On the strength of multiple personal-best times, the Allen County-Scottsville Patriot cross country team placed sixth in the Class 2A, Region 2 meet last Friday at the Hardin County Fairgrounds. Based on Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) guidelines, the sixth place finish (in a region with more than 11 participants) qualifies the Patriots to run in the KHSAA state championship meet in Paris.
Lady Patriot Ally Anderson qualified as an individual for the girls Class 2A state championship meet following a 16th place run at the regional---qualifying as one of the top five individuals not on a qualifying team.
The Patriots were paced by the performance of Tyler Stanger. The sophomore covered the 5K course in a time of 17:42.03 to place seventh in the 92-runner field. Stanger will run in his third consecutive state championship meet after having participated as an individual in 2019 and 2020. Stanger finished 16th as an eighth-grader in 2019 (17:14.28) and was 64th last year (18:38.41).
Junior Aaron Shain---in his first season running cross country---placed 26th in the regional run after a time of 18:55.72. Freshman Kash Taylor finished in 36th place with a time of 19:29.20. Eighth-grader Grant Morgan posted a time of 19:39.70 to place 40th in the field. Additional AC-S runners and their times included freshman Alex Stamps (20:04.03), eighth-grader Hunter Constant (21:45.33), and freshman Houston Porter (23:31.54).
The Patriots’ achievement marks the first time an AC-S boys squad has qualified as a team since 2008. That year, Ethan Graves, Joseph Armfield, Kyle Taylor, Garret Morrell, Stephen Frye, Seth Marin, and Wesley Meador earned AC-S a 25th place state tournament finish.
For the Lady Patriots, freshman Ally Anderson covered the course in 21:26.23 to earn a 16th place in the 89-runner field. This is Anderson’s first season of cross country.
Additional Lady Patriots runners also enjoyed solid afternoons in the regional meet. Sophomore Sarah Davis finished in 34th place with a time of 23:06.47. Sophomore Allison Davis recorded a time of 24:18.16. Freshman Aubrie Naiser ran the course in 25:34.68 with junior Taylor Gregory posting a time of 25:50.40. Seventh grader Briley Parker finished in 31:00.31.
Anderson’s individual qualification is the second consecutive year a Lady Patriot runner has qualified for state. Sarah Davis participated last year in the state meet.
The Class 2A state championship meet is scheduled for Friday, October 29. The girls’ race starts at 3:00 p.m. (CDT) with the boys race to commence at 4 p.m. (CDT) at Bourbon County Cross Country Course in Paris.