By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Highlands seniors Ethan Shuley and Lauren Ossege will be making a run at state and team records this cross country season.
Shuley, who won last year’s Class 2A state meet in 15 minutes, 58 seconds, wants to break the state record time of 15:05 on the 5,000-meter course at Kentucky Horse Park in November.
Ossege’s goal is to finish her six-year varsity career as a member of the four consecutive Class 2A girls’ state championship teams, something that’s never been done in the history of the Highlands program.
Highlands coach Brian Alessandro wouldn’t be surprised if both seniors accomplish what they set out to do this season. He said Shuley ranks among the top 30 high school cross country runners in the nation and Ossege is part of what he considers the school’s best-ever girls’ cross country team.
Shuley opened this season with an impressive victory at the Moeller Primetime Invitational in Ohio two weeks ago. His winning time of 15:32 in that race was 26 seconds faster than his 2014 state championship performance.
“The good thing about that race is that I was really in control all the time,” Shuley said. “It was more of a tempo-type race for me so I could sustain a high pace and I wasn’t pushing myself to the maximum limit.”
Shuley said he had a slightly sprained hamstring muscle and some calf pain after that race. That’s why he didn’t run in the Ryle Invitational last Saturday and he won’t compete in the Mason (Ohio) Invitational this Saturday.
He’s still training, however, to be in top form for the Louisville Trinity Invitational on September 16 that draws the top runners from multiple states each season.
Last year, Shuley placed ninth in the Trinity Invitational boys’ varsity race with a time of 15:33. He was the top finisher from Kentucky, but eight runners from other states crossed the finish line ahead of him. Six of those top eight finishers were seniors, so Shuley will be one of the top returning runners in this year’s field. But he doesn’t feel any added pressure to prove himself.
“I think the pressure is just added motivation,” he said. “I’m just trying to exceed my limits and expectations and do better in all my races.”
Ossege won’t be competing this Saturday either because she’ll be taking a college entrance exam. Getting a high score on the exam is important to her because she wants to become a veterinarian, even if it means she won’t be able to run in college. If this does turn out to be her last season of cross country competition, she wants to “go out with a bang” by helping the Bluebirds win their fourth consecutive Class 2A state championship.
Highlands won three consecutive state titles in girls’ cross country in 1978-1980 and 2002-2004, but both streaks ended there. Alessandro expects this year’s team to break that cycle because the top four runners on the Bluebirds’ last three state championship teams are in the lineup once again.
“When I helped (former head coach) Dan Baker back in 2002 to 2004 we won three (state titles) and these girls would beat them,” Alessandro said of his present team. “And that’s saying a lot because those were some very good teams back then.”
Ossege also plays on the Highlands girls’ soccer team and can’t always attend workouts with the cross country team. She often has to do training runs on her own or with her younger sister to get ready for meets.
“My goal is just to make myself proud and when I look back say, ‘I did everything I could,’” Ossege said of her senior season.
Cross country runners eligible for $1,500 college scholarship
Tri-State Running Company is taking nominations for a $1,500 scholarship to be awarded to a Northern Kentucky high school cross country runner based on their athletic accomplishments, academic achievement, community involvement and leadership skills.
The scholarship is open to any male or female cross country runner in their senior year. Nominations can be submitted by teammates, friends, family members or the runners themselves. The runner’s coach must sign the nomination form.
Last year’s scholarship winner was Jennah Flairty of Campbell County High School. She’s a freshman on the Northern Kentucky University women’s cross county team this season.
For more information about submitting a nomination for this year’s scholarship, go to: http://tristaterunning.com/cc-scholarship.html
Three first-year football coaches still trying to break into the win column
Three of the four Northern Kentucky high school football teams that have new head coaches this season are still looking for their first win.
Woody McMillen has a 2-1 record in his first three games as the head coach of the Bellevue Tigers. But coaches Eddie Eviston at Covington Catholic, Marty Steele at Boone County and Tim Viox at Newport are all off to 0-3 starts with their new teams.
McMillen and Viox will be going against each other this Friday when Bellevue visits Newport in the first game between the two schools from neighboring cities since 2012. The teams played each other every year from 2007 to 2012 and Bellevue won five of the six games.
The other new head coaches will be taking their teams south on Friday. CovCath will play at Lexington Catholic and Boone County will visit Lexington Lafayette.
Volleyball players head Villa Madonna’s latest list of hall of fame inductees
Villa Madonna Academy will add a second group of inductees to its athletic hall of fame during a ceremony at 3 p.m. Saturday in the school gymnasium.
The honored guests include five former Villa Madonna volleyball players who went on to play in college – Fredda Simpson (1981), Lisa Warman (1981), Stephanie Scheper Gillcrist (1983), Beth Rechtin Venard (1989) and Kate O’Toole (2001).
The other four inductees are state champion swimmer Mary Jo Dressman Pursley (1977), basketball standout Regina Noll Ransdell (1993), golfer Sarah Stamper (2005) and J.J. Santos (1993), who lettered in four boys’ sports after the academy began enrolling male students.
During the induction ceremony, Villa Madonna will also recognize the 1980 volleyball team that won the Kentucky state tournament and the state champion girls’ swim teams in 1974, 1975, and 1976 along with the state runner-up teams in 1972, 1973, and 1977.