By Garth Shanklin
Sports Editor

With less than two weeks remaining before runners hit the field for their respective conference meets, teams from all over Clermont County continued their preparation for the postseason.

Milford and Glen Este traveled to Kings Mill, Ohio for the Kings Invitational, held at Landen Park on Sept. 27. Emma Beck led the Lady Eagles, crossing the line in 20:52.37 to finish in 20th place. Teammate Marisa Detore finished 47th, over a minute behind Beck. There were a total of 320 runners in the vent, and thanks to three Lady Eagles finishing in the top 30, Milford finished in seventh place in the team standings with 161 points. Turpin won the event with 46.

On the boys’ side, Clayton Virizi finished in 32nd place to pace the Eagles, crossing the line in 18:03.07. Teammates Sean Vonderhaar and Luke Schneider finished in a dead heat for 41st place, with both runners finishing in 18:15.16.

The trio led the Eagles to an eighth-place finish in the team standings with 220 points. Indian Hill totaled 44 to win the meet.

Bethel-Tate and Felicity-Franklin also participated in some midweek running. Both teams competed at the Blanchester Invitational, held at Blanchester High School on Wednesday, Sept. 28. Jackson Coates won the event for the Tigers, finishing in 10:24.21. Felicity’s Jared Boeckman placed second, while Goshen’s Michael Mason crossed the line in 11:17.42 to finish in 10th place.

Three other Tigers, Justin Royer, Sam Frondorf and Noah Rees, all posted top-15 finishes, propelling the Tigers to the team title. Felicity placed fourth overall, while Goshen tallied 182 points in a seventh-place finish.

On the girls’ side, Felicity’s Kaitlin Sharp paced all local runners with a 13:37.56, good for ninth place. Teammate Madison Winter earned an 11th-place finish, with Bethel-Tate’s Jenna Carter crossing the line between the pair in 10th.

Blachester won the team title with 47 points. Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy placed runners in the top three positions overall, but they were forced to settle for second place as a team. Bethel-Tate finished third with 63 points.

In the junior high races, Milford placed runners in the top seven scoring positions and had 12 of the top 20 finishers overall to win the girls’ team title. Abigail Nehlen led all Lady Eagle runners with a 13:09.20. New Richmond’s Rachel Pope finished in 13th place with a 15:02.66.

Bethel-Tate’s Ian McQueary won the boys’ meet. He crossed the line in 12:09.75, less than one second ahead of New Richmond’s Brady Jenkins. Goshen’s Ryan Willemin finished third. New Richmond won the team title with 68 points. Milford placed second with 77. Goshen and Bethel-Tate finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Most county teams returned to action on Oct. 1. Several schools traveled to Williamsburg for the Williamsburg Invitational. The boys’ 5K event was won by the host Wildcats, with K.C. Jones crossing the line in 17:28.99 to edge out Felicity’s Boeckmann by less than one-half second. Batavia’s Nathan DeRose finished in third place, with Mason earning a fifth-place finish for Goshen.

Two other Bulldogs posted strong performances. Dylan Young placed seventh, with Ridge Cook finishing in ninth place after posting a time of 18:26.48. Clermont Northeastern’s Seth Teaney finished in eighth place, five seconds ahead of Cook. Felicity’s Bradley Elkins placed 10th.

The trio of DeRose, Cook and Young led the Bulldogs to the team title. Batavia totaled 57 points, finishing 22 ahead of the runner-up Cardinals. Goshen tallied 89 points to finish in third place.

Batavia’s Lily Holt led all Clermont runners in the girls’ 5K. Holt placed third, while Sharp and Winter earned fourth and fifth place finishes, respectively. Jessica Benson led Goshen with an 11th place finish. The host Lady Wildcats won the team title with 34 points. Batavia placed third with 62.

The Lady Bulldogs junior high team also had a strong showing, totaling 45 points and placing second overall. Morgan Cravens won the event. CNE’s Winnie Joes placed third, with Batavia’s Jenna DeRose finishing fifth.

Batavia’s boys team won the junior high meet. Trey Sigourney and Taylor Charlie finished second and third, respectively. A Goshen trio of Willemin, Mark Mason and Matthaus Buechner placed fifth, sixth and seventh. Brayden Zenni and Brandon Sauter then crossed the line in eighth and ninth for the Bulldogs, propelling Batavia to the team title by nine points.

The Amelia Barons competed at the Buck Creek Invitational on Oct. 1. Maddie Walker crossed the line in first place in the girls’ 5K event, finishing in 18:16.90 seconds. Teammate Morgan Walsh placed fifth out of 209 runners. The pair led Amelia to a sixth-place finish in the girls’ team standings. Shawnee Springfield won the meet with 60 points. Dublin Scioto tallied 61. Amelia finished with an even 200.

Tom Casavant led the Barons boys’ team, finishing in 17th place. Casavant crossed the line in 17:18.60, roughly one minute behind Dublin Scioto’s Cesar Arellano. Justin Tavner finished in 22nd, 16 seconds behind Casavant. The Barons finished 11th as a team out of 23 schools and 266 runners.

Finally, two other local schools competed at the St. Xavier Invitational. Bethel-Tate and New Richmond made the trip to St. Xavier High School for the meet. Coates brought back some hardware for the Tigers, crossing the line in second place to lead all local runners. Luke Glenn placed 11th for New Richmond, with Ryan Wolf finishing in 23rd place. Frondorf finished 28th for the Tigers, who finished in fourth place with 137 points. New Richmond totaled 170 points, good for a sixth-place finish in the team standings.

Lana Johnson paced the Lady Lions runners in the girls’ event, finishing in 28th place. Neither school had enough runners to qualify for the team standings.

Several schools competed in the Goshen Invitational, held at Goshen High School on Oct. 4. That meet was not completed before press time. For complete results of the Goshen Invitational, check out the Oct. 13 edition of The Clermont Sun.

The Clermont Northeastern Rockets will participate in the Lynchburg-Clay Invitational on Thursday, Oct. 6. Williamsburg will race at Unioto on Saturday, Oct. 8, and that same day New Richmond and Milford will participate in the Ross Invitational.

Amelia, Batavia, Bethel-Tate, Felicity-Franklin and Goshen will not race this weekend. Those teams return to action at the Southern Buckeye Athletic and Academic Conference Championship meet, held Saturday, Oct. 15 at 9 a.m. in Williamsburg.