By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The St. Henry girls’ cross country team won the Class A state meet by a one-point margin Saturday at Kentucky Horse Park and carried off the championship trophy for the sixth consecutive year.
The Crusaders finished with 91 points, one better than runner-up Lexington Christian, to finish on top in the 24-team standings. St. Henry has now won 19 girls’ cross country state titles, more than any other team in Kentucky.
The top finisher for St. Henry was junior Malia Heck, who placed sixth overall with a time of 20:20 on the 5,000-meter course. Kailee Perry of Morgan County won the race in 19:46.
The other four scoring runners for St. Henry were sophomores Libby Bihl and Brooke Reis and freshmen Meghan Pawsat and Gabriele Harmon.
Brossart was third in the Class A girls’ team standings with 99 points, followed by Villa Madonna with 138 and Walton-Verona with 147.
In the other girls’ state meets, Highlands placed second in Class AA and Simon Kenton placed eighth in Class AAA.
None of the local boys’ teams returned with a trophy. St. Henry was fourth in Class A, Highlands was seventh in Class AA and Covington Catholic was sixth in Class AAA.
Highlands eighth-grader Maggie Schroeder recorded the fastest time among Northern Kentucky girls competing in all three classes at the state meet. She placed fifth in Class AA with a time of 19:23.
The other local girls who covered the 5,000-meter course in less than 20 minutes were Sophia DeLisio of Simon Kenton (19:38), Meredith Hiles of Simon Kenton (19:41), Caileigh Waters of Walton-Verona (19:52) and Sidney Reagor of Campbell County (19:57).
Northern Kentucky boys with the top five times at the state meet were: Kyle Mastin of Simon Kenton (16:26), Ethan Snyder of St. Henry (16:32), Cody Chism of Brossart (16:43), Arthur Sonzogni of Cooper (16:48) and Owen Piatt of CovCath (16:51).
Complete results from the state cross county meet are on the khsaa.org website.