Published: November 05, 2009 10:27 pm      

Close to home for regionals

Area runners will set the pace on familiar course

Fairview’s girls have perfection on their mind.

Ashland’s boys are running for a long-awaited title.

Both cross country teams will be looking to add to their successful seasons in regional competition Saturday on local courses.

The Fairview girls team, ranked second in Class A, is an overwhelming favorite in the Region 7 morning meet on the John Clark Cross Country Course.

Last year, Fairview came close to sweeping the top five individual spots at regionals.

“We hope to accomplish what we tried to do last year, get a perfect score,’’ said Fairview coach Becca Stacey. “We missed it by one spot.’’

Freshman Brooklyn Bowen is the defending individual champion and leads a still quite-young Lady Eagles’ squad.

The rest of the Fairview’s lineup includes Maddy Rymer, Haley Layne, Morgan McIntyre, Audrey Sizemore, Kasie Bradley and Dani Craig.

“We had seven in the top 10 last year,’’ Stacey said. “It will be tough to do that again.’’

Although the Lady Eagles probably won’t be pushed Saturday, they want to make a good showing on their home course.

“You always like to have momentum going to state,’’ Stacey said.

Joining Fairview in the Class A field are Bath County, Buckhorn, Cordia, Elliott County, Jenkins, Lee County, Menifee County, Owsley County, Paintsville, Phelps, Pikeville, Raceland, Riverside Christian, Shelby Valley and Wolfe County.

Elliott County’s boys are coming off a Class A second-place finish in the Meet of Champions last week in Lexington. Sophomore Daniel Fraley placed third and junior teammate Cody Nickell was fifth.

Shelby Valley’s Chase Ratliff took individual runner-up honors in that race, while Fairview senior Tyler Brown finished 11th.

Ashland’s boys won the Class 2A division at Masterson Station Park and want to follow it up with a regional championship on the Boyd County campus course Saturday afternoon.

“It’s definitely a big goal,’’ said Ashland coach Phillip Caudill, whose team is ranked a season-high sixth in 2A. “I can’t remember Ashland winning the regional in my lifetime, but I’m sure it’s probably happened.’’

The Tomcats have already racked up seven meet titles this season, and the future is bright. The team’s top seven runners are juniors and younger.

“We should be even better next year if everybody is healthy and comes back,’’ Caudill said.

Junior Jon Renneker is fourth and sophomore teammate Brennan Kizziar 20th in the state 2A rankings.

Renneker, regional runner-up a year ago, is coming off a third-place (2A) finish at the Meet of Champions. Kizziar was sixth, Tim Callihan 20th, Taylor Bradley (29th) and Austin Craft (46th).

Mason County, led by Jim Meyers, may pose the biggest threat to Ashland at regionals.

“Mason County will be real tough competition,’’ Caudill said. “We’ve been fortunate enough to beat them four or five times after they beat us at the beginning of the season.’’

Russell senior Tanner Alexander is the defending boys’ champion.

On the girls’ side, Mason County freshman Julia Woods will be trying to repeat as individual winner. Woods is ninth in the state 2A rankings.

Russell’s Jennifer Miller and Jennifer Sloan, placed second and fourth, respectively, last year.