By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Beechwood senior Lily Parke won the Class 1A, Region 4 girls cross country meet for the fourth consecutive year when she crossed the finish line in 19:06.46 on Saturday at Idlewild Park in Burlington.
Four of the next five finishers were Villa Madonna runners as the Vikings took the team title by a 34-44 margin over Brossart. The second and third runners were eighth-graders Abigail Ford of Villa Madonna and Callie Ochsner of Brossart.
Last year, Parke became the first Beechwood girl to win a Class 1A state meet. She made a commitment with the University of Kentucky in September.
St. Henry won the Class 1A boys region team title with freshman Sam Neuhaus coming in first (16:35.36) and his sophomore teammate Logan Vanilla following him across the finish line six seconds later.
Beechwood placed second in the boys team standings with 70 points and Villa Madonna was third with 72.
The top finisher in the Class 3A, Region 5 boys meet was Cooper senior Paul Van Laningham for the second consecutive year. He completed the 5,000-meter course in 15:01.05 and Conner sophomore Ethan Mann placed second in 15:57.18.
Cooper repeated as boys region team champion with 32 points and Conner placed second with 72.
Van Laningham, a University of Wisconsin recruit, won last year’s Class 3A state meet in 15:19.87 to set a new course record. This season, he has posted the state’s fastest time at 14:38.50.
Campbell County sophomore Lila Dunlevy won the Class 3A girls race in 18:58.80, which was one second faster than Ryle seventh-grader Sadie Chalfant.
All five of Ryle’s runners were among the top 13 finishers and the Raiders took the team title with 36 points. Notre Dame placed second with 60.
In Class 2A, Covington Catholic senior Joe Mayer won the race for the second time in three years, but the Colonels placed second behind Lexington Catholic in the team standings by a slim 31-41 margin.
Mayer’s winning time was 15:38.05. He placed third in last year’s Class 2A state meet behind two senior runners who graduated.
The top local finisher in the Class 2A girls region meet was Lloyd sophomore Savannah Gerding, who placed 20th in the field of 31 runners.
All of the race results from Class 1A and 2A Region 4 and Class 3A Region 5 are posted on the khsaa.org website.