team finished the regular season with sixty-nine wins to twenty-six losses, winning two meets. This year the team ended the regular season with a record of eighty-six wins to four losses and won all but two meets. At the state meet, Turpin avenged nearly all of the losses they encountered in the season beating St. Xavier, Mason, and Hilliard Davidson. The 2006 varsity team had two runners with a personal record less than seventeen minutes. Just one year later, five runners were under seventeen minutes, with the sixth just four seconds off the seventeen-minute mark. This drastic improvement in the span of just one year explains why the Turpin boys team had such a great level of success through out the year.

The road to the State Meet began at Voice of America Park, the location for Southwest Ohio’s district race. Entering the day as the highest ranked team in their race (St. Xavier competed in a different race) according to the Enquirer coach’s poll, Turpin looked to dominate their race. Dominate was just what Turpin did. Scoring just fifty-eight points, Turpin won their race advancing to the regional race with Mason, Elder, and Oak Hills and St. Xavier, Milford, LaSalle, and Loveland from the other race.

Two thousand five marked the first year the Turpin boys qualified as a team for the Regional meet under head coach Jim Gossett. Returning again in 2006 and missing qualifying for state by just one place, the boys had high expectations for the 2007 race. Despite Turpin’s top two runners encountering sickness just days before the Regional race in Troy, the Turpin boys were still able compete well as a team placing third and earning a team berth to Columbus. Kyle Rewick, fighting a weeklong cold, led the Spartans placing sixteenth in 16:21. Nick El-Khoury, recovering from strep throat, Dave Rodriguez and Rob DiMartino finished within seconds of each other in 16:35, 16:36, and 16:37 respectively. Ben Wagner was the final scorer finishing in17:17. Centerville easily won the race with seventy-seven points. Turpin was just three points behind Mason, a team they beat the week before, and was ten points ahead of St. Xavier.

Entering the most anticipated race in Turpin history, each of the seven Turpin runners wanted to prove they were the best team from Cincinnati and among the best in Ohio. The extremely competitive Division I field did not disappoint the several thousand fans that lined the course and packed the stadium at Scioto Downs. Seventeen runners finished under sixteen minutes and total of fifty-three runners would cross before Kyle Rewick, who was the first Turpin finisher in 16:24. Nick El-Khoury was sixty-third in 16:33; Dave Rodriguez was eighty-second in 16:45; Rob DiMartino was ninety-first in 16:53; and Ben Wagner was ninety-eighth in 16:56, marking the first time all five of Turpin’s scorers ran under seventeen minutes. Zach Smith finished in 18:05, and Drew DiSabatino finished in 18:56, running for the first time in three weeks after being sidelined for a stress fracture. As a team Turpin placed a very respectable seventh, ahead of area rivals St. Xavier and Mason.

Congratulations to every member of the Turpin cross country team for being a part of the best team in Turpin history. Thank you to Coach Gossett for leading us through this outstanding season. Also, thank you to all the parents and fans that have supported the team throughout the year.

Look for Kaitlin Price's story about the girl's state meet at a later date.

Photos of the State Meet. As always, photos of the state meet are needed. Please place them on a CD and give it to Zach Smith or send them to turpinrunning@gmail.com (five or fewer photos per email please).

2007 Results - Girls, Guys

Both cross country teams will be competing at the State Meet in Columbus this Saturday, November 3.

Location: Scioto Downs in Columbus.
Admission is $8.00 per person.
Google Map to Scioto Downs.

Race Schedule:
11:05 A.M. Division III Girls
11:50 A.M. Division II Girls
12:35 P.M. Division I Girls
1:20 P.M. Division III Boys
2:05 P.M. Division II Boys
2:50 P.M. Division I Boys

Check back early next week for a recap of the accomplishements from the last few weeks that brought the Spartans to the State meet.

RYAN KIRACOFE

Ask any of Turpin’s top six male runners about last weekend’s District Championship, and the response will invariably be the same: it was just another day at the office. The race that, just a few years ago, was “The Race” for Turpin guys is now just a steppingstone. Ask any of the runners about what matters during this postseason, and you’ll hear phrases like “just keep advancing” and “stay fresh for Columbus.”

Columbus? When Head Coach Jim Gossett first came to Turpin, the idea of Scioto Downs in November seemed as far-off as the World Series or Super Bowl. The State race never even crossed the minds of Turpin runners in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. The biggest race, the culmination of any season was the District Championship. Sure, if people ran really well, maybe Turpin would have a shot at fourth. Maybe. Just a few PR’s would have been nice.

Now, it’s 2007, and those days seem like ancient history. The Spartan men are District Champions, and to them…well, it’s not a huge deal. The title is the first in Division 1 in the history of the men’s program (the Spartans won a Division 2 district title in 1990).

In the old days, a Turpin runner would only dream of finishing in the top 16 and advancing individually to the Regional meet. Four finished in the top 16 on Saturday. Four. Yikes.

The focus with which this men’s team operates is incredible. The only thing that matters is advancing and succeeding in Columbus. Does each of the runners want a PR? Yes. Do they want to place well individually? Yes. But if you speak with any of them after a race and ask how it went, the immediate response is, without fail, how the team placed, and how the team felt about its performance.

I spoke on the phone with senior captain Kyle Rewick last Saturday night after the District race. Rewick was fresh off a third place finish at VOA, right in front of sophomore phenom Nicholas El-Khoury, who was fourth. Since Gossett’s arrival, Turpin has never had one runner, much less two, finish that well in a District race. Rewick, while appreciative when I mentioned this distinction that he’d just earned, shrugged it off. It was just another step. He was more concerned with getting Drew DiSabatino back and healthy for the Regional race.

This is the attitude that the Turpin men have taken on, and it’s a beautiful thing. It’s everything that a coach, a fan base, or in my case, a proud alum could ever ask for.

Lest we forget that Turpin owns the girls’ individual District Champion as well, in senior Sam Patty. Amidst all the hullabaloo surrounding Turpin’s exciting men’s team, Patty quietly has set herself up for a run at the school’s first individual Regional title since the legendary Carolyn Rauen did it in 2001. Junior Kaitlin Price is coming on at the right time, and if the supporting cast continues to step up, who knows what could happen?

For Turpin cross country, the “glory days” no longer have to be the seasons of Carolyn Rauen, Melanie Price and Corey Randall; the glory days are now. While I love the focused attitude of the Turpin athletes, we as fans need to take time to smell the roses.

So enjoy this postseason. Runners, parents, fans and friends should appreciate how far the men’s program has come. Sure, the District race may have just been an obstacle along the Spartans’ run towards Scioto Downs, but we should remember how much a District title would mean to so many teams. You never know when it will happen again.