By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
If Simon Kenton wins the Class 3A girls’ regional cross country meet on Saturday, the team’s 74-year-old coach might get more excited than any of his teen-age runners.
Barry Binkley, a coaching legend in Northern Kentucky, took charge of the Simon Kenton girls’ cross country program this season and developed a team that could add another regional title to his already impressive coaching resume.
Two weeks ago, the Pioneers posted the best girls’ team score in the Northern Kentucky Athletic Conference Championships. If they run that well Saturday, they’ll likely win the Class 3A regional meet for the second consecutive year.
“This is probably the most fun I’ve ever had in coaching,” Binkley said. “These kids are just great and fun to be around. I’m really proud of them.”
Binkley helped get girls’ cross country established in Northern Kentucky during the 1970s. He spent most of his head coaching career at Dayton High School where his cross country and track teams won numerous regional and state titles.
After he retired from teaching, Binkley was an assistant cross country and track coach at several local high schools. This is the first time in more than five years that he has been a head coach. He went after the job because he knew the Simon Kenton team was loaded with strong distance runners after working with them during track season.
Sophia Delisio and Mckenzie Lachmann, the top two finishers in last year’s Class 3A regional cross country meet, have been the Pioneers’ team leaders once again this season. The other runners back from the 2014 regional championship team are Meredith Hiles, Anja Arlinghaus, Michaela Dukes and Kendall Burns.
Two weeks ago, Delisio won the girls’ conference meet in 19 minutes, 35 seconds and Lachmann finished second in 19:43. They’re a front-running scoring combination that the other local Class 3A teams can’t seem to match.
“Sophia and Mac and Meredith all want to go hard (in practice) every day and every step of the way,” Binkley said. “I’ve had to tell them to slow down and save it for the meets. I mean, they love to train with the boys’ team because they get to run faster with them.”
Delisio is a freshman, two years younger than Lachmann and Hiles, but she’s already developed the ability and confidence to adjust her race strategy to any situation.
“If I have an idea of the competition, I’ll go out fast and try to pick it up more at the end,” Delisio said. “If I know there’s a lot of competition, I’ll start off and see who goes up front and just try to stay with them until the end.”
Delisio’s main goal on Saturday will be helping Simon Kenton repeat as regional team champion for the first time in the history of the program.
“That would be huge because it’s never been done before and it’d be really cool to be the first ones,” she said. “But I know all the teams in our region are very good. We’ve just got to go out and do our best, like we usually do.”
If the Pioneers do carry off the first-place trophy once again, they know how much it would mean to Binkley. He may not act his age during the awards ceremony.
“You can just tell (he enjoys it) by the way he acts because when we do good he gets really excited,” Delisio said.
REGIONAL CROSS COUNTRY SCHEDULE
(Saturday at Sherman Elementary School, Dry Ridge)
9:30 a.m. — Class 1A girls
10:15 a.m. — Class 1A boys
11:30 a.m. — Class 2A girls
12:15 p.m. — Class 2A boys
1:30 p.m. — Class 3A girls
2:15 p.m. — Class 3A boys
Way to go Coach Binkley and these awesomely talented girls from Simon Kenton !! Can’t wait to see the repeat on Saturday.