By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Cooper distance runner Paul Van Laningham was a tough act to follow at the Kentucky high school cross country state championship meet on Saturday at Kentucky Horse Park.
In the first race of the day, the curly haired senior broke his own state record on the 5,000-meter course when he won the Class 3A boys meet in 15:01.12. The University of Wisconsin recruit’s winning time last year was 15:19.87.
Van Laningham is the first Northern Kentucky cross country runner to win the Class 3A boys state title twice. The only local girl who ever did that was his mother, Michele, in 1990 and 1992 when she was a student at Boone County High School.
The runner’s father, Eric, was also a Class 3A state cross country champion in 1990 for Boone County. He’s now coaching the Cooper team.
The second-place runner in Saturday’s state meet finished 13 seconds behind Van Laningham, who also posted the state’s fastest 5,000-meter time (14:38.50) this season.
Conner sophomore Ethan Mann placed seventh in Saturday’s large school race. Lexington Lafayette won the boys team title and Cooper placed fourth among the 36 state qualifiers.
The top local finishes in the Class 3A girls state meet were Notre Dame junior Norah Barker and Ryle sophomore Stella Carpenter, who came in 22nd and 24th. Louisville Assumption was the winning team and Ryle placed fifth.
Covington Catholic senior Joe Mayer won the Class 2A boys state meet in 15:44.15 after finishing third and fourth the last two years. But CovCath’s two-year reign as Class 2A team champion ended. The Colonels placed second behind Lexington Catholic by a slim 56-67 margin.
The other CovCath runners among the top finishers were junior Drew Kurtzner and sophomore John Nerswick, who came in 10th and 13th.
In the final two Class 1A events at the state meet, Beechwood senior Lily Parke won the girls race for the second straight year with the team titles going to the Louisville Collegiate boys and Lexington Christian girls. St. Henry placed second in the boys team standings.
Parke’s winning time was 18:55.64. The University of Kentucky recruit was the only local runner who broke the 19-minute mark in any of the day’s three girls races.
The other local runners among the top finishers in Class 1A girls were eighth-graders Callie Ochsner of Brossart and Abigail Ford of Villa Madonna, who placed seventh and eighth, and seventh-grader Nina Tibbs of Villa Madonna, who placed 10th.
In the Class 1A boys race, the top three local finishers were Brossart junior Adam Tarvin (eighth), Villa Madonna senior Brendan Ramdass (12th) and St. Henry freshman Sam Neuhaus (14th).
TOP 10 TIMES BY LOCAL RUNNERS IN STATE MEET RACES
BOYS — Paul Van Laningham (Cooper) 15:01.12, Joe Mayer (CovCath) 15:44.15, Ethan Mann (Conner) 15:51.97, Grayson Parker (Cooper) 16:42.29, Drew Carskadon (Dixie Heights) 16:44.67, Micah Brandeberry (Cooper) 16:51.05, Drew Kurtzner (CovCath) 16:52.83, John Nerswick (CovCath) 16:56.83, Adam Tarvin (Brossart) 16:59.19, Aaron Foote (Cooper) 16:59.24.
GIRLS — Lily Parke (Beechwood) 18:55.64, Norah Barker (Notre Dame) 19:41.09, Stella Carpenter (Ryle) 19:43.70, Maggie Durrett (Notre Dame) 19:47.98, Lila Dunlevy (Campbell County) 19:59.52, Sadie Chalfant (Ryle) 20:09.47, Ellie Fay (Conner) 20:09.79, Ella Taylor (Highlands) 20:11.53, Callie Ochsner (Brossart) 20:12.30, Abigail Ford (Villa Madonna) 20:12.80.
STATE MEET RESULTS POSTED ON KHSAA WEBSITE